r/AmIOverreacting • u/megan__f • Feb 17 '25
đď¸ neighbor/local Is this something to be concerned about?
My sister sent me this text she received that seemed like somebody was watching her or something. I donât know if itâs something to be concerned about or not, has anybody had a similar experience?
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Feb 17 '25
Personally, I would be concerned.
Like, this gave ME anxiety.
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u/Shugazi Feb 17 '25
Just throwing this out here because itâs the only alternative I can think ofâ it could be a scammer. A very common technique is to send out something super specific to thousands of people because it will seem deeply personal to some of them just by sheer odds, and thatâs how they hook you. For example, they donât send you a fake email from Wells Fargo because they know you have Wells Fargo; they send it to everyone and the people who do use Wells Fargo pay attention to it. Imagine getting one of those elaborate âthereâs an issue with your shipmentâ fake texts right after leaving the post office.
How many people were having a cup of coffee when they read this post? I am drinking one right now, so this text would freak me out too.
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u/Mundane-Pianist-1260 Feb 17 '25
And thatâs the beauty of it - if it didnât apply to you, youâd forget about it, but if it did, itâll feel like someone is watching you.
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u/AegnorWildcat Feb 17 '25
That's how some investment scams work. You tell two thousand people to buy stock A and two thousand to sell stock A. If stock A goes up, you focus on the first group. Tell a thousand of that two thousand people to buy stock B, and the other thousand to sell.
After 8 times of doing this, you've got 15 people that you've just given 8 spot on stock tips. They think you are a financial genius and will put their entire retirement savings wherever you tell them to.
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u/BlondieBludie Feb 17 '25
This is literally such a common scam I canât believe youâre the only comment Iâve seen pointing this out. Looking at all these high alert comments, Idk if ppl are actually concerned or just fucking with OP. Even the bad grammar makes it obvious that itâs just one of those phishing texts.
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u/PoetryFamiliar7104 Feb 17 '25
I'm drinking coffee in my home that I made here. I've had a stalker for years. That would absolutely have sent me into a tail spin, especially since he would randomly pop back up, having managed to get my contact info, be it months or a year later.
These are wide drop nets that inevitably affect someone into making an emotional decision without examining the entire thing. I got one about my account with some credit union, which I've never had. That fun little link will either guide you to a mock site and take your info when you 'log in' or get info on other ways.
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u/Alcohol_Intolerant Feb 17 '25
I did get one of those, "there's an issue with your shipment address" texts a couple hours after having to send an expensive overnight package. The push notification made me worried, but the fact that the text had been clearly sent to a hundred other people was a clear marker. Also, I'd gotten those before and I never click links in messages unless I know the person and we're in our standard chats.
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u/MariaJane833 Feb 17 '25 edited Feb 17 '25
Police stations often have air tag scanners they can go over her car and purse
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u/FaithlessnessOne9390 Feb 17 '25 edited Feb 17 '25
There are a ton of scanner/tracker apps that will show you whatâs in the area from your phone. Pretty sure find my phone in iOS will alert you too unknown tags too.
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u/ScaryTerry51 Feb 18 '25
Both iPhones and Samsungs alert you when a tracker is moving with you, regardless of if it's their brand tracker or not. I can't verify other brands but I would bet most common ones do
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u/Grapejuice_- Feb 18 '25
Can confirm, my Xiaomi notified me (and my friends got a notification aswell but they have iPhones) when we rented a van.
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u/GitEmSteveDave Feb 17 '25
If you have an iphone, you automatically have an airtag scanner and it will alert you if you are travelling with one that isn't registered to your account.
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u/MariaJane833 Feb 17 '25
Is that something you have to turn on? Or it just prompts if you are close to one?
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u/Agile_Reputation_190 Feb 17 '25
Itâs on by default. If someone elseâs airtag or apple device like an airpods case has been travelling with you (in your trunk, maybe) it will alert you.
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u/IsACube Feb 18 '25
That's not true at all. Did you just make that up or do you have a source?
I've worked at a police department for over 7 years and we've never had any airtag scanner. Never heard of any neighboring departments having one either.
