Is this a scam?

Allthesweets · 2025-01-23T13:49:01+00:00

Had a call from a UK mob number at lunch. I answered and it went quiet and then dead. Called them back, no answer. I then called the number from my work phone and a woman answered. I asked if she had called my mobile a little earlier, she said no she hadn't and started to get defensive, wouldn't give me her name, said she categorically hadn't called me, started to even get shirty when I said yes she had. So I ended the call. Checked and she has a whatsapp profile, but not sure how to find out who she is? Has anyone had this before? Wondering what on earth it was and if it's a scam. Please no suggestions that it is another woman, or an affair.

SomebodyElsesName · 23/01/2025 13:52

Maybe a wrong number, and she felt embarrassed when you called her back?

Personally, I wouldn't have denied calling you if it was an error but I certainly wouldn't have given you my name if you'd called back asking for it!

Why on Earth would you think of an affair from just this?!

TheDandyLion · 23/01/2025 13:58

It doesn't seem like a very good scam if she's not asked you for anything.

MangoAndMelon · 23/01/2025 14:00

Why on Earth would you think of an affair from just this?!

Op didn't. Half of MN would🤷

MangoAndMelon · 23/01/2025 14:00

She probably made mistake dialinga as pp said. Doesn't sound like a scam

IAmADescendantOfSweepTheSqueakyLegend · 23/01/2025 14:01

It's a scam.

BillStickersWillBeProsocuted · 23/01/2025 14:01

You shouldn't call back a number that you don't recognise, apprenlty there are scams where you call back and it's a premium rate number.

I think in the UK it's less of a risk as I belive all premium rate numbers have to start 09? But I still don't risk it just incase!

This doesn't sound like that though so I don't think it's a scam - just a mix up with phone numbers most likely, are you 100% sure you called the right number back from the landline?

Original poster

Allthesweets · 23/01/2025 14:02

MangoAndMelon · 23/01/2025 14:00

Why on Earth would you think of an affair from just this?!

Op didn't. Half of MN would🤷

Haha, yes I guess I though a lot of people would. My mind went to lots of things, but then thought why leave her number and then even engage in convo, who knows.

OP posts:

TeaAndChaos · 23/01/2025 14:02

Scammers can clone numbers - that's probably what's happened or a wrong number.

DanceTheDevilBackIntoHisHole · 23/01/2025 14:02

She probably didn't call you at all. More likely it was a spam call that used caller ID spoofing, so it looks like it came from her mobile number but didn't actually.

Original poster

Allthesweets · 23/01/2025 14:05

BillStickersWillBeProsocuted · 23/01/2025 14:01

You shouldn't call back a number that you don't recognise, apprenlty there are scams where you call back and it's a premium rate number.

I think in the UK it's less of a risk as I belive all premium rate numbers have to start 09? But I still don't risk it just incase!

This doesn't sound like that though so I don't think it's a scam - just a mix up with phone numbers most likely, are you 100% sure you called the right number back from the landline?

Edited

Hmm didn't think of that. I'm absolutely sure it was the same number. She wasn't from the UK...had a european accent, unsure exactly where. Said she was at work so how could she have called me. ha.

OP posts:

Whatabanana · 23/01/2025 14:05

I've had about three calls from people who thought I had called them first, I was confused but so were they. I googled and it IS a scam but not from the person you were talking to. Apparently the scammer somehow copies a phone number so that it appears they are calling from a UK number. It isn't their real phone number so when you miss it and call it back you get the person who really has that phone number but is oblivious to what has happened.

Original poster

Allthesweets · 23/01/2025 14:05

TeaAndChaos · 23/01/2025 14:02

Scammers can clone numbers - that's probably what's happened or a wrong number.

Wow that is frightening!

OP posts:

Ponderingwindow · 23/01/2025 14:06

Why would you accuse her of calling you? Scammers will fake the caller id. You have no way of knowing who made that call.

Original poster

Allthesweets · 23/01/2025 14:10

Ponderingwindow · 23/01/2025 14:06

Why would you accuse her of calling you? Scammers will fake the caller id. You have no way of knowing who made that call.

