About 5 years ago I got a different phone number for the first time since high school. I soon realized that this number used to belong to another guy. While the number of calls/texts that he gets has gone down I still get the occasional text message from somebody or organization asking about Ephraim. This guy owns a house in Atlanta that investors won’t stop texting me about.
Has this happened to anybody else? Did you do something to get the calls to stop?
Comments
Happens all the time. There is really nothing you can do about it.
All you can really do, is change phone numbers a ton, then if you get one that isn’t recycled, keep that, I had one that a guy loaned a lot of people money, and like people kept asking me when are they going to get paid so it’s luck really
It happened with our old landline number. For years after getting the number (came with a cable TV bundle) we would get calls for some woman’s name (I forget it now; began with an “A”, I think).
And not just telemarketer or business calls. We would get what sounded like personal calls (like some little kid’s voice or a grandma’s voice) asking for her.
Of course.
Whoever had the phone number before my son’s first phone was a deviant to the extreme and was subscribed to a metric shit ton of porn text subscriptions. That number received so much spam and so much sexual solicitation and so many calls from randos looking to hook up we took it away quickly and went back to the phone company to change the number.
This is very common.
I had someone calling me from prison once because they were trying to get a hold of the person who used to have my number. After a couple calls I answered the 3rd, I didn’t want him using up his minutes to talk to me, but I also didn’t want him to think whoever he was trying to reach was ignoring him so I answered to let him know what was up.
I feel sorry for whoever gets my phone number one day, because I get prob 40 calls a day trying to buy my properties.
There is a finite amount of phone numbers available. There isn’t anything you can do about it aside from ignore calls and texts from numbers you don’t know.
Yes. Eventually they taper off. Only options are to wait it out and block the bogus calls, or get another number and hope it’s better.
My work phone used to be by some guy named Antony. A lot of bill collectors were calling me. They have eventually stopped after I kept telling them they had the wrong number. Every once in a while I get a text notification from Walgreens that my prescription is ready for pickup.
When I was in high school my parents bought a 1-800 number for our personal use so that we could call home easily. This was right before cell phones became more widely available. The number was recycled from an old business and we ended up getting charged for dozens of long distance calls. I suspect the only way to fix this is to change your number yet again.
My daughter was getting dozens of calls and texts a day from all sorts of people and businesses and whatnot. Thankfully, none were inappropriate, but when I called our service provider, they said we only really had two options; individually block each number until it stopped, or change the phone number. Luckily they have started to taper off since I think people are starting to realize whoever they’re trying to reach doesn’t have that number anymore, but it’s common.
As others said, it happens all the time and you’re basically screwed. Anyway, story time.
My previous number was apparently used by a high school kid, and I’d get texts and calls about him skipping school frequently (I told the school to stop calling, they didn’t), with occasional texts asking to buy weed. The ones from the school included his first and last name, as well as his mom’s.
I logged on to Facebook one day to see his mom as one of my friend suggestions. I never added that number to my Facebook and we had 0 mutual friends. That’s how much your personal data is being trafficked. 👍
Yep.
The last ladies number… omfg.
Her kids schools were contacting me constantly…refused to believe I wasn’t lying.
She had debts, police calling, her church calling for her to teach Sunday school, her kids school needed money, her one daughter was continually in trouble at school or truant…
Usage of her Walmart and Amazon accounts…
I think I knew more about her life than she did at that point.
I swear she had to be still using the number on official stuff.
Though the ladies from the church headed to brunch were sweet and said I was still welcome to come, lol. (I live 8 hours away)
Luckily it was a six month temp number while I got my old one back.
I about lost my fucking mind. Funny now though. A great series of anecdotes.
Then I was just stressed out. The calls and texts just wouldn’t end.
I got a recycled number last year. The previous user gets lots of texts from people wanting her to cover their shifts, pay outstanding bills, or hook up. Her name is, unfortunately, very similar to mine. The volume of calls and texts has slowly been decreasing. I’ve mostly been blocking or ignoring them.