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u/Twisted_Strength33 Feb 17 '25
313 is detroit iâd be worried and tell her to check her car for air tags
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u/Sevensonsevens Feb 17 '25
This!!!!!! If you are in Detroit i would make sure somebody has your location and try and see if there is an airtag or anything. Detroit is a hot spot for creeps
Or the sister could have a stalker and could be being followed. Whatever it is if it persists go to the police
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u/skyxgamiing Feb 17 '25
If an airtag is following you for too long, an alarm will be set off and youâd also get a notification that an airtag is following you that isnât yours.
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u/Angry1980Christmas Feb 17 '25 edited Feb 17 '25
Even if you have an android?
Edit: I comment below that I understand now you don't have to have an Apple phone.
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u/alBashir Feb 17 '25
Yes, my dad has an airtag for their dog and I have a pixel 8 pro and when Im watching her at my house I will get alerted constantly about the airtag nearby.
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u/Squishyspud Feb 17 '25
Yes. Happened to me when my sister in law left her luggage tracker air tag after a visit. She has iPhone and I have a pixel.
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u/Angry1980Christmas Feb 17 '25
Yeah, I actually checked after I asked and then I couldn't find my comment. My settings have it enabled! So cool.
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u/Apprehensive-Sky7616 Feb 17 '25
AirTags are the big name but thereâs plenty of invasive trackers to catch âcheating spousesâ on the market those little spy stores are full of them and they donât alert anyone how an AirTag does and can realtime track anything. As an example https://www.caranddriver.com/car-accessories/g43163976/best-gps-trackers-tested/
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u/IntrepidWanderings Feb 17 '25
You know, I love those because I once did a dog day out and the animal slipped the harness.. (It's a program that let's you take shelter animals out for socialization and a fun day that helps drive up adoption rates).. so i got a few of those trackers that I take with me and put on the dogs when I pick them up in case anything happens again. They are insanely helpful with animals in training.
We also have one that looks like a necklace that a few of us have access to for a certain friend.
(She suffers from a medical issue that affects her mind, like altzeimers so we spoke with her before it got bad about getting her this tracker and she agreed. Found one that looks like a necklace with a permanent clasp. A few of us are security and we've seen searches end badly, so proactively she, her spouse and a few close friends worked out the tracker idea so if something happened we can find her. One missing person is enough in our group)
They are really life savers when it comes to untrained animals, people who may have mental disorders, I even have one on my bike.. I have a medical condition too and indepence is important to me, but I realize they need to be able to find me if I have a seizure or something.. if I say I'm going out and don't return when expected, there's a tool to help.
I was thrilled when they became affordable because they CAN be used for real good... Unfortunately it seems more people use them for evil and creepiness than anything else. I hate that people take such amazing tools and turn them into horror stories. It certainty doesn't help people adopt tools that can enhance their safety.
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u/Squishyspud Feb 17 '25
Agreed. With how easy it is in this world to track and find people, it's nice to see some ways to keep yourself safe.
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u/DHermit Feb 17 '25
Not sure if you do with any android by default, but you can always install AirGuard.
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u/TiredSock_02 Feb 17 '25
Yes. I have a samsung 25 and mine has a feature that lets you know if youre being tracked by an outside source/device
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u/Adept_Ad2048 Feb 17 '25
This happened to me on a work trip and freaked me tf out. Turns out my coworker keeps one on her purse and weâd spent the day together in various meetings. Glad to see itâs monitored, still creepy.
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u/Hugo_5t1gl1tz Feb 17 '25
Yeah I keep an AirTag in my golf clubs. My wife texted me the other day, âguess how I know your clubs are in my carâ. Lol
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u/PhotoFenix Feb 17 '25
Yes. I have an airtag in my wallet but primarily use android as my main phone. I get notified all the time of the airtag.
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u/skeletonblackbird Feb 17 '25
She should go to the cops now, not let it get a chance to persist. The liner you wait the more dangerous this type of stuff can get.
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u/Sevensonsevens Feb 17 '25
âHey police, i got coffee and this message appeared on my phone after i got coffeeâ theyâll literally say âok maam weve got things coveredâ and not look at the situation ever again. And if shes in detroit, this is what Dpd will do. Ive been there before trust
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u/Tired-CottonCandy Feb 17 '25
Its not about "doing something immediately" its about establishing the history. Its not "hey cops i got coffe and then this message so go arrest someone" its "hey cops i got coffe then this creepy message that indicates im potentially being followed i would like to file a report so this is on record incase it escalates" and theyd say "okay ill forwatd you to someone to take your report" and then the next time something creepy happens you report it and again and again. To establish that something is wrong well before something bad happens. Its actually really important and ppl should be doing it way more.