I had no idea that scammers could do that, so to my mind it was her number that called me and she'd made the call. I also didn't accuse, I asked. I was curious who it was.

OP posts:

Beansandbats · 23/01/2025 14:13

My partner had a series of people calling him saying that he’d called them when he hadn’t- someone had cloned his number and was using it to call people. Some of the people were very angry with him and suspicious but it really wasn’t him! They stopped eventually but annoying and a bit disconcerting for everyone

ChocolateCroissantCafe · 23/01/2025 14:14

This happened to a friend while I was sitting beside her. We had been together for a couple of hours so she hadn't made any calls to misdial, suddenly her phone rang and it was an irate lady demanding to know why she had been calling. Nobody's fault but the scammer's, but it's quite disconcerting, isn't it.

TigerRag · 23/01/2025 14:28

Whatabanana · 23/01/2025 14:05

I've had about three calls from people who thought I had called them first, I was confused but so were they. I googled and it IS a scam but not from the person you were talking to. Apparently the scammer somehow copies a phone number so that it appears they are calling from a UK number. It isn't their real phone number so when you miss it and call it back you get the person who really has that phone number but is oblivious to what has happened.

I've had this on the past. Including strangely, my mums number

I wouldn't have called back. I've sometimes googled the number if I'm expecting a call such as from the hospital. But if it's that important they'll call back

spnoopy · 23/01/2025 14:29

I had something like this happen.

Missed a call from an unknown mobile number when I was expecting to hear from someone, called straight back but there was no answer.
A few minutes later I received a message from the same number, asking who I was and why I'd called them. I told them I was returning their call from a few minutes ago, and they replied saying they hadn't called anyone at all that day. I'd clicked on the number in my history, so hadn't made a mistake.

I think they must have had their number cloned, (but it probably made me look like a scammer)

Needanewnameidea · 23/01/2025 15:10

Why would you call them back? If it was a scam how would that possibly help? If it was a genuine caller they’d leave a message or speak when you answered.

I’d have chalked it up to a wrong number or an autodialled call that didn’t connect and forgotten about it. Jumping into checking out people’s WhatsApp profiles and playing detective trying to figure out who she is is crazy. Probably a spoofed number or a misdial she’s embarrassed about.

KeepScrapingBy · 23/01/2025 15:28

You can find out who it was by putting the phone number on Who Called Me and there will be comments from people saying if it was a scam, sales call etc.
Also, block the number so that don’t call you again.

Original poster

Allthesweets · 23/01/2025 15:55

Needanewnameidea · 23/01/2025 15:10

Why would you call them back? If it was a scam how would that possibly help? If it was a genuine caller they’d leave a message or speak when you answered.

I’d have chalked it up to a wrong number or an autodialled call that didn’t connect and forgotten about it. Jumping into checking out people’s WhatsApp profiles and playing detective trying to figure out who she is is crazy. Probably a spoofed number or a misdial she’s embarrassed about.

I called them back because I didn't know it was a scam and I was curious who had called me. I only thought scam when she answered and started getting odd saying that she hadn't called me. I don't think it's crazy to check it on Whatsapp.

OP posts:

boulevardofbrokendreamss · 23/01/2025 17:00

Why would you call back? I really don't get that.

whaddayawannado · 23/01/2025 17:04

Sounds like a wrong number to me, she immediately realised and hung up. You then called back from a different number to the one she rang you on, so of course she's going to say she never rang you.

No drama.

lozrox90 · 23/01/2025 17:12

I had something similar happen yesterday. Received a missed call from a mobile number. When I called it back, somebody answered but wouldn't say anything then hung up after a few seconds. I WhatsApped the number and a guy's picture appeared, I asked him why he was calling me. He replied to say that his number was being used for scam calls and to ignore it. Weird!

AgreeableDragon · 23/01/2025 18:30

I was in that woman’s position recently. Suddenly I started getting lots of calls from strangers saying I had called them. I hadn’t!

Turns out my number was cloned by scammers, and they used it to call people. Some of the people who missed the scam calls were the ones who called me asking who I was.

It was very very frustrating, but died out after a few weeks.