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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Very weird phone call

85 replies

How0dd · 18/04/2022 22:11

Hi all,

I just wanted to share as I'm unsure how this has happened:-

I've just received a call from a number (number was there not withheld) and it woke me up and without really thinking I answered it as was half a sleep and a man was on the other end and didn't say hello, he just said you've called me to which I replied I haven't, I'm asleep and haven't called anyone and he said yes you've called me twice and I said again that I haven't and his number is no where in my call log and he was like oh okay must be a mistake which is fair enough, mistakes happen but here's where it gets weird I googled the number and it's for a cafe in Watford ( I live in the north west) it's about 10 minutes away from the Harry Potter studio tour which is where I was yesterday!

We definitely didn't go to this cafe, I definitely didn't call this number so I'm wondering how he got it - it probably was a mistake but it's really weird considering I was less than 10 minutes away yesterday.

Has anyone had similar strange events happen to them?

OP posts:

Klausnextmum · 18/04/2022 22:18

That’s very weird. I strangely had a call today from a man saying i had called him. I hadn’t. I didn’t Google the number but noticed it was local. NW.

ScrumptiousBears · 18/04/2022 22:19

Often cold callers us spoofing software when the make mass marketing calls. They tend to guess these numbers and they could have used yours for a period of time. It's purely by chance this happens.

KnackeredHag · 18/04/2022 22:20

The exact same thing happened to my husband at about 9.45 this morning. Literally exactly the same. Guy called and said the same thing! But he called from a mobile number. How weird!

StrangeAddiction · 18/04/2022 22:28

Not a call but a text.

Dd and ds2 were staying at in-laws (who had friends round) one night I got a text and photo of ds2 from a number I didn't recognise and wasn't saved in my contacts. I replied saying lovely photo etc when I got a reply back saying "whos this?" I thought mil had sent the text from her friends phone but nope it wasn't any of them and the person said they didn't send any photos. Weird!

FloraPostePosts · 18/04/2022 22:32

@ScrumptiousBears

Often cold callers us spoofing software when the make mass marketing calls. They tend to guess these numbers and they could have used yours for a period of time. It's purely by chance this happens.

This is the most likely explanation, I would think. I get spam calls which look like they’re from my local area and are actual numbers, but not anyone I know.

Decorhate · 18/04/2022 22:37

I had a weird one last summer - replied to a text from the woman I was renting a holiday cottage from (not in UK) & got a text back from someone saying did you mean to message me, it was a business in my home town.

Davethecat2001 · 18/04/2022 22:39

Many years ago my best friend and I had been on a night out, and got back to her flat a little worse for wear.

She puked in the kitchen sink and I went into the bathroom (sorry for tmi), and we were shouting to each other/laughing about how were were both being sick/had drunk too much etc.

I heard her mobile ringing in the other room, but she was obviously busy over the sink, so thought nothing of it.

Both crashed out, woke up the next morning with banging heads and noticed that she had a vm on her phone. Remembered I had heard her phone ringing, but the message was weird.. a vm of us both laughing and saying how ill we were etc, and the weirdest thing was the call log showed the number had come from her landline.

Neither of us had made that call, and there was no one else in the flat. Creeped me out a bit, and never worked out what had happened.

Iamnotamermaid · 18/04/2022 22:40

It's a scam, more of an annoyance. The person who called is using caller-id spoofing. Spoofing allows them to call people and trick the caller-id into showing any number they want. Both you and the owner of the other number are victims here.

Georgeskitchen · 18/04/2022 22:44

Just remembered I once had a missed call from an unknown number then that number texted me and asked why I had called them. I text back to say I hadn't, that they had called me. They insisted they hadn't . Freaked me out a bit so I blocked the number

Original poster

How0dd · 18/04/2022 22:48

I know it's a scam, just thought it was a bit weird - bloody annoying isn't it!

Some of these stories are odd though, don't know what I'd do about the vm or text of my child

Please feel free to add more, I love weird stories like this!

OP posts:

Kirstos1 · 18/04/2022 22:59

I had a phone call a little while back:

Caller: have you ever thought about adopting a donkey?
Me: (pauses) can't say I have to be honest
Caller: would you be interested?
Me: in a donkey? No. But I'd like a tiger if you have one of those.
Beep.
Me: hello?

To this day i don't know why I said it. Although I had been rewatching the walking dead at the time...

DuinrellCalling · 18/04/2022 23:01

So, what's the point of this scam?

