Pretty sure this is made up.
- How would the scammer know they were the ones who posted their number on Craigslist.
- Scammer's number is usually a spoof. Not the actual number.
this post was submitted on 28 Jan 2026
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Also no scammer would not take the opportunity to scam more people.
And now in this made up story, he has fresh supply of gullible people!
Yeah becareful about 2. I have gotten at least 3 angry phone calls now from people I don't know telling me to stop calling them when it wasn't me :/
I once had a spam caller call with my own number spoofed. Awkward.
That's how you could get to voicemail with no pin. Phone companies had/have the crappiest security.
Did you post your number on Craigslist?
And did you then call yourself to say “go fuck yourself!”?
That's hilarious
Got another one today. I get 1 or 2 every month.
Damn that sucks 😞
At this point I have developed a spiel for them. I apologize and let them know that I have not called anyone, but that some spammer likes to spoof my number on the regular and that I get one of these calls every few weeks. If they are still angry or say something about me needing to change my number, i mention 2 factor authentication and that it would take me literally years to break free of this number and even then there would be issues, so it just isn't worth it yet.
- The scam link is invalid
Also that URL they linked isn't even a valid link
It can be if they've already tricked you into using their VPN, but I think you might have to he advanced stupid to fall for that AND the text
I have never heard of a scammer getting you to connect to their VPN. That makes no sense. If they've got you installing arbitrary software, you're already owned
Yes, hence the advanced stupid.
if they only tried to scam one person
Sure, but that's unlikely. Scamming is a numbers game.
programmer detective brain ><
As I like a good scammer scamming, they use spoofing technique to masked their real numbers. So don’t do that
Aren't those numbers typically just from servers rather than an actual SIM card in a physical phone?
They are from SIM card farms. 
Nature is beautiful
Really makes you proud to be living in the golden age.
Usually they are just spoofed, and the real owner of the number is innocent.
The number is spoofed yes, but the SIM card still has to be real in order to connect.
Kinda irrelevant in this context though, since OOP (allegedly) listed the spoofed number on craigslist.
Oh definitely, but the person I originally replied to asked if they were servers, not real SIM cards.
They asked if the numbers were from servers. No, the numbers are fake. The calls may be backed by SIMs, and that is an interesting implementation detail, but doesn't change how to treat them (which is don't try to retaliate)
Jesus Christ, how horrifying.
First day on the internet? stay pure
TIL
Right but it's not true
My dad took my old phone out to a SIM card farm upstate
I'm not one who worries about RF and my health, but I'm not too sure I'd hang around that setup very long
NSFW warning
You can report scammers to the FTC using your number and the time of the call, as well as their number, name, and any additional information:
https://www.donotcall.gov/report.html#step1
I highly recommend this because, believe it or not, these scammers do get caught. The sooner the better, they can do irreparable harm in the meantime to people more vulnerable than you.
All the ones calling me are from India. The FTC has no power there.
And they're spoofing the number.
For as vulnerable as SS7 is, there are records for calls at the phone companies that can be traced back to the offending members.
In order to run these operations requires a well regulated access point.
There isn't a person sitting on a phone sending thousands of texts. These are spoofed numbers. There is no human on the other end whose phone will get inundated with calls if you post their number online.
It’s a damn shame too. Lazy/greedy ass phone companies couldn’t care less either. They even monopolize it by having add-on services to block spam. Fucking vultures. Both the phone companies and scammers.
Scam calls and texts always use call ID spoofing. Blocking them would be easy if they used their actual number.
And now you're banned from Craigslist.
Win win
As others have said, there is no way those scam/spam messages are actually coming from that number.
again, an instance of funny proves tech illiteracy and boundless idiocy