
Photo credit: Christian Wiediger, Unsplash
By Debbie Burke
You receive a text message on your phone that is clearly meant for someone else. The sender must have accidentally hit a wrong number and the person the message was intended for didn’t receive it.
It sounds important, perhaps a doctor’s office trying to reach a patient, a family member with an emergency. Or it could even be good news like a promotion or award.
Naturally, you want this important—but misdirected—message to go to the right person.
What do you do?
You could call or text the number back and explain that you received the message by mistake, and you want to let them know so they can contact the right person.
But should you do that?
According to the FBI, no.
Why?
Because “wrong number text” scams are on the rise.
When you return the message, you’re thanked profusely. Poor Aunt Tillie is in the hospital and if you hadn’t taken the time to let them know, Aunt Tillie could pass away without seeing her beloved niece or nephew.
They continue the conversation and pretty soon you’re texting like old friends. Therein lies the risk.
The “person” you’re communicating with could be a scammer or even a bot programmed to deliver appropriate-sounding responses.
According to the FBI: “The scammers behind the wrong number text messages are counting on you to continue the conversation. They want to exploit your friendliness. Once they’ve made a connection, they’ll work to become friends or even cultivate a remote romantic relationship. It’s all a ruse, designed to get you to relax your mistrust so you’ll be more susceptible to falling for their scam, such as a cryptocurrency investment or many others targeting victims.”
What should you do if you receive a text meant for someone else?
The FBI advises, “Don’t respond.”
It’s a sad world when common decency, kindness, and courtesy are turned against people and used to take advantage of them. But that’s where we are.
Watch out for older family and friends who often fall victim to scams like this.
Thanks for sharing this, Debbie. I know better than to respond to random text messages, but I’m going to email a link to your post to warn friends and family members. This post is useful for everyone, not just writers. I appreciate the way that many of your books serve as cautionary tales to “warn” people about various things.
By the way, just like writers use something called a “hook” to make people interested in reading more, scammers use hooks, too. In this case, the hook appeals to someone’s sense of decency. No one wants grandma to miss a doctor’s appointment or something like that. That’s the bait. That’s how the scammers get your attention. Writers can take a lesson from the scammers here and learn how to use similar bait to keep people reading. I have gotten many text messages on my phone that appear to come from offices of doctors and vets. I simply ignore them. I trust that if the message is from a legitimate business, the staff will eventually figure out what happened and sort it out.
Happy writing!
Thanks, Joanne.
What a fitting parallel between scammers and writers…although we hope our hooks lead readers to be entertained and inspired rather than fleeced!
Thanks for this, Debbie. I’ll add it to my “Of Interest” section in today’s Journal.
Also, in case anyone out there would like to follow along, I’m writing a novel “in public” beginning today.
Each day I’ll post what I write for that day (clean the first time through) on Substack. It’s a Hallowe’en-appropriate tale titled The Hell Minder. It will be my 78th novel.
If anyone wants to follow along, they can learn details at https://hestanbrough.com.
Thanks for spreading the word, Harvey.
You seem to writer as if it’s Nanowrimo every day of the year. Kudos for your production.
Sort of, but to hit 50,000 you only have to write 1667 wpd. My average is over 3000 wpd. Because it’s what I love doing. And I don’t ‘write sloppy’ the first time through. Silly, that. It’s like loading a wheelbarrow, taking it halfway to the goal, then dumping it so you can reload it tomorrow and finish the job. 🙂
Count me in.
Thanks, Joanne. The story didn’t have the legs to be a novel. I’ll talk about it in today’s Journal.
Thanks for the heads-up, Debbie. Scammers are terrible. What a rotten thing to do to people!
Deceiving people is career for some people, Priscilla. Not how I want to live.
Thanks. It’s a shame and super-annoying that slime balls cause good people to have to curb instincts to act with goodness and innocence toward others. GRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!
It’s sad we can’t take things at face value, Brenda. But we can arm ourselves with knowledge to protect those we love.
I see those almost every week. I send back wrong number. If I get anything other than “thank you” it is block and report time.
Alan, do you remember that 1948 classic movie, Sorry, Wrong Number with Barbara Stanwyck and Burt Lancaster? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorry,_Wrong_Number
I remember that movie! Loved it.
It is sad, Debbie. My husband and I have both received numerous text scams. Sometimes there’s even a link to click, which will lead to a trojan horse. Shameful. Thanks for keeping us updated!
