Someone Tried to Catfish Me
 

After nearly 30 years in the military, I have met literally hundreds of people and given my phone number to a lot of amazing people. Occasionally I get a phone call from out of the blue from somebody I deployed with 20 years ago and always enjoy reconnecting with an old friend.

I don’t usually recognize the number but after a very short while I’m able to recognize who the person is.



Last Saturday I was at home when I received the following text.:

(518) 555-5555
“ I’m coming out there, so fire up the barbecue.”

(818) 555-5555 (me)
“ I’m sorry I do not recognize this number.”


(518) 555-5555
“C’mon, you don’t remember me.” STRIKE ONE

(818) 555-5555 (me)
“Sorry no”


(518) 555-5555
“This is Annabelle, I’ll be arriving tomorrow.”

(818) 555-5555 (me)
“To San Diego?” (I DON’T live in San Diego)


(518) 555-5555
“YES, I’m coming in a week and can’t wait to see you again. ” STRIKE TWO AND THREE

(818) 555-5555 (me)
“I think you have the wrong number”


(518) 555-5555
“Oh, sorry, I’m Annabelle from Toronto, I’ve heard so much about San Diego, maybe we can get coffee.” STRIKE FOUR AND FIVE

Using this reverse phone number look up site the number was identified belonging to David ****** from Albany, New York.

https://www.numlookup.com/



(818) 555-5555 (me). FULLY aware an attempted scam is in progress
“Yes San Diego is nice.”


(518) 555-5555
“I live in Toronto, and am coming to San Diego to see my cousin. I am 1/2 Malaysian and French Canadian. What is your name? ” I’ve lost count of the strikes by now

(818) 555-5555 (me)
“I’m Chuck.” I’m NOT Chuck


(518) 555-5555
“Nice to meet you Chuck, I’m taking a break from my studies, how old are you? Let’s have dinner.” TWO MAYBE THREE MORE STRIKES

(818) 555-5555 (me)
“Old enough to be your grandfather.”


(518) 555-5555
“Oh you sound so young.”

(818) 555-5555 (me)
“Thank You.” At this point I am done playing with him/her and stop responding”


(518) 555-5555
“”What do you do?”

(818) 555-5555 (me)
—No Response—-


NEXT DAY

(518) 555-5555
“Chuck?”

(818) 555-5555 (me)
“—-No Response—-



(518) 555-5555
“”Did I offend you?”

(818) 555-5555 (me)
“No David you didn’t”


(518) 555-5555
—-No Response—-


Moral of the story. . .

Don’t take everything at face value, be aware and look for inconsistencies, and most important of all don’t get CatFished.

I bet I’m not the first person here who has experienced this.

You replied, now you're going to get a few a day until the end of time.

"Hello, is Anna there?"
No
"This a Mr X's secretary. I was looking for her but you have a very nice voice and I'd prefer to talk to you." "What's your name? What do you do?"
Gave fake info. Curious to see if it's AI even though it was a while ago.
A real pro that gal was.

Momma said don't talk to strangers. Plus I've not interested in women so easily 'excited' by strangers, if you know what I mean.

lol!

I got a weird one like that from a number I did not know, and "she" was asking for my information. I lied about every detail, to figure out what she wanted.

Finally I just started answering in total random BS that had nothing to do with her questions, and finally just gibberish replies. Then I deleted it all, and blocked that number as I was bored with it. She would never tell me a name I recognized or any activity I had ever participated in. It was obvious to me it was 100% scam.

I got one of these two days ago. After a couple of texts where she apologized for the 'wrong number', I made the mistake of replying "No problem", I received this text a few minutes later:

"Well, since we're texting, let's be friends. My hometown is originally Singapore, but now I live in LA".

Red flags immediately. The number was a Texas area code. I started to reply and say that "Singapore is a country, not a town, and why do you have a Texas area code?"...but just deleted the whole thing.

I didn't even realize this was a scam until afterwards...

^^^^ This. These days, I truly feel sorry for folks that "have" to answer unknown numbers.... those that "choose" to answer them .... I would only ask "why" ;)?

Catfish?
Pointy fin with whiskers?

There must be a lot of lonely guys out there, cause it must work often enough.

With me it unfolds like this.
(518) 555-5555
“ I’m coming out there, so fire up the barbecue.”

(941) 867-5309 (me)
*Block*

This... If someone calls me and they're not in my contact list I don't even answer anymore. Answer a Txt message from unknown number? - Nope. If they call and then leave me a voice mail I may respond.

Today my attitude is, it's my phone, I pay the bill so I can chose not to answer it. That may seem obvious but it's often not so obvious to other people.

I run my business with my cell phone. I do answer the phone when it is a possible client. Sometimes if it is a call from Tuttle, OK or Slap Out, nope, it just goes to voice mail. If it is a legit call, they will leave a message and I will call back.

Unidentified text messages are not even opened, just send to junk, and reported as spam.

The car warranty calls have finally dropped off now that they became a national joke. The biggest spam calls are people wanting to buy my house. It is not for sale for any reasonable price. Like my cars, not for sale.

I'm on T-Mobile which seems to have somewhat better scam/spam detection than the other two options, and my phone either doesn't ring or it shows as such. I haven't answered an unknown number in MANY years. Before covid, it was obvious they were coming from a call center (background chatter, etc.) in Chi .... Burlington, NC :D

Years ago I got several texts in a row from a number I did not know and I had to guess at most of the abbreviations and slang used and it was obvious not intended for me. My only reply was wrong number. He replied wanting to know who I was. My only reply was FBI agent. That ended it.

I never respond to these texts from unknown numbers. I heard they try to strike up a conversation and trick you into revealing personally identifiable information that will somehow let them steal your identity.

How are you? - +1 320 566 9037

Lena, come to my birthday party tonight. Don't be late. +1 628 789 2445

Hi, do we know each other? Why is your phone number in my address book? Can you tell me who you are? +1 219 587 0560

Hello :) +1 503 200 7426

Hi +1 320 200 4638

<<-some clickable link->> +1 510 244 0364

I want to move this Sunday and need your help, do you have time? +1 458 272 7042

<<-some variation of the above but in Chinese->> +1 323 741 1116

If I had the time, I'd write a program to respond to them and waste their time.

I just answer the phone with "Special Agent Holden McGroin, how I can help you?

I usually just get "click", sometimes a quick chuckle, then "click".

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/wat6.gif Good one!

I used to amuse myself by responding to these but then realized later they are almost all bots. …so now I just immediatly block them.

Divorced woman (55) car customer gets (dating site) texts from a super good looking guy. I ask to see his pic. Yeah, he's too good looking but lets see what happens.

After a couple weeks of him dodging a personal meeting in Akron he flies to his company in Germany and a worker of his is killed on the job and now he's in jail, held for murder because of oddball responsibility laws in Germany. We both agree, now is the time to tell him to eff off as you know the bail money request is coming next.

I have no friends, I wish someone would call me, even a wrong number would make my day!