Ask HN: How do phone scammers get your name and number?

1 pointswendoog1 comment

I've received calls in the past alerting me that I have a virus on my computer and that I need their software to clean it.

I've always been disturbed and curious by the fact that the caller knows my full name.

Anybody know where these scammers pull this information from?

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Once they have your mobile ip address, they can buy your phone number, full name, billing home address, and billing email address - among other things.[1]

Of course, there are other more classic ways for them to buy this info but if they can get it from the source, why not?

[1] https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/2017/10/stop-mobi...

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