# What Is This Weird Phone Number? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 23, 2009, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-weird-phone-number/511216 "2009-09-23T11:45:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-weird-phone-number/511216/1 "2009-09-23T11:45:56Z")
A few days ago I missed a call on my cell phone. The number wasn’t familiar, so I assumed it was just a wrong number and was about to delete it when I noticed that it was a very…well, strange number (for a telephone number). It was 02961450n5t252. What the heck are letters doing in a phone number? I suppose I could just call it, but I am somewhat paranoid about telemarketers and spam artists and haven’t. So I really don’t know if it is just got garbled by my phone or Sprint on the way in or is legit. In which case, I might should email a mod to xxx it out…I don’t want to be posting someone’s legit number on the internet after all. But I seriously doubt this is a real telephone number. In any case, if I’m violating some rule, I do apologize and mods can certainly delete or x out the offending number. But…what kind of phone number IS this? Anyone have an idea? ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-weird-phone-number/511216/2 "2009-09-23T12:00:52Z")
Um…google it. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-weird-phone-number/511216/3 "2009-09-23T12:48:02Z")
**Joe** , I Googled it but couldn’t find any conclusive information. Can you point me to the search result that you thought answered the question? **LiveOnAPlane** : Caller ID can be [spoofed](http://www.calleridspoofing.info/), so that’d be my guess as to why it doesn’t look like a real phone number. If so, it’s probably someone semi-shady calling — a scam artist or a debt collector or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-weird-phone-number/511216/4 "2009-09-23T13:13:39Z")
> [@Joe Frickin Friday](#): > > Um…google it. Don’t know what one would call this kind of mind set on my part, but googling it just never occured to me. It just never entered my head that one could google a phone number! So I just tried it. I found some hits! Mostly related to Craigslist scams with rental properties. Only, they were calling me in my case. Still, interesting stuff. But, what a weird phone number! …I still don’t know why I did not even consider doing a search…😕 ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-weird-phone-number/511216/5 "2009-09-23T13:16:55Z")
\*\*MikeS \*\*-- I bet that is how the number got that way; I don’t even know how I would actually enter a lower-case letter in a phone number, which was a major point of my confusion. But, spoofing, yeah, one could put anything in the Caller ID, couldn’t one? ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-weird-phone-number/511216/6 "2009-09-23T15:53:48Z")
Not quite as strange but I got a call from a major companies customer service the other day. The number on the caller ID was something like 87-263. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![IAmNotSpartacus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@IAmNotSpartacus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IAmNotSpartacus)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-weird-phone-number/511216/7 "2009-09-23T16:07:48Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > The number on the caller ID was something like 87-263. 😕 That would be the ANI their “extension” sends. I get some weird numbers coming up on my toll-free line, mostly from large government organizations with a convoluted and extensive PBX. ---
**Author:** ![Hennessy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hennessy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hennessy)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-weird-phone-number/511216/8 "2009-09-24T00:54:08Z")
Why don’t you just bing it? ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-weird-phone-number/511216/9 "2009-09-24T00:59:56Z")
> [@Hennessy](#): > > Why don’t you just bing it? Because google will get you this thread. Bing will get you pretty much what google does but without the vast resources of the SDMB. So bing is clearly inferior. ---
**Author:** ![Hennessy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hennessy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hennessy)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-weird-phone-number/511216/10 "2009-09-24T01:36:11Z")
Patience my friend, patience