Yeah and what sucks is that I tried to create some account, maybe airbnb, and it required a cell phone number. I put my number in and it says it is associated with an account and if I try to reset it then it tried to send an email to whatever email was associated with the phone number previously. There’s no fix for it haha
All the numbers get recycled. They used to do a 6 to 9 month wait before recycling so that people would catch on and the old owner could update their contacts to their new number. They don’t even do that any more.
We had a house phone number through our cable company for several years. It got to the point where we didn’t use it and we never got anything but marketing calls on it. So we dropped it. A few weeks later a new restaurant opened down the street. They have our old phone number.
I’ve had the same number since 2007 so this isn’t really an issue. If you’re somebody that changes their number for some reason, I can see how it would definitely be a problem.
Yep, when I got my current number, there were a loooooot of debt collectors looking for the former owner.
I have heard of it, but never run across an actual case 🤷🏻♂️
At least once, maybe twice.
One of my first numbers was a guy who I think lived in the same town as me or nearby and different people were constantly leaving him vms asking for help. Moving their grandmother, borrowing his truck, fix something in their house, the fire company picnic, etc. Maybe he was a really good dude who didn’t mind or maybe there’s a reason he changed his number lmao.
With my current number I also used to get a LOT of calls from the local school and sometimes a doctor’s office for a lady who either had my number or gave them the wrong one. It sucked anytime there were snow delays because I’d start getting a bunch of alerts (a text, a call, a VM) between 4 and 5 AM every time it happened. I don’t even have kids. I eventually blocked the school and told the doctor’s office they had the wrong number, so please stop giving me some kid’s personal information. There’s also a lady in Louisiana who frequently gives out my email address and I’ve been sent her kid’s medical records. ☠️
The guy who had my phone number also had a house investors wanted to buy. I would usually fuck with them a little bit and say I would only accept payment in gold or Pokémon cards or something ridiculous or ask for a ridiculous sum of money, then I just block the number. Sometimes, they’d start using a different number, and then I would just say I thought the house was seized by the DEA or burned down or something like that.
I have one that whenever this particular person wants a pay day loan, car insurance quotes, ACA quote, etc, he uses my current number. So, sometimes I have to answer and have them put my number on a DND list. I suggest letting any unknown calls go to voice mail.
In my old house, I got a new landline that belonged to a guy who had multiple credit accounts in collections…
It didn’t take long for me to disconnect the line lol
Ugh this happened to me too!
Pretty sure the guy who used to have this number was a dealer too, so it’s extra annoying. Someone will call and when I don’t answer, they immediately call back. It’ll happen 3-4 times in a row before they give up. I’ve also had a few weird text messages from people who get mad when I don’t reply.
The solution is to block those numbers as they call!
Have had my phone number since 2012. I still get calls for the person who used to have it. Apparently Natasha doesn’t like to pay her bills…
I’ve wondered about this. If you inherit a number and want to use it to sign up for something like Uber, Venmo, etc, will you be able to if it’s already been used?
I’ve had my number since 2005, long before any of these kinds of services existed so I’ve never run into that problem. But somebody’s going to inherit my number some day and will have a hell of a time using it for things like that.
Yep. Tracy. All the creditors call Tracy.
For mine its not even an old number. There’s just a person that accidentally gives out mine occasionally. I’m pretty sure they’re swapping two numbers accidentally. Like instead of 2526 they’re typing 2625.
So occasionally I get texts meant for Amanda.
My aunt and uncle got a recycled number when they moved. They got weekly calls from different collection agencies looking for “Steve”. After a couple years the calls finally stopped.
It happened to me, a doctors office kept calling me for someone. The first few times I answered and told them that the person they were trying to reach wasn’t at that number. But they got real snippy about it and said that’s the number they had on file. I stoped answering and they eventually stopped calling.
I guess all you can do is start blocking numbers.
Very common, even after splitting some area codes there’s still a ton of recycling of numbers, best you can probably do is keep your same number for a very long time, eventually the people trying to reach whoever starts to dry out.
Part of it because people constantly change their numbers now, get behind on a phone bill or whatever, lose the number which after a few months is given to someone else.
