Your phone number may not be what you think it is

We dialled the mystery number from another handset and, sure enough, our phone rang. What was going on? Had someone inadvertently diverted their number to ours?

Convinced of their innocence, we released our teeth from the telemarketer’s arm and messaged the mystery number, alerting them to their unwelcome divert and asking for action.

A day later, no response. So we called our service provider Telstra. There must be a way to remove someone else’s diversion from your own phone.

Waiting in the customer care queue, we ordered up a corporate search on the account holder the telemarketer had named. It was a Pty Ltd, a one-man band with a distinctive name – sole director, secretary and shareholder.

Doing time

Google turned him up, and hinted why he might not be at liberty to respond to our text message. In fact, it looked like he wasn’t at liberty at all, if you get the

Article source: https://www.afr.com/technology/mobiles-and-tablets/marketing-call-shows-your-phone-number-may-not-be-what-you-think-it-is-20190330-p5199t