What is the risk of using unverified phone numbers?
Posted: Wed May 21, 2025 6:57 am
Using unverified phone numbers poses a significant and multifaceted risk to businesses across various operations. It can lead to substantial financial losses, operational inefficiencies, damage to brand reputation, and compromised security. Essentially, an unverified phone number is an unknown quantity, carrying potential liabilities.
Here are the key risks of using unverified phone numbers:
Increased Fraud and Security Vulnerabilities:
Fake Account Creation: Unverified numbers are a uk number database gateway for fraudsters and bots to create numerous fake accounts. These accounts can be used for spamming, distributing malware, creating fake reviews, or launching other malicious campaigns.
SMS Pumping Fraud: If your system sends automated SMS (e.g., OTPs, marketing messages) to unverified numbers, fraudsters can exploit this to perform SMS pumping. They provide premium-rate numbers they control, leading to massive, fraudulent charges on your SMS bill.
Account Takeover Attempts: While not directly enabling SIM swap fraud, unverified numbers make it harder to detect or prevent it. If a number is tied to an account but hasn't been verified, a fraudster who acquires access to other credentials might easily link it to a compromised number for 2FA bypass.
Phishing/Smishing Risk: If unverified numbers are used in communications, there's a higher chance they could be part of a phishing database, increasing the risk of your legitimate messages being mimicked by fraudsters.
Wasted Communication Costs:
SMS and Voice Call Charges: Every SMS sent or call made to a disconnected, invalid, or non-existent phone number is a wasted expense. These costs accumulate rapidly, especially for businesses with large customer bases or extensive outreach programs.
Failed Deliveries: Unverified numbers lead to high bounce rates for SMS campaigns and failed calls, meaning your messages are not reaching their intended recipients, rendering communication efforts ineffective.
Here are the key risks of using unverified phone numbers:
Increased Fraud and Security Vulnerabilities:
Fake Account Creation: Unverified numbers are a uk number database gateway for fraudsters and bots to create numerous fake accounts. These accounts can be used for spamming, distributing malware, creating fake reviews, or launching other malicious campaigns.
SMS Pumping Fraud: If your system sends automated SMS (e.g., OTPs, marketing messages) to unverified numbers, fraudsters can exploit this to perform SMS pumping. They provide premium-rate numbers they control, leading to massive, fraudulent charges on your SMS bill.
Account Takeover Attempts: While not directly enabling SIM swap fraud, unverified numbers make it harder to detect or prevent it. If a number is tied to an account but hasn't been verified, a fraudster who acquires access to other credentials might easily link it to a compromised number for 2FA bypass.
Phishing/Smishing Risk: If unverified numbers are used in communications, there's a higher chance they could be part of a phishing database, increasing the risk of your legitimate messages being mimicked by fraudsters.
Wasted Communication Costs:
SMS and Voice Call Charges: Every SMS sent or call made to a disconnected, invalid, or non-existent phone number is a wasted expense. These costs accumulate rapidly, especially for businesses with large customer bases or extensive outreach programs.
Failed Deliveries: Unverified numbers lead to high bounce rates for SMS campaigns and failed calls, meaning your messages are not reaching their intended recipients, rendering communication efforts ineffective.