# Text wrong number scam? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 26, 2023, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/text-wrong-number-scam/981687 "2023-03-26T20:46:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/text-wrong-number-scam/981687/21 "2023-03-27T12:49:09Z")
I’ve gotten what i think were legitimate wrong numbers via text. If course, they didn’t try to engage me. I said “i think you have the wrong number” and they said “sorry”, and never texted again. I’ve also accidentally texted the wrong person. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/text-wrong-number-scam/981687/22 "2023-03-27T12:52:09Z")
I understand, and I certainly wouldn’t criticize you for being considerate. On the other hand, I’m always going to err on the side of caution. My feeling is that, if I never respond, they’ll figure out on their own that they had the wrong number. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/text-wrong-number-scam/981687/23 "2023-03-27T12:59:22Z")
Yes, no harm ignoring legitimate wrong numbers, they should realize they made a mistake if you don’t respond. But, if they _are_ a scammer (and usually they are), then even if you respond negatively, then they know they have a live number and are more likely to keep you on the call list. Let the _pros_ respond. They have the burner phones and virtual computers. They can’t be harmed. ---
**Author:** ![slicedalone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slicedalone/32/12515_2.png) [@slicedalone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slicedalone)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/text-wrong-number-scam/981687/24 "2023-03-27T13:02:25Z")
> [@Tibby](#): > > Let the _pros_ respond. i think this is the wise choice here. ---
**Author:** ![Eric1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3bc359/32.png) [@Eric1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eric1)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/text-wrong-number-scam/981687/25 "2023-03-27T13:23:58Z")
One time I had texted the wrong number a couple times and the respondent wrote “Man who’s this n-word writing to me!!!” It got me off the line. ---
**Author:** ![Eric1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3bc359/32.png) [@Eric1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eric1)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/text-wrong-number-scam/981687/26 "2023-03-27T14:17:02Z")
I shouldn’t have shared that story-I apologize. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/text-wrong-number-scam/981687/27 "2023-03-27T14:31:58Z")
I’ve been getting a text ostensibly from a storage place in NC (which does exist), receipts for some woman apparently. 3 months ago she was apparently late on her payment, but I got the notification. Now I am getting one confirming that she has decided to terminate her account there. Yay. [I hope] Not helped by my Samsung’s number blocking feature not actually blocking anything.[/wrong thread] If it was just a simple case of a digit transposition, you’d think she’d eventually wonder why she wasn’t getting anything from them (esp. if they almost canceled her account) and had gotten them to correct the number. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/text-wrong-number-scam/981687/28 "2023-03-27T14:38:55Z")
Maybe she also had an email hooked up to the account and was getting updates that way? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/text-wrong-number-scam/981687/29 "2023-03-27T16:19:42Z")
How long have you had the number? Maybe it used to be hers. I used to get faxes (on a virtual fax machine, so they showed up as files on my work laptop) that were intended for a medical facility across the country from me. They were legit. Multi-page files full of medical details about people I didn’t know. I contacted them, but had to do it several times before I stopped getting those faxes. I mention it because a fax, like a text, is a phone number. (The medical details weren’t very interesting, at least. Teenage boy who weighs a normal amount and is a normal height has broken shoulder blade, normal blood work, yada yada, that kind of thing.) ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2023, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/text-wrong-number-scam/981687/30 "2023-03-27T16:27:06Z")
13+ years. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2023, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/text-wrong-number-scam/981687/31 "2023-03-28T06:45:01Z")
Last year a friend accidentally pulled up a old number for one of our friends in a group text. Five of us texted back and forth setting up a lunch date. The wrong number participated in all of this, even saying they could not go on one day because they had a doctor’s appointment. We finally realized something was wrong when that person asked for the address of the restaurant. The person we thought we were texting with is the ex-wife of the restaurant’s owner. We dropped that group text and started texting each other trying to figure out what was happening. My friend finally realized he had pulled up an old number. I guess the wrong number thought it would be funny to play along. Which it kind of was. We joked that maybe they would show up for the lunch date, too. ---
**Author:** ![Rack-a-Bones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rack-a-Bones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rack-a-Bones)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2023, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/text-wrong-number-scam/981687/32 "2023-03-28T07:18:12Z")
I got one like this. It was from a NJ area code saying it was Anna and she was asking is this David? I’m not David. I asked if “she” liked naked ass play in a hot tub and the reply was “this doesn’t sound like David” so I apologized thinking it just may have been a wrong number scenario. “Anna” claimed to be a Chinese woman living in LA working in import/export. She asked a lot of questions and the wording was just ESL-y enough that I started to believe it was a real person. None of the questions were financial or seemed in any way scammy. I have too much time on my hands and engaged for a bit but being very vague. I eventually told “Anna” I was an unemployed, 60 y/o, Christian Buddhist that lived in my car, I received a text a day or so later saying she’d been busy and only just read my text. I replied she could text any time as I didn’t work, except Wednesdays from 11-1 since that was shower day at the temple. Never heard back. Never asked for any personal info except my age. I’m sure it was a scam of some sort but I couldn’t figure out for what. ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2023, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/text-wrong-number-scam/981687/33 "2023-03-28T08:38:35Z")
Back in the 90’s I came home one day to find a message on my answer phone that was clearly a wrong number. It was a senior nurse trying to call one of her staff in to cover a shift at the local hospital as they were short handed. I was worried about her patients not getting the care they deserved, so I called her back and told her about her mistake. A few minutes after I hung up, the phone rang again. She was genuinly impressed by my thoughtfullness and liked the sound of my voice. Would I let her buy me a drink sometime as a thank you? We dated for about 6 months after that until our different shift patterns made it too difficult. Innocent times before the internet ruined everything! ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2023, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/text-wrong-number-scam/981687/34 "2023-04-04T19:12:04Z")
I get occasional spam texts asking me if I still own the property at “272 W Morrison St” or whatever and they have a client interested in buying it. I always block the number and then a month or so later I get another one, ostensibly from a different person. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/text-wrong-number-scam/981687.md?page=1)