Risks of Giving Out Your Phone Number for Registration on the Internet
Menu Close

Risks of Giving Out Your Phone Number for Online Registration

Risks of Giving Out Your Phone Number for Online Registration

These days, almost every account registration — whether it’s on social media, dating sites and apps, online shopping platforms, payment systems, and any other web services — doesn’t go without passing SMS verification. It means that first you register an account using a mobile phone number and, after that, verify it by applying a digit code you received in the SMS. Thus, this kind of authentication ensures two-layer and therefore stronger and more efficient protection of accounts from unauthorized entry.

Besides, two-factor authentication (2FA) is used for account recovery if the user has forgotten the password — so, in theory, it was implemented to serve for the benefit of users. However, today there are more and more examples that using a personal phone number for online registration isn’t safe at all.

Phone number verification

So, in this article, we’ll discuss:

  • What are the dangers of giving out your mobile number to online services?
  • What are the alternatives of disclosing a private phone number on the web not to be compromised?
  • How to purchase or rent a virtual phone number for online registration at sms-man.com?

How Dangerous is Using a Private Phone Number for Registration on the Internet

The worst thing about providing a personal mobile number for account registration is the fact that sooner or later it may fall into scammers’ hands. Due to an unintentional data breach or because the service you’d registered to turned out to sell user data. Indeed, the reason isn’t so important. The more your personal data they have, the easier they can get access to everything else.

How Dangerous is Using a Private Phone Number for Registration on the Internet

Well, let’s say they got it. So, what can scammers do with your phone number? Since they are getting smarter each day, here are just a few things they can do:

  • Redirect your number. They can reroute calls and messages from your mobile phone to their number — and get access to your email account. Hackers can contact your provider claiming to be you, then get a reset link to their phone and enter your email account.
  • Steal your data and infect your phone with malware. Scammers do not steal, they phish. If you ever receive an SMS-message with a suspicious link asking you to follow it, we do not recommend you doing so. Often, hackers lure you to specially created fake sites that collect your data and send it to attackers. Or, through a link, they may plant malware to your device and then grab important data such as passwords, credit card numbers, etc.
  • Phone number spoofing. Caller ID spoofing is a technology that allows scammers to make calls as if it were you calling. In fact, they call from their phone, but it’s your number that is displayed on the screen of the person receiving the call. And all they need to make it possible is to get your phone number for it. Today, it’s not difficult, since there are many applications where anyone can change caller ID in a few clicks.

Indeed, there are many more phone number scams today than we can list in this article. Therefore, we do not recommend using your private phone number for account registration not to unwittingly compromise yourself. But what are the ways of not sharing your personal mobile phone to pass two-factor authentication in almost any online service? One of the most convenient is a disposable phone number for verification.

Virtual Phone Numbers as a Way to Protect Yourself Online

Virtual phone number is a temporary phone that you can buy or rent from a provider to receive text messages and, sometimes, make calls (SMS-man doesn’t provide calling functionality). That’s why virtual numbers fit best for account registration.

In fact, it works similar to a regular mobile number, as if you bought a second SIM card or a disposable prepaid cellphone, but sends a signal through VoIP. Besides, virtual numbers are cheaper and you can obtain them online in five minutes or so.

In addition, today many online services and shopping platforms require a unique phone number for account registration. Given that, when buying a virtual number at SMS-man, the user needs to select the service. This way, our platform will be able to provide you with a phone number that has not been used before.

Virtual Phone Number for Registration

So, how can you obtain a virtual number with SMS-man? Let’s see:

  1. First, register at sms-man.com using your email address or social network account.
  2. Top up your balance by clicking on “Top up my balance” from the menu on the left;
  3. Go back to the main page to select your mobile number country and service;
  4. Click the “Buy” button next to the selected service and wait until the system adds it to the “History” section;
  5. Copy the phone number and indicate it when registering with the service you selected earlier;
  6. When you need to get a confirmation code when registering, go back to SMS-man and click ” Receive SMS “;
  7. The text you receive can be seen to the right of the purchased phone number.

Leave a Reply