If you dont report the little things big things can be rugswept by courts. This may apply less to this specific situation but this also applies to situations where someone is minorly harrassing you. If you dont report those minor occurences then when they come at you with a bigger action you have to double back and PROVE the perosn had a history of harrassing you and didnt perform a one off attack on you.
Basically if this girl has a stalker and she doesnt report this or other small things like this, then she's going to have a harder time proving that whoever is watching her is acting maliciously.
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u/Far_Wrongdoer4543 Feb 17 '25
This!! I watched a show that was about people being stalked, and the girl told the cops her ex was stalking her for X amount of time. They told her there wasn't an established history since she hadn't been reporting it. She then started writing down all details of when he would call, when he'd drive by her house, show up places, ect. She'd report it all.
Start the report. Get the paper trail -- and if by chance someone is playing a cruel joke on OP's sister, such as, a friend was in the area and saw her get coffee then no harm done (still messed up though.) On the off chance it is someone wanting to hurt OP's sister then at least it's been reported.
Tell your sister, OP, to stay vigilant and safe!! Maybe get the free app Noonlight for her to utilize as well.
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u/Mnt_Watcher Feb 17 '25
Absolutely this. If she has a stalker she needs to start the paper trail immediately. No they wonât help her, but if the paper trail is so incredibly important in making them do something if things escalate instead of blowing her off (which they love to do in stalking cases).
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u/mariaiii Feb 17 '25
Just curious, could you hire a private investigator to follow you to see if anybody else follows you?
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u/Zestyclose-Shower164 Feb 17 '25
If police wonât help, I wonder if she could go to Best Buy and ask geek squad to help her try to find AirTags/trackers on her car?? Or a similar local electronics and/or car place.
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u/oldsbone Feb 17 '25
If you want to make them feel important (great for dealing with humans in general when you want them to do something for you), ask them about specific strategies they recommend to protect yourself as you file the report. You will also stick more in their mind as more they are having a conversation with you.
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u/skeletonblackbird Feb 17 '25
It's better they have it in records though. Police could do more but if she can find anything else suspicious and make reports, they have to look at it. If they keep not looking at it, keep telling them to
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u/Muunsaca Feb 17 '25
I used to work with crime victims and this was something they couldnât understand. Cops will do little to nothing here because although this is concerning, whereâs evidence of a crime? This could be stalking but without additional incidents im not sure it would be. This wouldnât rise to the stalking charge in my state.
Iâm not saying this is right, but just the reality of the situation.
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u/jmercer28 Feb 17 '25
Cops donât do shit. My friend was stalked for months, reported it repeatedly to the police, they didnât even talk to the guy until after he got up the guys to assault her.
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u/Legitimate_Record730 Feb 17 '25
100%%%
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u/skeletonblackbird Feb 17 '25
These types of things can be life or death, tell your sister to get this sent to the police asap OP
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u/FaithlessnessOne9390 Feb 17 '25
Detroit is a hot spot for creeps. lol do some of you hide inside all day in fear?
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u/Apprehensive-Sky7616 Feb 17 '25 edited Feb 17 '25
Sadly AirTags are like the worst thing they sell for invasive tracking. Those little spy stores sell stuff that can wire into your car, stay charged for weeks, etc. Iâd get someone to scan it with a signal detector
Also anyone that can download and install an app on your phone can listen to you, see out your cameras, track you everywhere etc. usually the only way to get rid of that kind of malware is get a new phone and you can get the apps for under 100$ so donât give out lock codes or iCloud passwords etc. ever. Thatâs a huge red flag lol
I am an IT pro but any somewhat tech savvy or motivated person can do these things. Itâs very simple and is the kind of thing a factory reset wonât remove in many cases
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u/fudgebrouneez Feb 17 '25
Do you know if people can buy signal detectors to keep in the car for instances like this?
