Weird event at work - should I do anything?

[Beanzmeanz]

Just that really. So last week I received a call on my personal mobile asking for someone else I didn’t catch what they were saying so asked them to repeat it. It wasn’t a name of anyone in our house - think Harry Jones so I said sorry wrong number.
Just as I was about to hang up I thought the name sounded a bit like someone I work with so I said did you say Barry Stones to which they said yes.
So I said well I work with them but I don’t know how you would get this number. They confirmed who they were (genuine) and that they had called the number of this person’s email footer.
I am bamboozled so I report it to our IT bod.
They ask me if my no. is 07xxx etc which it is and tell me this guy has set his v/m to forward to my mobile.
He doesn’t have my mobile, I’ve never given it to him and we have work mobiles

Did the scammer hack into Barry's email account and change the signature?

For what purpose, with hacking skills like that they'd be able to get a better return than making innocuous calls and then putting the phone down

Does your company not have a work telephone number list? If they are work telephones, it's not personal or confidential.

How ? OP says he’s never had her work mobile number and the IT guys say it’s completely different. Sounds like a data breach to me.

Not a work phone.

Would you want to take this further or do you want to let it go now the guy knows he’s been rumbled?

Not saying this is what's happened but IT presumably don't know if his personal number is similar to the OPs and he's made two mistakes

Very unlikely I know but illegally searching out the OPs number in an HR system that we don't know if he can even access and then adding it to his email signature is just as unlikely imo

I think it's weird too. It's obviously not a typo. The odds of him typing his own number and accidentally typing yours a millions to one.

It's obviously not a scammer because how/why would they hack into Barry's email account and change his signature.

He must have acquired the OP's number from somewhere. He was likely editing his own signature and copied in the OP's. This also sounds a bit far fetched but not as crazy as the other options.

OP, you have to ask him. I would if I were you.

Also, I hope you changed his name!

How old are you and how old is this guy? Do you think he could be interested in you romantically?

Do your work reissue mobiles? I used to get calls all the time for a person in a different department as he swapped phones at some point. I think you're over-thinkinh this. It'll be something like that, or they're phishing from linkedin.

Oh also, he could have copied your email footer format and forgotten to change the number. Something like that.

I think Mumsnet needs to add an

it's not her work phone !!!!

banner at the top of this thread 😂

It was the OPs personal phone on which she received the call.

🤣🤣

Don't your IT team set up everyone's footers? They probably accessed the wrong number. Could your HR records be next to each other, for example if your first or second names are close alphabetically?

I just re-read the thread and it seems that the OP's phone wasn't in Barry's signature, rather Barry had set the voicemail on his work phone to forward to the OP's personal phone.

.

Ugh I don't like the sound of this at all. I would definitely take it further.

Forwarding his calls to her number is an excellent icebreaker 🤣🤣

I’m presuming the OP doesn’t have her personal mobile number in her footer.

I think you should go to HR or something and not to him. If it is something that's been done for bsd reaso s its probably better you dont have contact with him first. If its just a mistake then it won't matter.

Do you think he’s interested in you following the work social, looked your mobile number up and saved it while working up the courage to text you….and somehow in the meantime has accidentally input that saved number into the forwarding system?

😂

If you work for a decent size organisation with even a vague understanding of data protection it's HIGHLY unlikely a member of staff from a different department can access your HR file, unless his role is HR or IT based.

HR systems are built with levels of access precisely to protect data. I'm a senior manager in a large organisation. I can only see the HR accounts of my direct reports, and even then some info is restricted to HR only.

The chances of him being able to access your file are minimal. The chances of him then randomly and deliberately putting your personal number as his forwarding number are miniscule.

There's absolutely no reason anyone would. Phoning you to perv breathe at you? Possible. Forward you all his calls? WHY?

A typo is the most logical explanation.

Either way, IT can see who accessed your file. Raise it with HR, using a SAR if necessary.

Don't make any accusations until the investigation has been completed. It's most likely you're wrong, and if you've told others that he has/might have accessed your record and breached data protection and he hasn't, you could find yourself in the shit. If someone started an allegation like that about me that was unfounded I'd be raising a grievance immediately.

Which is what you should do if he has accessed your data.

HR
Explain what had happened and let them deal with it.
Dint forget to add the fact IT has looked into it, changed the number on the email footer etc…. already but you’re concerned that it’s your PRIVATE tel number that was added.

Its very weird.
Wonder if IT can track when he changed his email footer and if HR keeps a record of who access what (probably not….)