----- Original Message ----- > From: "Andrew Haninger" <ahan...@mindspring.com> > To: "Joe Blanchard" <jbfixu...@gmail.com> > Cc: nanog@nanog.org > Sent: Friday, December 17, 2010 1:28:47 AM > Subject: Re: OT - NO (Non-Operational) Question > On Fri, Dec 17, 2010 at 12:22 AM, Joe Blanchard <jbfixu...@gmail.com> > wrote: > > > It appears there's really no easy way to determine the origin of a > > text sent to a cell... > > > For shortcodes, Neustar provided a list: > > https://www.usshortcodes.com/csc/directory/directoryList.do?method=showDirectory&group=all > > For regular cellular numbers, the Wireless Amber Alert site is popular > amongst MVNO (e.g. prepaid) users to find out so they can use the > email-to-text gateways: > > http://www.wirelessamberalerts.com/ > > (You don't actually sign up, just enter the number and then it will > tell you > the carrier.) > > For landlines/VoIP/etc. Google should be able to tell you at least the > city/state. Though it's rare that you will get a text from a landline, > it is possible.
I could be wrong, but I think the actual question was "is it realistic to assume a text to a cellphone came from the number it *says* it came from?" and I think the answer is "no, there are a few ways to spoof it". Received SMS messages are probably not evidentiary, absent a report from the receiving carrier of the message traffic log involved, which would itself be hearsay unless someone testified about it. Cheers, -- jra
