Fraudsters pretend to write the wrong number to get an answer

Have you recently received text messages that seem to be from someone with the wrong phone number? Some social media users have wondered if it was an unusual increase in the number of such text messages.

Some people reported receiving text messages as if they were being sent to veterinarians or someone involved in the relationship. Texts often begin with addressing the recipient under the wrong name and task question. The similarity between the text messages received by different people makes some wonder if these seemingly innocent texts can be part of a scam.

Do scammers pretend to be people who write the wrong number?

Yes, some scammers pretend to be people who wrote the wrong number. Experts recommend not answering texts from strangers – if nothing else, the scammer will find out that your phone number is active when you answer.

These common text messages with erroneous numbers usually come in two formats. The first version seems to be some sort of follow-up after a personal meeting or rendezvous in a dating program, while the other version looks like a client turning to some professional.

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) ​​has warned of Fr. a romantic scam disguised as text to the wrong number back in March. The scam begins with a text message telling about a date or a Tinder match, and if the victim responds – even to inform the texter that they have the wrong number – the scammer continues the conversation and sends the victim obscene photos trying to get the victim to join an adult dating site and provide your credit card information to see more.

In February, the city of Apache Junction, Arizona, warned that the scammer could also try to continue the conversation for several days to extract personal and intimate information which can be used later to manipulate the target to give scammers money.

The first piece of advice the BBB gives to avoid this kind of fraud is to simply ignore texts from strangers.

“If you get a text from someone you don’t know, just don’t respond,” the BBB warning said. “This is the safest route. If you communicate with the scammer, even for a short time, they will mark your number as active and you may receive even more hidden texts in the future ”.

This advice can also be applied to other text messages that look as if they were sent to the wrong number.

A spokesman for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) told VERIFY that the FCC could not confirm text messages asking about a veterinarian or other specialist from fraudsters, but warned people to be careful in responding to texts from unknown numbers.

New York Attorney General Leticia James says the answer to the scam message will be authenticate the sending phone number as the active phonewhich in turn will lead to more unsolicited messages.

As they say in James ’office, it’s a good idea to research an unknown phone number online. If the phone number is a fraud, James ’office says the person who received the text is better off reporting it to their phone operator.

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