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What's the deal with all those weird wrong-number texts?

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Re: What's the deal with all those weird wrong-number texts?

#191

Post by _tom_ »

jameshart wrote: post #117
muststopmyths wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess some of us are old enough that wrong numbers were a thing and it was just polite to let them know. Especially when it sounds legit

Wrong numbers generally used to be caused by misdialing. Nobody dials numbers any more.

I do.

It's good to have a few numbers memorized. What happens if your phone dies, and you need to call someone? If you don't know any phone numbers, you have an problem.

I dial a few of my contacts by number, just to set them in memory.

Re: What's the deal with all those weird wrong-number texts?

#192

Post by hackernewds »

londons_explore wrote: post #153
tornato7 wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some years ago I was selling an expensive aquarium on Craigslist, a scammer ‘paid’ me with a fake PayPal payment before asking to come pick it up. So I convinced him that I was the manager of a Red Lobster restaurant and it was an old lobster tank that we were selling. I told him to show up during business hours and tell the manager he’s there to pick up the lobster tank. The next day I got some ‘on my way’ texts and…

Actual scammers tend to not pick up the actual goods. It's hard to turn a profit by reselling an expensive aquarium tank that's probably pretty unique and they don't come up for sale frequently. I suspect you fleeced a real buyer

That scheme does not make any sense. What would they gain out of it

Re: What's the deal with all those weird wrong-number texts?

#193

Post by hackernewds »

nobody9999 wrote: post #122
RajT88 wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did this with some 419 scammers, and led them on a merry chase. I documented it in a private web forum, which entertained my friends for weeks. I had created this persona which was just too good to be true: A bank manager who was getting ready to run off with his mistress, and trying to secure a future for themselves with a quick payout. This fake persona was a total maniac. At the end, the scammers were super piss…

>I did this with some 419 scammers, and led them on a merry chase. I documented it in a private web forum, which entertained my friends for weeks. It's a bit dated now, but 419eater[0] is a public forum that did the same. If you enjoyed your own, I expect you'll like this too. I did the same a few times myself, but got bored after a while. I never did get anyone to send a photo of themselves with underwear on their h…

Possible they're the same story?

Re: What's the deal with all those weird wrong-number texts?

#194

Post by sshine »

usmannk wrote: post #178
noveltyaccount wrote: post #131

Related. I listed something for sale on Craigslist recently and got a bunch of messages right away that asked obvious questions that were in the listing. One suggested that his wife pick it up, and can I take Zelle? Went silent when I said cash only. But the most interesting scammer said: "for my safety, can I send you a 6-digit number, and you confirm it, so I know the listing is not fake?" I say yes, unsure what th…

They were not trying to steal your number. They were using your number to back a new google voice account, so that they could get another free number from google. It’s a common scam, used on facebook marketplace sellers as well, and actually works best if the victim has never used google voice before.

>> Mofo tried to steal my number, presumably to use it to scam other people.

> They were not trying to steal your number. They were using your number to back a new google voice account

I interpreted "steal my number" as "sign up using my number".

Perhaps the more accurate wording would be "impersonate me".

Either way, thanks for clarifying.

Re: What's the deal with all those weird wrong-number texts?

#195

Post by brewdad »

cmg wrote: post #74
avalys wrote: post #29

Wow, how interesting. I started getting these a few months ago, right after starting a new job in a somewhat high-profile area. I have been getting 1-2 per month but found them quite unusual because none of them ever progressed to an actual scam - just a few messages back and forth about the fabricated "wrong number" situation and then each thread would stop, seemingly earnestly. Since there was no obvious scam, I've…

I've gotten a few in the last couple months, with a US cellular number that I've had for over 20 years. At least two are "I missed you at the gym today!" via text and another was from a Vermont area code via WhatsApp to a "Dr. Jack": > Hi Dr. Jack! My cat is very slow and does not eat cat food. Can you make an appointment for me? > Sorry, you have the wrong number > Sorry, I just checked, I entered a wrong number, pl…

I got one today, addressing me by a wrong name and berating me for bullying some (female) name. Last line was something like "This is Jin."

It may have been a totally wrong number or the start of a scam. I decided not to engage and haven't heard back. Considering how mad they came across in the initial message, I can only assume silence means it was a scam.

Re: What's the deal with all those weird wrong-number texts?

#198

Post by tomcam »

ilololed wrote: post #147
guestbest wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no person. You are just helping train an AI

idk, I've tried baiting these -- respond with "no problem, your appointment is booked!" They will thank you and proceed with the "so what are your hobbies" part.

Excellent idea. Annoyed I didn’t think of that one.

Re: What's the deal with all those weird wrong-number texts?

#199

Post by thamer »

asdff wrote: post #165
jeromegv wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of those are crypto scams. The IG account starts posting about how they got rich on crypto. This is a very prevalent scam.

I see a lot of these too. They take over regular people's accounts, e.g. people from school I still follow, probably brute forcing passwords, then they post all this content how they are self made off crypto but the person in the videos doing the prostelyzation is in no way shape or form the same person who previously held the account. Clearly they do this to get a decent follower count initially for their spam bots,…

I would hope that Instagram has some counter-measures to prevent brute-forcing, at least restricting the number of failed login attempts.

It might be instead that your friends re-used a password that was leaked/stolen from somewhere else; anyone with a non-trivial number of online accounts using the same email will be listed in multiple leaks on aggregators like https://haveibeenpwned.com/.

Re: What's the deal with all those weird wrong-number texts?

#200

Post by ivarv »

chefandy wrote: post #126

For a while I grew quite fond of wasting phone scammers time. I’d pick up, talk suuuuuuper slowly— like Emo Phillips speed at one syllable every one or two seconds— interrupt with irrelevant questions or anecdotes, and overall just see how long I could keep them on the phone without giving them any information. The best strategy I found was telling them that, yes indeed I did remember owing the IRS or whoever money a…

another automated scam trolling service called lenny - https://www.reddit.com/r/itslenny/ Listening to some of these makes me laugh so hard my eyes start to water. The script eventually loops and some scammers don't catch on despite being implausibly being interrupted by a flock of ducks.
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