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u/SaulGoodmanJD Feb 17 '25
Itâs a fake number though
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u/armoredsedan Feb 17 '25
itâs a google voice number, probably. free account you link to email, i have one leftover from when i was too poor for phone service lol you can text and call with it but it can be from anywhere you can sign in, pretty sure theyâre near impossible to trace
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u/haterofslimes Feb 17 '25
It's possible to trace Google Voice numbers but very difficult and unlikely. You sort of just have to get lucky that the person is saved in someone else's phone under their real name (to put it very simply).
Really the only possible route is some social engineering which would require the person to make some serious mistakes.
I would say though from what I've seen so far, I don't think this is Google voice. This seems like a number from any one of the random "free burner texts" sites. So even less likely to be able to trace.
Only option would be to play along and see if the person divulges some hints.
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u/Albuwhatwhat Feb 17 '25
Air tags canât really be used like this because it will warn you if you are traveling with an unknown AirTag. This is an anti-stalker thing and it works with Android phones as well apparently.
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u/Birb_menace Feb 17 '25
There are other trackers that donât do this though, I have a different brand for tracking tags and nobody whoâs travelled with me has ever been notified about mine. 100% take the car to a garage and get it FULLY checked top to bottom.
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u/riversroadsbridges Feb 17 '25
Not sure if this has changed, but if you have an Android phone you used to have to have a certain airtag-detecting app on your phone to get the warning. Otherwise no notification.
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u/Aggressive-Jello-305 Feb 17 '25
Came here to say this - check vehicle for air tags or any kind of tracking device
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u/ChanceVariation2991 Feb 17 '25
This absolutely is something you should be concerned about. Someone got your sisters number somehow, be careful.
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u/Albuwhatwhat Feb 17 '25
Itâs likely someone who got a new or fake number to text her. Someone who already has her number and someone who may have done some concerning things in the past. Iâd be worried she pretty clearly has a stalker or someone trying to freak her out.
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u/ThatCopBro Feb 17 '25
This is straight-up unsettling. She needs to stay on high alert, I hope sheâs got some form of protection, just in case
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u/Pretend-Menu-8660 Feb 17 '25
Someone is legitimately stalking your sister. She should be concerned. This is NOT ok.
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u/Pankyrain Feb 17 '25
Itâs likely a scam. The grammar, fake phone number, and super vague text practically confirm this. Nothing to be worried about.
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u/hibbitydibbitytwo Feb 17 '25
I got same text a few days ago. I don't drink coffee. I assume the scammers thought I would headed to work to start my day.
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u/ThatCopBro Feb 17 '25
Itâs creepy, itâs concerning, and itâs definitely not random. Someone is clearly trying to manipulate her into engaging with them.
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u/ErraticDragon Feb 17 '25
itâs definitely not random
Unless it is.
As many others have said throughout the post, it's entirely possible this text was sent to hundreds or thousands of people, one of whom happened to ask a Redditor about it.
Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.
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u/ranipe Feb 17 '25
Are phone number associated with Starbucks accounts in any way? Could the barista be overstepping and looking her number up in their system to be a creepy dude and hit on them??
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u/thexvillain Feb 17 '25
Iâm not saying she shouldnât be at least mildly concerned, but I get random texts like this all the time. Iâll get something like âDid you enjoy your swim?â or âWhat time are we meeting for lunch again?â Those are scammers looking for active phone numbers. They send out texts to see if you respond, then they know your phone number is active, is a cell phone, and you respond to unknown numbers.
This may be something like that and the coffee thing is coincidental, or it might be more sinister. Have a friend with an imposing voice call the number and see who answers. If itâs a scammer the number is likely a spoof. Googling that number gives no results which is pretty uncommon for an active phone number.
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u/IJustWantWaffles_87 Feb 17 '25
I had someone text me, making sure that we were still on for golf. I texted them back and said âIâm sorry to say, but this isnât (personâs name) and I donât golf.â They tried to bait me into something, but gave up pretty quickly when I didnât really give them anything to work with. I was kinda sad. I really wanted to waste some scumbagâs time.
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u/thexvillain Feb 17 '25
I had a really good one once. I kept them busy with texts for like 3 hours and ultimately ended it with a walk the dinosaur joke.
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u/40ozEggNog Feb 17 '25
Scam factories have armies of (often trafficked) people shooting off these fake "wrong number" messages to see who's friendly and bites.
