# What would the point of this possible scam have been? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 5, 2022, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-point-of-this-possible-scam-have-been/965709 "2022-06-05T18:54:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![brossa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brossa/32/3040_2.png) [@brossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brossa)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2022, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-point-of-this-possible-scam-have-been/965709/1 "2022-06-05T18:54:07Z")
My mother, who lives in a different state, received a phone call from a water park in that state indicating that they had a voice mail from (my name) inquiring about a making a reservation. The callback number on the voice mail was my mother’s cell number. She rightfully said she had no idea what they were talking about, said nothing else, and contacted me. I also had no idea what they were talking about, so I called the park and spoke to the same person that had called my mother. The story I heard from her was the same: a voice mail from (my name), inquiring about making a reservation, and leaving my mother’s cell number. The park woman said that no reservation had actually been made, and no credit card number or other information was left. She said no reservation date was specified, and that there was no way of knowing what the originating phone number for the call was. So, what the hell? I can’t see how anyone benefits from this unless the waterpark is cold calling people to try to convince them that a related person wants to make a reservation? We’ll be keeping an eye on our respective credit card activity, but this is baffling to me. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2022, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-point-of-this-possible-scam-have-been/965709/2 "2022-06-05T18:58:28Z")
Could it have been a practical joke? Someone who knew your mother’s cell number _and_ your name made the call. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2022, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-point-of-this-possible-scam-have-been/965709/3 "2022-06-05T19:06:29Z")
Would the waterpark let you hear the original voice mail (made in your name) ? ---
**Author:** ![brossa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brossa/32/3040_2.png) [@brossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brossa)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2022, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-point-of-this-possible-scam-have-been/965709/4 "2022-06-05T19:23:45Z")
The park said that they could not play the voice mail for me. As for a practical joke, all it’s done is spook us. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2022, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-point-of-this-possible-scam-have-been/965709/5 "2022-06-05T19:23:49Z")
> [@brossa](#): > > I can’t see how anyone benefits from this unless the waterpark is cold calling people to try to convince them that a related person wants to make a reservation? I’m not sure what you mean here. How would that explain it? How would the waterpark know your name, and your mother’s cell number? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2022, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-point-of-this-possible-scam-have-been/965709/6 "2022-06-05T19:31:32Z")
How did you establish that it was in fact the waterpark calling about the supposed message, and not some scammer in a call centre somewhere? (You say you called them, but where did you get the number? From the original call log, or did you look it up?) I get scam calls saying they are from Amazon about an order. They are not actually about an order - that’s a ruse, because they are not from Amazon. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2022, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-point-of-this-possible-scam-have-been/965709/7 "2022-06-05T19:34:45Z")
I don’t know your mother so just hypothetically, and assuming you have the same last name as your mother, then perhaps they didn’t say your name to start with at all. They might mention to your mother they had an email from her ‘son’, and she offered up your first name, perhaps not intentionally, or they could have used other cold call techniques to drag it out. So it could be just phishing for anything and getting your mother’s confidence by pretending to being in contact with you. On the other side of this, if you have some kind of bad debt, or someone just thinks you do, they’ll do a lot more research before trying to collect the debt and they could have been trying to find and/or identify either you or your mother. ---
**Author:** ![brossa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brossa/32/3040_2.png) [@brossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brossa)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2022, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-point-of-this-possible-scam-have-been/965709/8 "2022-06-05T20:41:08Z")
Fwiw, the number that my mother got from them matched the number on the waterpark’s website; it’s an established location. **TriPolar** - that’s a good point; I’ll have to ask if they led with my name or if my mother may have volunteered it. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2022, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-point-of-this-possible-scam-have-been/965709/9 "2022-06-06T14:10:22Z")
> [@brossa](#): > > Fwiw, the number that my mother got from them matched the number on the waterpark’s website; it’s an established location. Fair enough. Weird dishonest sales tactic or some sort of weird honest mistake then, I’d say. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2022, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-point-of-this-possible-scam-have-been/965709/10 "2022-06-06T14:15:50Z")
> [@brossa](#): > > **TriPolar** - that’s a good point; I’ll have to ask if they led with my name or if my mother may have volunteered it. One of the things with that sort of cold reading techniques is the person often doesn’t remember exactly when certain information was mentioned, or who first mentioned it. It’s not the sort of thing most people pay attention to in a conversation. This is what the scammers rely on. ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2022, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-point-of-this-possible-scam-have-been/965709/11 "2022-06-06T14:34:42Z")
Is (your name) common enough for a coincidence to be a possibility? Imagine someone who shares your first name calls the park and leaves a first name and a message with a phone number. The phone number gets misheard or misrecorded as your mother’s number. (My work number is something like 555-8848. I get phone calls all the time for my co-worker, whose number is 555-8448.) The park calls your mother and says (your name) called about tickets. Your mother naturally assumes this has something to do with you and tells you. The park has no idea why either of you think returning a phone call is weird. Meanwhile, the person who shares (your name) either made other plans or called back and already bought her tickets. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2022, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-point-of-this-possible-scam-have-been/965709/12 "2022-06-06T14:45:19Z")
> [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](#): > > The phone number gets misheard or misrecorded as your mother’s number. (My work number is something like 555-8848. I get phone calls all the time for my co-worker, whose number is 555-8448.) Sometimes people get asked for a phone number some one should have left. They don’t have the phone number, lost it, can’t read it, forgot to ask for it, the dog ate it, whatevs, so they look it up by name and provide that. Same name, a phone number that matches the name but it’s wrong one, and under the right circumstances something worthy of Abbot and Costello could emerge. ---
**Author:** ![Steven\_Maven](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steven_maven/32/3272_2.png) [@Steven\_Maven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steven_Maven)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2022, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-point-of-this-possible-scam-have-been/965709/13 "2022-06-07T02:42:19Z")
> [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](#): > > The phone number gets misheard or misrecorded as your mother’s number. Never overlook incompetence as the explanation for anything. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2022, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-point-of-this-possible-scam-have-been/965709/14 "2022-06-07T07:35:14Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > One of the things with that sort of cold reading techniques is the person often doesn’t remember exactly when certain information was mentioned, or who first mentioned it. It’s not the sort of thing most people pay attention to in a conversation. This is what the scammers rely on. Yep, this is common in the ‘Mum, I broke my phone’ SMS scam. The message goes out in massive bulk, some of the potential victims will answer something like ‘Bobby, is that you?’ and the scammer now knows the name of the character they are playing.