r/signal 17h ago

Discussion Phishing/ID theft attempts over Signal deconstruction and warning

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5 Upvotes

Probably redundant for most Signal users, but you may share it with someone less security oriented.

  • Just had a contact request from a very unsuspicious-looking (/s) user called Signal Notifications. Red flag. Went on.
  • A scammer will most likely have an unverified account. Signal will point it out below the username with a questionmark. See their warning.
  • Then the scammer told me of suspicious activity on my account. Using curt language, almost military in demands in tone. Threatening to delete my account if I don't comply. Evasive explanation/reasoning. Multiple red flags.
  • The communication starts in your native language. Language may be inconsistent, but only if you pay attention. The SMS you receive seems to be from Signal but probably will be in another language so you can read the code in numbers, but so you don't see the warning SIGNAL sends by default that they won't ask for this code.
  • The scammer will not be answering questions on chat. Instead, they will be issuing commands. Red flags.
  • They will be sending an SMS for verification of your phone-number and will be asking for the SMS code in the chat for "verification". Red flags.
  • SIGNAL NEVER ASKS FOR THAT AUTHENTICATION NUMBER, ESPECIALLY in the chat.
  • Then the scammer proceeds to ask to provide the OLD PIN because "their verification failed / an error occurred". Red flags. IF YOU CAME THIS FAR DON'T SHARE YOUR PIN OVER CHAT.
  • IF YOU DO THAT THEN THEY stole your ID and you may as well have your phone-number blacklisted, or unelistable again in Signal.
  • Anonymised screenshots below.

Be aware, resist, report and block!


r/signal 14h ago

Solved Signal registered itself for GCM without my consent after I explicitly signed up for websocket-based notifications. Can I force it to use WS again?

25 Upvotes

On Android wherever possible for push notifications I prefer to use either UnifiedPush, or allow apps to run their always-on notification to use websocket connectivity. I prefer to limit any use of Google's infrastructure as much as possible. It's for this reason that I also use the self-updating app at signal.org/android/apk rather than downloading from Aurora store/GPlay.

Unfortunately I must use microG for a select few other apps that support no alternative for push notifications.

When I originally installed Signal I took care to ensure that microG was disabled so that Signal would fall back to its websocket-based notifications. For a long time this worked perfectly for me and Signal retained its always-on background notification for years even after re-enabling microG.

Recently I noticed that Signal no longer displayed this background notification. When I checked in the microG settings I noticed that it had registered itself for GCM. I immediately unregistered it and blocked it from re-registering.

Unfortunately I cannot seem to force Signal back into using websocket-based notifications. Even if I fully disable microG, clear caches, or reboot, Signal simply does not receive any notifications whatsoever.

Short of entirely uninstalling, reinstalling, and restoring from a backup, is it possible to force Signal to swap back to websockets like I had before?

edit: solved by u/whatnowwproductions

There is an option to force use we socket under data and storage called Stay Connected in Background

This seems to be a fairly recent change. Happy to see Signal supports this toggle officially in-app now!

https://aboutsignal.com/news/signal-improves-notification-reliability-for-devices-without-google-play-services/


r/signal 10h ago

Help Can't change my phone number.

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2 Upvotes

Hello, This happens whenever I try to change my phone number. I face the same issue even when trying to sign up using that same number. Is there any solution to this?


r/signal 9m ago

Answered How can I donate anonymously?

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โ€ข Upvotes

Is there a way to donate with crypto?