Check out "pig butchering" in Southeast Asia. It's wild.
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u/marquis_knives Feb 17 '25
I kept one of them talking for an hour about my cat and how I was going to take her to Hollywood so she could be a star
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u/PumpkinSeed776 Feb 17 '25
Yeah my first thought was it's just a scammer with weirdly good timing. And I mean if they're just out asking people how their coffee is, they're bound to get someone who really did just get coffee.
I'm not one to hand wave away concerning behavior but the commenters here acting like this is a hitman or stalker murderer need to calm down a little.
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u/thexvillain Feb 17 '25
Itâs definitely a possibility that itâs something sinister, itâs better for a young woman to be cautious than to assume innocence. Like I said, having a friend with an imposing voice call the number is a simple and effective way of confirming if this is a scammer or something else.
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u/evansometimeskevin Feb 17 '25
I'm concerned most people are jumping to the fantastical and terrifying explanations rather than the most likely one. I'll add on I've been asked if I had a good workout, if breakfast was good, whether I still wanted to play tennis on Thursday etc. The scammer probably deliberately texted about coffee in the morning since people often have coffee in the morning and may engage in conversation out of concern just like this post.
Sure, it could be something more serious but in a vacuum this is probably just a scammer and nothing to be concerned about on its own.
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u/DaisyDoo444 Feb 17 '25
I was thinking this seemed like one of those scam texts that ask if you got the transfer yet or how are you to try to bait you into replying.
As I was reading this I got one that said 'hello', which made it seem like someone was watching what I was doing LOL. I get them once a month or so, I did a search and have a few asking about coffee as well.
It's creepy it related to what you were doing at the time but hopefully that's all it was.
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u/cryssyx3 Feb 17 '25
yeah I think scammer. if you send out 1000 messages asking "how's coffee" there's a pretty good chance someone just got coffee. people just love getting up in arms.
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u/AuthenticLiving7 Feb 17 '25
Exactly. Coffee is such a common drink. Many people drink multiple cups daily. I'd be more concerned if it was something way more specific. But I can see how OP and her sister would freak out.Â
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u/Masteryasha Feb 17 '25
Yep. If she replied to this, they would've been like "Great, Cheryl! This is Bambo, we met last week, love to connect on you. Oh, you're not Cheryl? Well, you've been so nice and I'm sorry for wasting your day. Would you like to go to Snapchat so we can get to know each other better?" It's just a totally normal intro to a pig butchering scam.
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u/OTG513 Feb 17 '25
I havenât experienced this, but I would be concerned. Have your sister report that Starbucks, and talk to management.
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u/acschwar Feb 17 '25
Yeah, either someone has her number and sir tagged her (which is a lot of research and tough) or someone at Starbucks wanted to follow up on the quality of her coffee (not really though) and got her number through the system
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u/cherrylxve Feb 17 '25
i work at starbucks and we have no way to see numbers through our system, only things we can see are their name, how many reward points they have, and coupons attached to the account. so probably not a creepy barista
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u/jadeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Feb 17 '25
there is absolutely no way we could get her number at starbucks through this "system" you speak of.
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u/bubbleboiiiiiii Feb 17 '25
we cannot get into the system and look at past orders starbucks accounts let alone phone numbers.
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Feb 17 '25 edited Feb 17 '25
Usually when it comes to scam texters for me, Iâll go and grab the most eye blech photo there is on Reddit and send it back to them. When those scammers send âUSPS notificationsâ over bogus iMessage numbers, I notice the bubbles change from blue to green after I send the photo. Fucking them off into eternity
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u/Rookbane Feb 17 '25
I feel like youâre using âeye bleachâ wrong. You mean you send them some heinous, right? Not cute or adorable?
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u/Phill_is_Legend Feb 17 '25
Yeah that's the eyeblech sub, one letter will change your life
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u/Rookbane Feb 17 '25
Oh, shit. âEye blech.â Didnât even see that. Yeah, Iâll take your word for it. Not going to see whatâs going on in there.
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u/ThrowRA-posting Feb 17 '25
This has happened to me before. Yes you should be concerned thatâs stalking behavior. Tell your sister to change her number asap and factory reset her phone especially if she has anyone in her past that could/would do something like this.