When I first got my current number I was getting texts from drug dealers, 3 am texts to some girl and tons of bill collectors, now after having this number for years I rarely get anything like that, occasionally I get a wrong number or someone trying to reach someone they haven’t talked to in years. Rarely
The number I have now was initially recycled, I’ve had it well over a decade now. The mistaken calls and texts lasted 2-3 years.
Unfortunately for you, based on what you said about the calls, the phone number is probably listed on some public record document. Maybe check with the county if it can be removed.
My dad’s home business number used to belong to a hospital maybe 30 years ago every now and then he still gets calls from people looking for the hospital.
When I first got my current number I kept getting calls from people looking for Paco.
Yeah I used to get political calls for an Aisha after I changed my phone number. She’d apparently gotten on a Democratic Party list so come election time I’d get lit up.
I always asked to be permanently removed from their list and no one to contact me again. So either that worked or my number just aged out of their databanks. It hasn’t happened in a long time.
Yup.
It’s been awhile since I’ve dealt with this aspect of cellular, but I think the regulations say that a number can be reused after 30 days of being deactivated (or maybe it was just company policy)
I had lots of test devices from my company. Would get all kinds of odd messages. My favorite being someone texting me step by step directions with photos on how to make homemade cinnamon buns
I got a new cell phone number like 10 years ago and when it snowed I would get calls and texts from a rural school district like 30 mins away saying school was closed they finally stopped after that school year ended and the calls would happen at 5:30 in the morning
Someone has my dad’s old number. Every two or three years I accidentally pocket call him and it’s very alarming to see my dad pop up on my screen. I’ll probably never delete his number though, so get used to it, new person.
I haven’t change my phone number but I did get an additional line. Kept getting call for two different people that I doubt were related. I got an alert they were shopping the next town over.
One was a woman and I only got bank alerts texts for her. The other was a man and I keep getting doctors appointment notifications, bank info and even debt collectors. I did get to talk to one of the man’s doctors office staff and told them that they should tell him to change the number. The man went overseas and I got a bank alert asking about his purchases overseas. An asshole could have ruined his trip, there no option to report a wrong phone number so I just hung up.
My husband has been getting calls for William since the 90s. It’s only a couple times a year now but I assume he’ll be getting them until all William’s friends die out.
Yep. When I first got my current phone number, I got a bunch of calls for someone else….someone with legal trouble. I even got a call from the cops looking for her, a phone call that went on way longer than it should have. Like, my dudes, I do not know this person. I cannot tell you where she is. T-Mobile gave me this number, there is no other connection between us.
Eventually the calls stopped. It’s been years since anyone has called my number looking for her.
I’ve had my phone number since 2006, and somehow it got associated w/ somebody else so whenever somebody is tracking down her they tend to find her name under my number in a ton of databases.
I get calls asking about the condo I (don’t) own and I don’t even have a recycled number. I don’t understand how all these people have enough access to information to know that I lived in the condo, but don’t have enough information to know that 1) it was my parents who owned it, not me and 2) they sold it 6 years ago…
It happens. “New phone. Who dis.” I suspect it’s pretty common since there’s a joke/meme about it.
The closest thing that I experienced personally is my number was accidentally printed in a FB Marketplace ad. (I assume it was accidental, but now that I’m thinking about it, it might have been a scam.)
my work cell was a recycled # from an old foreman who is no longer with the company.
i get calls all the time from people speaking Portuguese (he was Brazilian) looking for work. Occasionally i get calls from collections looking for him.
the worst was his ex-wife calling/texting to see if he signed the divorce papers.
Not quite the same, but some woman in Jacksonville, Florida apparently put my phone number on her voter registration, so for the past few years I’ve gotten texts about elections there every election season. I’ve never even lived in Jacksonville; my phone number is in an area code that covers a different part of North Florida, so I’m guessing she had a similar phone number in the same area code…but I haven’t even lived in Florida for almost 5 years, so literally none of the elections I get texted about are even ones I can vote it. It’s not a big deal but it sure is annoying.
We had a landline when we moved into our house. Constantly got calls looking for Reuben Ernesto. Apparently an old school identity thief who had just made up a name and phone number and used them to open a bunch of accounts at jewelry stores, tire places, etc. Fortunately the address he used wasn’t our house, otherwise we would have had the repo man in our driveway.
