Question
Does Twilio support SMS phone number spoofing?
Environment
legacy Twilio Console
Answer
No, Twilio does not support SMS phone number spoofing.
The term "spoofing" in SMS refers to sending messages that appear to come from a phone number that you don’t actually own. This practice is sometimes associated with malicious use cases, such as fraud and phishing, and is forbidden by some countries and carriers.
Additional Information
There are three ways to use a phone number to send SMS on Twilio:
- Buy an SMS-capable number directly from Twilio's inventory, using the Twilio Console or the API.
- Port-in an SMS-capable phone number that you already have with another provider (move the number's Voice and SMS capabilities to Twilio).
- Host a number for SMS (move the number's SMS capabilities to Twilio, while leaving Voice service with the number's existing carrier).
Porting and hosting are not available in all countries or for all number types. Consult the links above to learn more.