big of an interesting one here..

Is it possible to spoof a SMS message? eg to show as it being sent from someone elses number?

weve got a bit of an issue at work that abusive sms messages were sent from someones mobile, to several customers and collegues.. problem is, i had the phone in-front of me at the time they were allegedly sent (its not my phone btw :P ) the user had lost their phone the week before, so it had been barred, and a new sim ordered. i had the new phone and sim in front of me, and had requested its activation a couple of hours previously.. so that pretty much rules out it actually being sent from the users phone, as the old sim was barred, and the new sim had not been activated... anyone konw any ideas.

I remember a website (a few years ago) that allowed you to send an SMS message and type in a number / name which would show as the sender. As a joke I sent a message to my mate telling him he'd won a free drink at the local bar. Wanted to see the look on his face when he tried to get the drink...but I couldn't believe it when the barman actually gave him one!

Anyway...it was possible from that website but I don't know if it's still possible? Sounds like it might be...

You would need to contact the network provider. If you have the registered owner there you should be able to track each text sent from that number.

You could also ask the protocol on abusive texts - I know the police need to be involved.

I'd be interested to see if it were possible to change the number a text is sent from. I'm sure its possible in this day and age though... :(

being spoofed is the only thing i can come up with.. the nature of the txt incriminated both the user, and one of her collegues so it was an inside job.. possibly relating to the phone she lost.. because of the numbers stored on the phone etc.

it cant have come from her old mobile as it was barred, it cant have come from anything to do with her phone as it wasnt active..

the operator can get me details of all the calls/txts made from the number but it takes 48h to register, and this happened yesterday... its gone right up to director level, so im under quite a bit of pressure :eek:

It's possible to spoof senders details when using a PC and either software or a webpage (don't know any specifics , sorry) but not from another mobile handset.

Thats why you can sometimes get spam texts that appear to have come from a name rather than a number.

clicky

ok... got a bit more info now..

is it possible to have a 2 way spoofing? eg if a message is spoofed, and they reply, can the reply go to somewhere else??

apparently there have been 2 way conversations involved :confused:

Not much help I know Colin, but I've had a very nasty experience on my personal mobile a few years back

Basically, lost the phone but had the phoned off and had it programmed so that the SIM pin number needed to be put in when trying to use it.

Reported it lost 2 days later (was travelling at the time).

So admittedly, I didn't have it barred by the operator but when I phoned the operator 2 days later to nuke the sim, I asked if any phone calls had been made on the account. She said she couldn't tell.

2 weeks later, the bill came in. About

ok... got a bit more info now..

is it possible to have a 2 way spoofing? eg if a message is spoofed' date=' and they reply, can the reply go to somewhere else??

apparently there have been 2 way conversations involved :confused:[/quote']

No.

If the "from" field is fake then replies will go back to the fake number , just as happens with emails with wrong "from" addresses.

No.

If the "from" field is fake then replies will go back to the fake number ' date=' just as happens with emails with wrong "from" addresses.[/quote']

So this gets more and more bizzare. but having tested spoofing sms messages, if they hit reply, it goes back to whose ever number i spoofed.

but if the mobile with that numbers SIM in it was in a sealed box on my desk.. how could someone have replied?! :confused:

So this gets more and more bizzare. but having tested spoofing sms messages' date=' if they hit reply, it goes back to whose ever number i spoofed.

but if the mobile with that numbers SIM in it was in a sealed box on my desk.. how could someone have replied?! :confused:[/quote']

Is it possible that the hoaxer knew a reply had been sent?

I'm guessing so as it sounds like it's all people who work together.

It would have been sent back to the spoofed number which they wouldn't have had access to , but they could have guessed what was in the reply and sent a second spoofed message and so on.

did you get the message on the sealed phone also? this would confirm that a spoofed number was used surely?