It became such a joke that we could practically answer the phone, “Hi, Reuben’s not here.” Our kid was little at the time and we named a stuffed animal bird Robin O’Nesto and made up funny stories about him trying to scam other stuffies.
Ugh, the person who had my phone before must have never paid a bill as almost every call for her was from collection departments. And at least 2/3 of my calls the first year were for her. I even got some people accusing me of “hiding” her from their calls (including who I took to be the girlfriend of a baby daddy; that was an interesting conversation).
One of my friends got a new number and her old number was recycled. There is an old man in northern Washington that hates when you call and ask to speak to Amy lol
This happens to me and I’m the only person to have had my number. There’s a public record of a home in Houston that mistakenly has my cell listed as the contact number.
My number was apparently previously owned by a politically active Democrat in Texas names Alexis. I get a BARRAGE of texts for her every election cycle.
This happened with a landline when we moved to a new city in 1986. We got a lot of calls for Willy and Otto Schmidt. Seems they moved and left many unpaid bills behind. Most of the calls came in the first month after we moved in, and had stopped a couple of months later.
I was in college in the early 2000s. The landline phone number we were assigned used to belong to an appliance repair company.
To top it off this was in a fairly small town filled with of a LOT of old people who still used their phone book to look everything up (Google was less than 5 years old at this point, so it made sense).
So for a good two years we got a few calls per week of people looking for appliance repair.
It resulted into n a lot of calls like this:
Me: Hello
Old Person (OP): Do you repair dishwashers?
Me: The appliance shop closed down. This is a residential number now.
OP: long pause Do you still fix Dishwashers?
Me: No ma’am I’m a college student.
OP: My dishwasher is leaking during the rinse cycle and I need someone to come look at it.
It always baffled me how they would keep asking about appliances regardless of how many times I told them I wasn’t an appliance repair shop. And if I hung up they would keep calling back. The elderly in my town were stubborn line that.
After a few months I just found the number to a different appliance shop and I would give that out instead. So calls went like this:
Me: Hello
OP: My washing machine is making a loud squeaking noise…
Me: Oh, the appliance shop moved, you’ll have to call them at [Phone Number].
OP: What?!?! When did they move?
Me: I don’t know, I’m sorry.
OP: They’ve been in business for 33 years, you can’t just move…
Me: 😡
I personally haven’t, but my aunt did.
She got a new number and eventually got a phone call from a random guy asking her was she was offering today (or something to that effect). She thought it was just a random creep and hung up.
He called back later. And after talking to him, she found out she had gotten the old number of a local ice cream shop & the poor man was trying to find out what flavors they were offering that day.
Had my phone number for 12 years and I still get collection calls for “Luwanda”.
It happens to basically everyone. They always reuse phone numbers.
5 years after I got Jenny’s old phone number, I was still getting texts for Jenny.
I got my phone number 15 yrs ago and for years I got calls from the local jail about the guy that has my number before me. And occasionally his druggie friends that got mad it wasn’t his anymore…
I got one that must have been recently recycled because I was getting calls and texts for the old owner constantly and eventually started getting flooded with texts accusing me of stealing their phone.
It happens all the time.
I’ve been getting credit collector calls for the same guy for over a decade.
When my son first got his phone number, he would get so many texts and voicemails that I’m pretty sure were Cantonese or a similar sounding language. We just blocked them each individually, but it took almost a year for them to stop.
I get it in a way though. I’ve only gotten a new number once in my life and I only gave it to about half the people who had my original number on purpose.
I got a new phone number nearly 20 years ago and I still get calls for the guy who had my number before me.
I got 281-330-8004. Got a lot of calls asking if I was magnificent about my cash
I got a recycled land line number about a dozen years ago. It used to be the number of a real estate agency. We got calls for YEARS after they had changed their number. We also got calls from debt collectors trying to get in touch with one of the agents who owed money on a personal debt. We had to laugh because that agent owed us money as well after trying to defraud us during his previous career as a landscaper.
We eventually got rid of the phone number because a subcontracted company (to insurance companies) that called out tow trucks for people got our number crossed with someone else’s in another state. We would get calls at 2 in the morning for a tow truck to be dispatched 3 time zones away. We couldn’t get our number out of their database.
