What is a temporary phone number?
It may seem impossible, but giving out your phone number is practically the same as giving out your personal information. In this age of technical innovation, hackers and spammers are smarter than you believe. The truth remains that disclosing your cell phone number on the internet puts your privacy at danger. If you’re like many other people who enter their phone numbers in any online registration form, you’re likely to be scammed. As a result, you must safeguard yourself against unwanted online attention.
A temporary phone number reduces the risk of spam and scamming. Consider signing up or registering online with a temporary phone number rather than your real contact number. You will receive a verification code via your disposable mobile number, and once the transaction is completed, you can cancel the service of the temporary mobile number instantly. As a result, there is no way for unscrupulous individuals to access your information. You could also ask if these folks can find out more about you just by knowing your phone number.
How can it keep your information private?
Consider the following scenario:
Have you ever signed up or registered for something online before? Of course, you’ve probably done it at least once. When you sign up for a newsletter, special deals, coupons, or vouchers, the website will ask for your phone number so that they can verify that you are a real person. Why do they need to double-check? Because a large number of registrations are generated by ‘robots.’ To avoid this, they are requesting your mobile phone number for verification purposes.
Remember that providing your phone number online exposes you to public scrutiny. And that’s exactly when scammers and fraudsters are waiting to utilise your phone number in illegal activities like spamming, phishing, spoofing, and identity theft.
Take a look at the top 12 largest data breaches ever (Source – Wikipedia.org). Companies like Facebook hold a huge swath of user information, including your cell phone number.
| Company | Year | User Records |
| Yahoo | 2013 | 3,000,000,000 |
| First American Corporation | 2019 | 885,000,000 |
| 2019 | 540,000,000 | |
| Marriott International | 2018 | 500,000,000 |
| Yahoo | 2014 | 500,000,000 |
| Friend Finder Networks | 2016 | 412,214,295 |
| Exactis | 2018 | 340,000,000 |
| Airtel | 2019 | 320,000,000 |
| Truecaller | 2019 | 299,055,000 |
| MongoDB | 2019 | 275,000,000 |
| Wattpad | 2020 | 270,000,000 |
| 2019 | 267,000,000 |
Given that the largest tech companies in the world have been hacked, it’s likely that your phone number will eventually get leaked. This is another key reason why you should use a temporary phone number on sites where you do not want your personal information to be potentially leaked.
You can use temporary phone numbers to:
- Protect your privacy by keeping your real number hidden
- Sign up for services and platforms
- Get a verification / one time ping code for PayPal, Discord, Twitter and other apps
Downsides of a temporary / disposable phone number
Most temporary phone number platforms offer publicly available numbers – where everyone can see the messages for any particular number. You should NEVER use a temporary phone number for important accounts like banking and other financial / critical information.
Another drawback is that these temp numbers are often VOIP-based. These can be easily identified and blocked by platforms like Discord, Whatsapp etc. To get around this limitation, quackr.io offers non-voip numbers which you can buy for sms verification.
How do I get a temporary mobile phone number
Fortunately, there are various apps that provide temporary mobile phone numbers. quackr, for example, can provide you with a wide range of phone numbers to pick from, and the best thing is that they are free! Why not choose quackr today if you need a temporary phone number that will provide you with reliability and convenience?
Summary
When conducting business online, your privacy should be your top priority. It’s disheartening to believe that many people are still unaware of the value of a temporary phone number. We’ve detailed important reasons that disposable mobile numbers will keep you safe from unwanted online attention as well as the anxiety and fear of being scammed.