Text Spam - The Wrong Number Con
About
For me, I think it started over 2021. Suddenly I was getting more and more spam text messages from unrecognized numbers. Now in 2023 it's almost 3-4 a week. Fairly clever ones. They would usually claim to have a wrong number, then apologize, but continue the conversation offering either friendship or an interest in romance and fate. Three red flags here:
- When you've messaged or called a wrong number the NORMAL thing to do is end the conversation, not escalate into personal questions!
- Wrong numbers happen RARELY - you enter someone's number wrong and text the wrong person. That might happen once a year, not once a day or week.
- What is the LIKELIHOOD that a number with this random area code is someone that lives close to you and/or wants to start a friendship.
If you are getting spam texts, it's more than likely the person is trying to get access to your personal information—bank accounts, passwords, social security number, online IDs and more... and they can be pretty clever about it - for instance they might already know where you live - so keep your guard up and play it smart!
Advice for Spam Texting
Obviously the prevalent advice is to think logically, recognize spam immediately, and then block the number and report it as spam.
For me... well if I'm bored I like to play with it a little and give them misinformation. When they ask your location, age and so on... just lie. Why? Well the same people will probably message you again from a different number and area code the next day, and anything you give them they will build on. Only do this if you enjoy the self amusement of messing with them.
Honestly, they can get your name and age easily from the Internet.... Just don't be fool and let them convince you to move the conversation to telegram or anything else, because eventually they will look for the type of information to get money from you. Maybe they have an investment opportunity... there will be some cover ruse. What other motivation is there? They are trying to take advange of lonely people who want deperately to believe in human connection and random kindness. Even in my time in academia, I've known very smart people (as in PhDs) who have fallen for these scams simply because they were lonely and wanted to believe. Also - it's natural to want to be nice to the person who seems super polite and accidentally enetered a wrong number right?
It's also more than likely the text will not be in broken English and most are clever enough to tell you that they are foreign - maybe also send you a picture of an incredibly attractive asian woman or man. Being foerign works in their favor in because (1) you might feel more empathy for someone who is from a different culture, (2) it seems more pausible that someone from out of town wants romance or friendship, (3) it seems more plausibe that they want you to transfer to another app but conviniently cannot call you or (4) they can conviniently misunderstand you when you try to seek proof that they are real.
To determine if they are real quickly, send them a link to this page. Maybe that will convince them to remove you from their databases because then they will realize they are wasting their time on you. Their time is money, and so it gives me a tiny thrill to waste their time.
Last but not leart.... forgive yourself from being human. A part of you will think "yes but what if this person is real". That curiosity alone might cause you to dig. Ask them for proof they are real... like a photo of them touching their nose (which would be easy for them to send), a phone call (conviniently their phone might not work for calling), or a social media account for you to add them as a friend (to which they might claim they are not on social media). They will give excuses, but probably turn nasty and/or disappear on you.
When you accuse a spammer of being a spammer they will get offensive and make excuses. When you accuse a real person of being a spammer, they will laugh, and be understanding, and think up a convincing way like a phone call to show they are real instead of a spam center in India. It's kind of that simple.
Sadly though, you'll probably get another text message the next day. You can try hoping your phone number never gets onto any spam list, but realistically your phone number is probably somewhere on the web already, and our biggest hope is that companies like Google will add new features where they start detecting spam quicker... or at very least showing a warning to you when they see a typical "wrong number" situation appear.
Links
- How to Recognize and Report Spam Text Messages - Typical generic advice.
