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When registering in a new application today, it is usually required to verify the user’s identity. To do this, it is necessary to enter a so-called OTP. To receive it, you need to provide a phone number with active SIM card or email address. However, opening up your personal mobile number or email address is not that secure in today’s Internet due to potential data breaches.
The more reliable solution when you need to bypass OTP without a phone number is to utilize a virtual phone number for verification. Therefore, SMS-Man provides numbers for rental from over 170 countries to pass verification in over 4000 services and applications.
So, in this reading, let’s describe the situations when you need to get a one-time password and examine the advantages of a virtual phone number for SMS as an alternative to traditional SIMs.
What is OTP?
What is OTP? An OTP, or One-Time Password, is a password that is valid for only one session of access to the system. Entering an OTP usually serves as the second step of user authentication. However, OTP is not the most secure type of one-time password. The reason is that if fraudsters intercept it, they can gain access to your account.
A more secure type in this case is TOTP which stands for Time-Based One-Time Password. This kind of OTPs are valid for 30 to 60 seconds.
When Do You Need an OTP?
Well, we already know the answer to the “What is OTP?” question. But what is it used for? Let’s examine it thoroughly.
When registering a new account in messengers, email platforms, on social networks and other applications, typicall data that it asks from you is a username and password. This data will become the key to log into your account, thus, the next time you try to log in, the system will ask for them. If you enter the correct credential, the server will recognize you as the account owner and allow you to log in. This is what we call authentication. So, earlier creating an account withou phone number was a commonplace.
Though, recently cybercriminals tend to hack passwords more frequently. Most often it happens due to users setting up passwords that are not strong enough or utilizing a single password for various services.
In addition, criminals leverage social engineering methods such as imitating letters from official organizations — which is your online bank or a governmental agency. On behalf of a genuine organization they send a link to a phishing page, which is visually very similar to the main page of the service. If you enter your real credentials, they will end up in the hands of cybercriminals. Thus, they will be able to easily access your online banking or social network account.
To prevent hacks, it was decided to strengthen protection and make access to data as difficult as possible for fraudsters. This is how multi-factor authentication was born. In order for the system to give access to your account, you need to enter at least two parameters: the most common ones are:
- The password for the account.
- Automatically generated One-Time Code (OTP).
The second step of authentication using OTP still does not guarantee 100% security of your account. Though it does significantly increase the level of data security.
How to Bypass OTP without a Phone Number?
Here is where a virtual phone number for SMS will become an essential tool.
The most common way to receive OTP and TOTP is via SMS message. In this case, you tie your mobile number to your account and click on the “Get a code” button. But many services, as an alternative, can also send a one-time password by email or use a 6-digit code generated in special authenticator applications, for example, Google OTP Authenticator.
Even large corporations do not always have enough protection against hacker attacks who are constantly looking for new security vulnerabilities. Therefore, storing your personal data on company servers is unreliable and risks the fact that at one point it may “leak” into the public network. To prevent this, instead of your mobile phone number, a secure solution to bypass OTP without a phone number is a virtual number with a limited validity period.
What is Virtual Number for SMS — Key Aspects of the Digital Tool
What is virtual phone number for SMS, and how does it operate? This service is similar to regular mobile phone numbers in that they can also receive text messages. However, there are a few important differences:
- No physical SIM card required. Compared to regular numbers that receive an SMS message to a smartphone or other devices, when utilizing a virtual number, it comes to a special cloud or desktop software.
- Rental period from 20 minutes to up to 90 days. After you bypass OTP wihout phone number and the validity period ends, the virtual phone number will expire.
- Anonymous purchase is possible. When buying a virtual number, it doesn’t require you to open up your national ID or other PoF, so there is no need to compromise your real identity.
- Not tied to an end user but your account on the vendor’s platform that you can register anonymously. Thus, it also ensures a higher level of anonymity within the system that you register to with it.
- Real geolocation is not to be disclosed. Another advantage of this technology is that you can leverage extra tools like VPN and virtually register from any required location.
- Very affordable price. Speaking of the SMS-man’s virtual numbers for SMS, the starting price per number that is valid for 20 minutes is $0.16 depending on the service you use it with.
Given all the above mentioned pros, virtual numbers for SMS are a very helpful tool when you need to create and verify an account without phone number in almost any messenger, social network, marketplace, and other online services that require two-factor authentication.
Is the service not available in your country? Or does the platform only accept local numbers for registration (for example, this often reffers to Chinese services)? Or do you need to create many advertising accounts for newsletters at once? In all these cases, virtual numbers will help you set up an account for a few minutes with no effort. So, how can you do this? Let’s learn it from the next section.
How to Register an Account without Phone Number in Any Service in 2024
To purchase a virtual phone number for SMS, please follow this straightforward instruction:
- Sign up for sms-man.com with an email or join through Google+.
- To add money to the balance, click the “Top Up” button in the top right corner.
- After that, to buy a one-time virtual number, enter “Receive SMS”. Select the required service and the country you need to register from. Click “Buy”.
- Get the number from the history of purchases by scrolling down the page and utilize it for registration on a platform.
- To get an OTP for passing verification, return to SMS-man and request it by clicking “Get SMS”.
- Leverage the time-based OTP to finalize verification.