Emergency SOS text received, from a person I knew 15 yrs ago but not met since 2011

[piddocktrumperiness]

I received an SOS text from Apple, with a location of someone I knew 15 yrs ago. We worked together in a call centre but have not been in touch since 2011 and I didn't have her number stored on my phone. I looked up the number on WhatsApp- the photo matches the person. Location matches where she lives.

I initially thought it was a scam but thought best be safe- called her number, no answer, left a message on her voicemail. I sent her a WhatsApp too.

Have I been scammed? I've never heard or seen of this type of message before but what flagged up my doubt is that it said I was contacted as I'm listed as an emergency contact- which I know can't be true. I do wonder if my name was accessible from contact list due to my surname or first name.

Have I done something stupid here? anyone else experience this?

DS's Apple watch has a function to send an SOS message if it detects a fall and you don't get up. DH just got the iPhone 14 which detects a car crash and does the same.

So this sounds legit OP. Just odd this lady has you as her SOS if iII haven't been in contact for so long but perhaps she didn't have anyone else. Lucky you didn't change your number if it turns out she does need help!

Thank you, I did not know about that.

What a worry, hope all is ok.

I find it odd you're the emergency contact but she could have forgotten and you just don't know how many/few people coworkers actually have in their lives. Plus circumstances change too. One thing that sadly crossed my mind is that she's struggled with her MH and as it sends a location, just didn't want a close friend or relative to be sent the text but knows you're dependable, OP.

You definitely did the right thing reporting it. I hope she's OK.

You definitely did the right thing in reporting this. You may well have saved her life!

Well done OP, you did the right thing.

Hope it all turns out ok OP. Glad the police have handled so sensitively

.

*So on an iPhone, you can save certain numbers as your emergency contact.

If you’re in an emergency, you press the lock button several times in quick succession, and it blares an alarm from you phone and sends a message to your emergency contacts. I am not sure if it gets activated in other circumstances (for example, Pp mentioned the newer phones can detect when you’ve been in a car crash)*

Android is exactly the same.

It also sends a 5 second audio recording & a photo from both front & rear cameras

Hope all turns out well, you did the right thing

Her contacts list has been hacked and they have sent messages to everyone on it. Scam. Just block the number.

@piddocktrumperiness the exact same thing happened to me last week one morning at 5am. I thought it was prob a scam too but did use the co-ordinates given and it was my sisters house! Finally managed to wake one of her kids up as couldnt get hold of her. Turns out she'd probably activated the SOS function somehow whilst lying on her phone fast asleep

I'm curious, to what aim is the scam?

You did the right thing! Always better to check just in case.

Its not a scam. As several pp have said its a feature on phones

What would the scam element be

I see that iphones do this. I've learned something.

So do Samsung/Android

Did the message look like this?

I am cringing at the posters who jumped to saying it is a scam. Detecting emergencies has been in major tech marketing campaigns by leading manufacturers for years. Even my Apple Watch, released in 2018, can detect falls/serious impact and sends messages like this. As an end user, you can’t manually send SOS messages - it’s automated by the device.

What is a scammer supposedly gaining out of this anyway?

And apple smart watch I know they can detect siezures and can send an emergency call and give location of where person is at.

Hope shes ok

Hopefully she's okay and it was just a mistake. In a lighter tone, my friend got a new phone and was working out on a rebounder at home while playing a game on it. She's left handed and the buttons that trigger an emergency call were in a different place on the new phone, so she didn't realise the way she was holding it was um, precarious.

While playing, she accidentally activated the emergency call, which let out a siren and she panicked and thought she'd cancelled it.

A few minutes later she had a call back from the police. She had to explain it was an accident and 'everything's fine, I was just errr... cooking and it was a pocket dial...' except she was really out of breath from the rebounder so it didn't sound that convincing.

My phone was having a strop and I accidentally activated the emergency call desperately pressing buttons as the screen wouldn't come on. It sent my mum half a dozen selfies of my very angry face

That emergency alert is far too easy to activate on an apple phone. If you accidentally press the lock button one too many times, if you drop the phone, if you lean on it, all of that can easily set off the alert.

My DP’s phone has sent me more than one emergency alert, I ring him and he goes “ah oops, pressed the lock button too many times.”

I have it disabled on my phone. I have a serious heart condition and my family would be hugely panicked if my emergency alert went off purely because I had dropped my phone or was trying to lock the screen to reset it or something.

I imagine though that it’s unlikely that the OP’s friend has her as an emergency contact, and that it’s more likely that there’s a fault with her phone which means that the emergency feature has sent a contact to all of her contacts.

.

The police are sending blue lights where? Based on this message?

To the location of the alert.