How to avoid phone number harvesting

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Rikkitic

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#324952 18-Jun-2026 14:27

I am a pensioner and as a matter of preference I do not use a phone for anything other than emergencies and appointments where there is no other alternative. Accordingly, my phone is a dumb one. People I want to be in touch with all know they can reach me by email and no other way. My on-line activities are all by browser.

Increasingly, payment sites and other services are demanding I input a phone number on their forms in order to proceed. I object to this, especially when my phone has nothing to do with the provision of the service. Giving out the number when it is not actually needed for anything mainly just results in unwanted text messages, which I make a point of never reading anyway.

How can I avoid or prevent this? I don't mind giving out my number if there is a real reason for it, but in my experience there usually isn't. Email is perfectly adequate for appointment reminders and similar purposes. Anything else mainly just invites unwanted spam messages. I don't see why I should have to put up with this.

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eracode

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#3504009 18-Jun-2026 14:47

I guess I’m an average device user and I generally give out my phone number when it’s asked for. I go months without receiving any unwanted calls. I also get negligible spam messages. OTOH I do get a lot of spam email.

Email may be ‘adequate’ but IMO it’s a lot less convenient than receiving messages from people from whom I want to hear.

I don’t really understand what it is that you’re worried about concerning your phone number. I think email represents more of a problem.

Recently I was dropping something at a dry cleaner and was asked for my phone number - and I gave it - and my email address - and I said nah.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

Behodar

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#3504010 18-Jun-2026 14:52

Rikkitic:

Increasingly, payment sites and other services are demanding I input a phone number on their forms in order to proceed. I object to this, especially when my phone has nothing to do with the provision of the service.

I agree with you. It's been 15+ years since "naked broadband" came along and a huge number of websites still blindly assume you have/want/use a phone. I consider it to be a legacy technology and also object to giving out the number.

Paul1977

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#3504015 18-Jun-2026 15:14

Behodar:

I agree with you. It's been 15+ years since "naked broadband" came along and a huge number of websites still blindly assume you have/want/use a phone. I consider it to be a legacy technology and also object to giving out the number.

A landline could be considered legacy technology, but almost everyone is still contactable via phone (it's just mostly mobile now), so that's not really an argument on its own.

But I agree that the only contact details that should be "required fields" are the ones that are actually needed.

wellygary

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#3504022 18-Jun-2026 15:37

Give them a bogus landline number and see what happens..

alasta

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#3504046 18-Jun-2026 16:19

wellygary:

Give them a bogus landline number and see what happens..

This is what I do.

I actually wonder if there might be an argument that companies are breaching the privacy act by collecting your phone number if they have no particular need to contact you by phone.

richms

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#3504059 18-Jun-2026 17:01

The justification is that it's needed for couriers. It also usually allows anyone who happens to end up with that number to recover your account so I don't like putting my burner numbers in since they may randomly decide to implement SMS fake 2 factor at some point.

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gzt

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#3504079 18-Jun-2026 18:24

Rikkitic: How can I avoid or prevent this? I don't mind giving out my number if there is a real reason for it, but in my experience there usually isn't. Email is perfectly adequate for appointment reminders and similar purposes. Anything else mainly just invites unwanted spam messages. I don't see why I should have to put up with this.

Entering a bunch of zeros works about 80% of the time.

robjg63

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#3504080 18-Jun-2026 18:25

You have a 'dumb' phone - not sure exactly what that might be, but a 'smart' phone (e.g. Android/Samsung) does have some useful tools.

Samsung android phones (presumably other android phones too - maybe some at a cost), have quite good call screening available.

Firstly, it has a lookup database that will often display busness names etc on an incoming call - even if you dont have the number in your contacts.

Secondly, there is also a degree of 'spam' filtering available - a call can come up flagged as potentially a spam number.

Both are useful tools to enable.

You could look up the https://www.hiya.com/products/apps/hiya-spam-blocker product - as an end user there is a basic free version.

I agree though that supplying your mobile to all sorts of semi random people is annoying and opens the door to potential abuse.

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LostBoyNZ

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#3504100 18-Jun-2026 19:30

Rikkitic:

How can I avoid or prevent this?

That is tricky with what you call a 'dumb phone', yes. You could buy a SIM card, usually around $2, activate it on your phone and don't top it up with any credit, then just put that SIM card in a draw somewhere. For a year you'll have a valid phone number you can give out, and in the rare case a site must text you a validation code, I suppose you could put the SIM back into your phone just for that.

You could also buy a bunch of the cheap SIM cards at once, and just use one a year. They normally won't expire just sitting there, within a few years at least.

In NZ it's super easy to buy a bunch of SIM cards, no ID required or anything like that, no restrictions that some countries have.

As others have said though, I can say that Samsung seems to do a great job with anti spam measures, I maybe get one spam call in a year, even though my business phone number is published online for all to see and scrape, and I give out my personal number when purchasing things online.

Even if you only use basic features on a smart phone, it can be a way to prevent the problem, if changing phones is something you're open to. And at least in the past, some low end Samsung phones support two SIM cards, and you can just turn one off in the SIM settings, then turn it back on if ever needed.

But I think just getting a second SIM and activating it could be one option to consider.

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Stu1

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#3504101 18-Jun-2026 19:40

Behodar:

Rikkitic:

Increasingly, payment sites and other services are demanding I input a phone number on their forms in order to proceed. I object to this, especially when my phone has nothing to do with the provision of the service.

I agree with you. It's been 15+ years since "naked broadband" came along and a huge number of websites still blindly assume you have/want/use a phone. I consider it to be a legacy technology and also object to giving out the number.

It’s collected for MFA and notifications should be able to opt out but many organisations don’t. Banks are the worse often need a mobile to get a MFA code