Sue, we gotta watch out for each other. Today, if you have a phone, you’re an automatic target, for Trojan horses, malware, viruses. The Do Not Call list is a joke that isn’t funny.
I swear I got more marketing calls after listing my number on the Do Not Call list. Aack.
Thanks for the warning and update, Debbie.
We maintain a land line as well as our cell phones. 95% of the calls on the landline are marked “spam risk”. Recently I have noticed an uptick in mobile phone calls from numbers I don’t recognize. I don’t answer, and they leave a message for someone unknown to me, asking me to call back for something important. One repeat offender was actually telling me I had malware on my computer and I should call him immediately.
There should be special punishment for those who scam the elderly.
Have a spam-free weekend!
Steve, we also have a landline. Same percentage of spam calls. I don’t answer my cell unless it’s a number I recognize. If they don’t leave a message, that pretty much guarantees it’s spam.
We also have a landline, and our provider has a spam blocking service. If anyone not on our “approved” list calls, they get a recording telling them to press 1 or stay on the line to speak to us. Don’t get much spam. The “stay on the line” is a 30 second hold, so if the bot senses a ‘voice’ when the recording kicks in, it goes into its recorded spiel. If it lasts longer than 30 seconds, the call rings through, and we’ll catch the last end of their spiel if we bother picking up.
Text scams are becoming a scourge. I’m periodically receiving scams claiming to be from the USPS or UPS that claim that they were unable to deliver a package. Since we receiving a lot of packages via UPS, I have a UPS account and can easily track them. The “unable to deliver” text scam of course has a link they want you to click on. I suspect it’s to give them a “refundable fee,” but with malware increasingly targeting smart phones, I’d be wary for that second reason.
I like to help, but the FBI is right. It’s sad, but safety first. I rationalize that if it’s an actual legit missed text, someone will follow up eventually, but am willing to bet that the vast majority of these are scams.
I’m sending to elderly relatives to put them on the alert. Thanks so much for keeping us informed.
Dale, yes, that UPS/USPS/Amazon spoof trick is effective b/c so many people order online now.
Thanks for watching out for your relatives.
What’s scary/depressing is that I AM the elderly relative.
Thanks for the warning, Debbie. I’ve received a few of these and texted back, “Wrong Number.” I’ve also gotten the UPS / USPS delivery text. There seems to be no end to the ways scammers can devise to do harm, especially to the elderly.
I’ve been trying to think of an appropriate punishment for such scammers. Maybe at the end of time when they’re begging for mercy, they could receive a text saying, “Wrong Number.” 🙂
Kay, how about dooming them to eternity with headphones glued on, listening to scam spiels 24/7/365 while they watch realtime as their bank accounts are drained?
I dropped my land line a while ago but I loved getting telemarketing and conjob calls. The fun is to divert.
“Hi, this is Steve from Microsoft”.
“No. you aren’t Steve. You’re calling from a boiler room in India. Is your boss so cheap he won’t buy noise canceling software? What are all those people yelling about?”
“I’d like to tell you about…”
“Steve, I’ve won three cruises to Bermuda this week already. You haven’t delivered my Mercedes Benz. I’m going to cry.”
That’s when they usually quit. You can usually scream pitifully to help the process along.
If you need emtertainment with these guys try posting a for sale ad on the Marketplace for an expensive guitar.
I had some real fun with one of them a few years ago. That was maybe where I got my taste for writing fiction.
Robert, hard to play games with bots–they have no sense of humor.
Thanks, Debbie. Florida is a scammer’s paradise. I’ll be on the lookout for this one.
Elaine
Hey, Elaine, I have a deal on some Florida swampland that I’ll let you in on for a real good price. 😉
As a sophisticated investor, you know that a stock split is a great thing, right? I have acquired 1000 shares in a gluten factory, and for a modest amount, I’ll split them with you.
Thanks for the heads-up. I imagine this is what’s happening when someone on instagram or Facebook tries to get you to to follow them or friend them using a hacked or imitation account.
And has anyone here discussed the fake calls you can get to help a loved one, or worse, to bring a ransom payment because the scammer at the other end says they’re holding a family member hostage? The AI these scammers use can perfectly imitate the “victim’s” voice. It’s scary stuff..
Michelle, here’s my post about fake calls and voice cloning: http://killzoneblog.com/2023/04/true-crime-thursday-vicious-vishing-by-voice-cloning.html
Scary indeed! Thanks for stopping by.
I thought someone had talked about it. Thanks for the link.