Kirstos1 · 18/04/2022 23:02

Oh and years ago I received a text from an unknown number reassuring me that everything had been taken care of and the evidence destroyed. I replied that I didn't think it was for me but I was very intrigued. They never replied. I was gutted.

katseyes7 · 18/04/2022 23:07

When l was with my ex husband (over 20 years ago) l'd gone out for an hour to do some food shopping.
Came back, he was very snarky and confrontational, demanding to know who l'd been calling late at night.
Apparently he'd had a call from a local number, a man, saying our number had called their number late the evening before.
We slept in separate rooms, the phone was in my bedroom, but l hadn't made any calls and there was nothing on the 'dialled numbers' list on either of our house phones.

So in front of him, l called the number back, and spoke to the guy, on speakerphone. Explained l was bemused, and that we had no record of his number on our phone. He said that they'd actually been asleep, hadn't heard their landline ring downstairs, but it flagged as a missed call when they woke the next morning, and showed our number.
After a bit of to and fro, l said l'd report it to BT, and he'd do the same.
About an hour later, he called us back and said that BT said they'd had a few similar complaints over a few hours, apparently it was a fault at the exchange? They lived about a mile from our house.
It never happened again. This was over 20 years ago, and l still have no idea how it happened.

Longtimeuser · 18/04/2022 23:11

One day my phone rang, my DH name and number came up except when I answered it was a female voice... She said she has been trying to ring her friend and got me. She lived in a different part of the country, we had a bit of a laugh on the phone (as you do) and then hung up. I phoned my husband and he said the weirdest thing just happened, he rang me and got someone else (same person as my caller had been trying to call). Bit strange but something somewhere must of gotten mixed up!

Batshitkerazy · 18/04/2022 23:14

@Davethecat2001

Many years ago my best friend and I had been on a night out, and got back to her flat a little worse for wear.

She puked in the kitchen sink and I went into the bathroom (sorry for tmi), and we were shouting to each other/laughing about how were were both being sick/had drunk too much etc.

I heard her mobile ringing in the other room, but she was obviously busy over the sink, so thought nothing of it.

Neither of us had made that call, and there was no one else in the flat. Creeped me out a bit, and never worked out what had happened.

This is so freaky

ScaldedBy · 18/04/2022 23:17

@ScrumptiousBears

Often cold callers us spoofing software when the make mass marketing calls. They tend to guess these numbers and they could have used yours for a period of time. It's purely by chance this happens.

Yes I would think this too. I've had someone call me and tell me I've called them too.. I haven't and assume my number was used. Weird thing was their number was exactly the same as mine with only the last digit different.

Greyarea12 · 18/04/2022 23:17

Some of these replies are abit spooky. I think yours will just be a coincidence - it is strange though.

My ex kept asking me why a man was answering my phone and I had no idea what he was talking about. Phoned o2 and they told me my number had been hacked and all my phone calls and messages were being re-directed to a scammer. They told me the reason they do it is so when you get your verification codes for your banking etc by text it meant the scammers were receiving the codes. The scammers were able to read all my messages that were being sent out by me and they were being sent to me aswell as re-directing all my calls to themselves.

SingingSands · 18/04/2022 23:19

I was walking to work one morning and received a text from a friend - it didn't seem to make sense and then I realised it was in relation to a primary school PTA event we had organised. Only we no longer had kids at primary school. It was a text she had sent TWO YEARS previously.

I showed her the text the next day and she was a bit freaked out - she remembered sending it and was annoyed at the time that I never replied (it was quite important relating to money)!

Really weird!

Lamerexo · 18/04/2022 23:20

Now I cant sleep

chisanunian · 18/04/2022 23:24

I received a text from DH the other day, and on the call date and time the message was received, it said 'tomorrow'. Didn't know either of us were capable of time travel but there you go!

StrongUE · 18/04/2022 23:30

I have had people ringing me from Italy and saying that I've just called them. I'm in UK.

NotSonicTheHedgehog · 18/04/2022 23:33

@Lamerexo

Now I cant sleep

Neither can I

FloraPostePosts · 18/04/2022 23:40

@DuinrellCalling

So, what's the point of this scam?

This bit isn’t part of a scam - it’s the result of one. The scammer is a third party who used the OP’s actual phone number to disguise the real number they were calling from (spoofing), and called the man who later called the OP, with a scam call. Because the spoofed number which in reality belongs to the OP appeared on the man’s phone, he called it, thinking he was calling back the person (scammer) who had called him earlier. Instead he got the OP, who of course knew nothing about it.

The OP just happens to be another innocent person inconvenienced by an unconnected attempted scam.

Iamthewalnut · 18/04/2022 23:42

My landline rang.

I answered it and I heard some cheers, then a male voice that was obviously a recording said: It's your birthday! Just look out of the window and you'll see what we mean!

It wasn't my birthday. I looked out of the window anyway. Nothing was there.

So bloody weird, still can't make sense of it.

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