Yep, my previous number used to belong to a guy names David
My business got a cell phone. The number used to belong to some little old lady, and all her little old lady friends keep texting the number. Every single group text about holidays, birthdays, parties, we get them all. It’s been 3 years and they just won’t stop.
I had the old AAA number once, got boucoup calls for roadside assistance. Got tired of it and started telling folks I’ll send help!
I used to have a recycled number. I don’t answer calls or texts from numbers I don’t recognize. It eventually becomes such a minor issue it’s easy to ignore a call.
My work number belonged to someone in deep financial trouble. For years I’ve gotten texts about all their debt. I don’t really use it, so I sometimes just have fun with them.
My Dh had “megan” It was a royal pain for almost a year. He finally had to threaten BofA with a lawsuit in our main branch to stop calling, even after Version told them she was no longer the owner of the number. We got lost of debt collection calls for her but BofA was the worst. The saddest? she got a text saying we are a the airport waiting for you pick us up. Are you coming? DH in a fit of Pique texted back No.
The VAST VAST VAST majority of phone numbers are going to be “recycled”. Unless you’re getting a number in a brand new area code, most phone numbers have been out there awhile.
I still get calls weekly for Gene. And his business. My name is not Gene, and no, I don’t own a business.
This post made me realize I’ve had my cell phone number since the late 90s. Do they still give you a list and let you pick the one you want?
17 years and we still get calls for previous person to have home number. Only every couple months now from what used to be weekly. Customer answering message is what cut it back the most.
Yes, I still get calls for Jennifer and I’ve had this phone number for 15 years. My sister’s old number belonged to someone who was in prison 😂
Yes, but the only time I had to get a new number was when the phone number was receiving multiple calls per day from political candidates with no way to unsubscribe.
Thankfully my main cell phone number was new when I got it 20 years ago. A year or so ago when we decided to cancel the land line I ended up porting the number to Mint who had a promo deal for 10/mo if you prepaid a full year. I had a temp number for a few days until the port went through that was recycled and holy hell that was annoying. I ended turning that line off on my phone until the port was completed.
My work phone number is a recycle, but not from work, just Verizon. Dude must have given his number all over because I get spam, junk, scam, and political messages and calls like crazy even after 5 years. From Montana to New Jersey I’ve gotten crap for 5 years.
Over the past month or so I have been getting calls and texts for someone who’s looking to buy a car. I’ve had my number for a long time! Today, though, I got a text with her address. I might go talk to her and make sure she knows her own phone number. Politely, of course.
I had a phone number from 1998 (my first mobile phone) until I think 2015, and every year, in small batches, I’d get calls for a “Tyrone Green.” Tyrone, whomever he was, left my number at a variety of health clinics, gyms, girlfriends, and a particular group people whom he owed money to, and were very very concerned about it. I believe it was his former burner phone, a number he left by accident, and/or on purpose.
Many did not know or care that I was not Tyrone. When I still answered calls from unknown numbers, I’d get things like:
“I need to speak to Tyrone.”
“I am telling you, this is my personal cell phone. There is no Tyrone here!”
“You tell Tyrone that he can’t hide for long! Tell him. Go on! I know he’s there! This isn’t a game!”
Shit like that. When I realized it had been more than a year since my last contact about Tyrone, I wondered if he had finally died. Possibly because those “concerned people” finally caught up with him.
The previous owner of my number apparently had cancer, from what I deduced from the types of texts and hospital voicemails I’d get.
Eventually they stopped after a few years but it made me sad to think that the guy prolly didn’t make it.
Your Ephraim was my Joseph. Putting my number on the national do not call list helped cut back on these kinds of calls and texts for me. It didn’t stop it entirely, but I feel like it helped.
That happened to me when I moved once. I just started telling people that the other person died when we somebody tried to call her.
I received the former phone number of a guy named Shawn. I usually got text messages for him. A few I replied to, but after a while I ignored them. The most recent one was last year. It was from a county court officer reminding him of a court date for the next day. If he didn’t show, an arrest warrant would be issued. I have no idea what he did. I had way of contacting him.