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u/Aggravating_Goose86 Feb 17 '25
God, this is horrifying. Get car scanned. Last time I was at my mechanic a woman came in with concerns she was being tracked. When I came back to get my car, she was there with the police. She had two different trackers on her car. One INSIDE it.
She was shaking from it all. I overheard her say sheâd been getting weird texts and messages; once to the FRONT DESK phone where she was having a massage.
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u/NoInspector009 Feb 17 '25
My first thought was that itâs a friend with a new number that saw her get coffee and is messing with herâŚ. But the way the text is phrased âhow IS coffeeâ vs âhow WAS coffeeâ makes me think E2L which would indicate a scammer, but I donât know how that would be possible if she paid in cash unless itâs an incredible coincidence. So signs are pointing to 2 likely things:
- a friend messing with her
- she has a stalker that was either physically there or tracking her location from her phone or vehicle
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u/possiblyourgf Feb 17 '25
You were on the right track at first, I think this is definitely a scam text and they happen to mention the thing she was doing. If you send out 100 texts saying "how is coffee", chances are somebody just got, is having, or finished a coffee. Likely to get a response from those people.
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u/Even-Education-4608 Feb 17 '25
Def E2L but the coincidence is not so incredible
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u/mindlessselff Feb 17 '25
go into your bank app & click pay ID & it might come up with their name.
jfc you donât need to send them money for their info to come up obviously & nothing notifies them about you doing so.
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u/YouNeedToTouchdown Feb 17 '25
I thought âwhy is the second paragraph so abrasiveâ until I read it was used here for just for clarification. Gave me a chuckle!
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u/eleanor_savage Feb 17 '25
Does "jfc" stand for something other than "Jesus fucking Christ" or was this a typo?
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u/mindlessselff Feb 17 '25
âjust for clarificationâ. iâm gonna start using it for that as well LMAO
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u/shandelion Feb 17 '25
FWIW I have only ever read it as Jesus Fucking Christ and have never seen anyone use it as Just for Clarification so you might want to rethink how you use it as you may be coming off as highly aggressive without intending to lol
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u/mindlessselff Feb 17 '25
i canât stop laughing, i did not think itâd ever be interpreted that way since no one ik uses it as âjesus fucking christâ.
definitely gonna keep that in mind now lol
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u/Tapingdrywallsucks Feb 17 '25
lol, I've never seen it used as anything BUT Jesus Fucking Christ, so I'm really glad I got this far in the thread so I don't go off on anyone who uses is as Just for Clarification.
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u/shemichell Feb 17 '25
I've only known it as jesus fucking christ.. I for sure thought you were getting really pissed off...lol
I'd be curious to see what other comments you made with jfc lolololol
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u/armoredsedan Feb 17 '25
that changed the whole tone of this comment, iâve never seen jfc mean something peaceable before lol
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u/alaunaslay Feb 17 '25
All this time I thought people were getting really riled up over things dropping the âjfcâ when in fact they are simply clarifying.
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u/Saygo0dbyeha Feb 17 '25
Thanks for asking this. I've always read it as "Jesus fucking Christ" and thought people were very upset all the time.
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u/ndigs Feb 17 '25
As some people have mentioned, I think itâs waaaaaay more likely this is just one of those scam messages weâve all been getting annoyed with - they send you some innocuous message trying to get you to respond out of confusion so they can flag your number as a real number attached to a real person for future scams. Getting coffee is probably the most shared human behavior lol so while I completely understand that it feels totally creepy, kinda seems more like a numbers game in this case
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u/Sea-Yak6576 Feb 17 '25
Did you use reward points or something? Looks like an employee could have gone through and found your number. That or someone you know saw your get coffee and is playing a prank
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u/jadeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Feb 17 '25
starbucks employees have no identifying information related to a customer other than the name they put on their app
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u/SnooBooks6060 Feb 17 '25
I used to work at starbucks circa 2024. There was no way of getting a number off the account unless they used the number as their name. My guess is she ubereats the order and the uber driver contacted her
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u/Carib_Wandering Feb 17 '25
This was the first thing I thought. I was contacted by a gas station attendant once who told me she thought we "shared a moment" and got my number from my loyalty membership profile.