Yep, I used to get calls from some guy’s boss because he was missing work all the time.
I had a phone number that previously belonged to a Parole Officer. Had some wild conversations.
My number’s PO is a credit deadbeat named Eric Whitehead. I’ve had collection agencies calling me for 9 years.
My work phone got a recycled number. This guy must have clicked every popup he ever saw and put his number in it. Also he is not very good at keeping in touch with his friends, and his son is failing science class.
I’ve had this problem before. Whoever had that number before me knew a lot of people in prison. I was getting calls every day. I changed my number quickly
Happened to us on multiple occasions as we moved around the country in the 80s/90s. The worst by far was after an interstate move…we got a new local number, then started getting calls every day from inside a state prison in an adjacent state. Sometimes multiple times a day. Eventually we called the phone company, who said they could do nothing; ultimately we had to contact the state bureau of prisons (in the other state) and they were able to get our number blocked for outgoing calls from the prison. No idea who had our number before, could have been anything– sex chat, lawyer, religious things, no idea.
In another case we got calls for “Shane” for months after getting a new number, almost all of them were debt collectors and some were fairly threatening: “WE KNOW SHANE IS THERE! PUT HIM ON THE PHONE!” stuff like that. Eventually made an outgoing message (old tape answering machine) that said Shane no longer has this number.
A third fun one was in the early 90s, when our local town adopted a new prefix. As it turned out, the new prefix plus our digits was the after-hours phone line for the police department. So lots of people would look at the number and dial the old prefix, thus getting our house. They would leave long messages on our machine for the cops, including some from other cops who clearly did not listen to our outgoing message. We told the police they should 1) do something to better publicize their new prefix, and 2) not expect us to take any messages for them. They were dismissive (at best) so we enjoyed deleting messages for them on a regular basis for over a year.
My daughter’s number used to belong to a guy named Kenny. She got multiple calls from Kenny’s grandma, the court, the sheriff’s office, the sober driving company asking if he would need their services. He wasn’t a great guy. He and his girlfriend ended up in jail on drug charges. It’s sad. They have a little girl. I hope she’s ok.
A couple years ago Visible fucked up and lost my phone number. The new number belonged to someone with a lot of debts. Every so often I get a bunch of messages from a collection company. I don’t answer, but if it’s repetitive I call them back and tell them they have the wrong number. So far that stops the calls from that company.
I’ve had the same cell phone number since 1999 and if I ever have to change it, I am going to cry actual tears.
lol yes. I have about 15 years of phoebe calls. I’m telling you she must have been something, because people STILL call. I did talk to her at one point, we had a good laugh about it, she told me to ignore them so I do, but it’s hilarious to me that they still come after this long.
Yes both numbers I’ve had have been recycled.
I still get calls from a lady for Phill, I’ve told her every time that I’ve had this number since 2017, please delete it from your phone.
Once I got a phone number that used to belong to a beauty parlor. I got lots of calls for a short while, but that didn’t last too long.
It’s been 17 years and I still get calls for the previous family
My old number used to always get debt collection calls and texts for someone named Dominique.
It’s fairly common only real thing you can do is get a new number from your provider
Invite the investors over to the house so you can show them around! This is a no-brainer.
It’s a pretty normal thing. The first time it happened to me with a cell phone was about 26 years ago. It’s been happening with land lines long before that. I’m willing to bet that in established prefixes and area codes, recycled numbers are far more common than virgin numbers.
Happens all the time. My last land line was previously used by a department of a hospital. Talk about annoying.
I get a lot of phone calls from indians asking for some dude named scott in texas. I am neither scott, or in texas
I got multiple calls a week from debt collectors looking for Keisha for years after I got my phone.
I had a landline number for several years that had seemingly belonged to a different person shortly before. I had his drunk ex call me every few months and demand to talk to him in the middle of the night. It was awful. Then one time the cops called for him and didn’t want to believe me it was my number now.
I recently got a notification that I could add my dead grandmother as a friend on Snapchat. Took me a minute to realize her phone number got put back in the pool and the person who got it made a Snapchat. It happens.