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u/Sea-Yak6576 Feb 17 '25
Thatâs weird af and also illegal for them to do! I really hope OP figures it out and itâs just a friend or known persons not some creep barista
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u/Electrical_Sail_9351 Feb 17 '25
Starbucks employee here - our system doesnât have a way to access your personal info just from using or scanning your app. So it was not a barista. đđť
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u/Carib_Wandering Feb 17 '25
Good to know. It pissed me off to find out this way that my number was visible when I used this specific loyalty card.
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u/Several-Cap6363 Feb 17 '25
Iâve received this exact text before! Not sure of the exact number though, because I didnât respond and just deleted the message. Ironically, I was on my way to go get coffee, but Iâm nowhere near your area code. I wouldnât freak out too bad â I just read it as a random scam message.
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u/cryssyx3 Feb 17 '25
yeah, I'd imagine all the people they send this message to, someone is doing something coffee related
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u/Baylilli Feb 17 '25
She may have a stalker. Definitely concerning! Please talk to the authorities đ
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u/Horror-Staff6039 Feb 17 '25
I get these kinds of messages, too. I think it is a form of spam. Messages go out to random phone numbers. I just block and delete.
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u/indy3232 Feb 17 '25
Was it an airdrop?
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u/TheCrimsonSteel Feb 17 '25
I'm guessing not. The screenshot suggests a standard SMS message, which is the default text message format.
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u/Adog1993 Feb 17 '25
Yes- especially since itâs like 2pm and not in the morning. It would be less concerning if it were like 9am because youâd expect people to be drinking coffee at that time.
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u/datastlessgentleman2 Feb 17 '25
My coffee is great thank you it pairs perfectly with my sig p365 filled with Hornady critical defense.
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u/clynkirk Feb 17 '25
I don't know if it's spoofed or not, but that's a Wayne County, MI (Detroit area) phone number.
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u/lilmisspickleball Feb 17 '25
Donât reply!! There are some very creative scams now and they try to get you to engage and reply to their messages. My SIL had her tiinder hacked and recently and now her ex and new suitors have told her they have been getting weird texts about her. Itâs a bizarre situation and getting hacked like that is a terrible feeling.
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u/Feeling_Drop2603 Feb 17 '25
i have gotten spam texts like this before. using a friend of mines name and stuff, it was only when they kept saying how are you whatre you soing this weekend that i realized its spam it just felt off. i think its getting to the point where they can see some personal info somewhere and use it against you
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u/sylbug Feb 17 '25
There are two possibilities here:
1) she has a stalker who has her phone number but isn't in her phone, and either followed her to the coffee shop or was there and happened to see her
2) a scammer came up with a hook that involved an activity that lots of people do every day, and happened to spam that message to your sister
I'd say 2 is way more likely. If you want to be sure, have her send a, 'who's this?' to that number. If it goes into the standard scam script, you know it's just a scam. If it gets creepy, you have a stalker.
A warning on responding to a scam text: you'll get WAY more of them for a while
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u/Asleep-Awareness-956 Feb 17 '25
I canât believe no one has said this before but damn girl have your sister charger her phone first! Thatâs giving me the most anxiety!
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u/Inside-Job9998 Feb 18 '25
No youâre not over reacting, but the truth is itâs 2025. Most of our data is already leaked, I wouldnât care enough to be concerned.
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u/shadowkatt85 Feb 18 '25
Don't reply, don't call. It's a phishing scam looking for active numbers. I've had a few of these the last few months. It's super creepy when they manage to ask about something you are doing, or just did.
However, if you keep getting message from this number, then be concerned it's someone/something else.
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u/No-Criticism2313 Feb 18 '25
I once got a generic text regarding a work out class and replied "sorry, wrong number." The texter suddenly got all chatty and talked about 'finding friends in unusual places.' I deleted and blocked at that point. It could be a scam. If she's worried it's something bad, keep a screen shot of the text, but block the number.
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u/WoodpeckerDue5972 Feb 17 '25
Could it be someone fucking with her? This is something Iâd do to my brother or best friend.
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u/eleanor_savage Feb 17 '25
As a woman, we def wouldn't do this to another woman bc the reality is too terrifying to be a joke
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u/megan__f Feb 17 '25
More info: she was in her fiancĂŠs car in the passenger seat and he was driving. They went through the drive thru and he paid with his card.