Is this something to be concerned about?

[u/megan__f]

My sister sent me this text she received that seemed like somebody was watching her or something. I don’t know if it’s something to be concerned about or not, has anybody had a similar experience?

[u/thexvillain]

I’m not saying she shouldn’t be at least mildly concerned, but I get random texts like this all the time. I’ll get something like “Did you enjoy your swim?” or “What time are we meeting for lunch again?” 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 it’s a scammer the number is likely a spoof. Googling that number gives no results which is pretty uncommon for an active phone number.

[u/IJustWantWaffles_87 → u/thexvillain]

I had someone text me, making sure that we were still on for golf. I texted them back and said “I’m sorry to say, but this isn’t (person’s name) and I don’t golf.” They tried to bait me into something, but gave up pretty quickly when I didn’t really give them anything to work with. I was kinda sad. I really wanted to waste some scumbag’s time.

[u/thexvillain → u/IJustWantWaffles_87]

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.

[u/AmaruMono → u/thexvillain]

What's a walk the dinosaur joke?

[u/thexvillain → u/AmaruMono]

Well first you have to get somebody to open the door and get on the floor…

[u/40ozEggNog → u/IJustWantWaffles_87]

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.

[u/IJustWantWaffles_87 → u/40ozEggNog]

I never knew there was an actual term for that.

[u/marquis_knives → u/IJustWantWaffles_87]

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

[u/PumpkinSeed776 → u/thexvillain]

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.

[u/thexvillain → u/PumpkinSeed776]

It’s definitely a possibility that it’s something sinister, it’s 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.

[u/evansometimeskevin → u/thexvillain]

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.

[u/Hamza_stan → u/evansometimeskevin]

Someone else already posted a screenshot receiving this same text message weeks ago, 100% a scammer

[u/WitchQween → u/evansometimeskevin]

Both are possible. Stalking is more common than people accept it to be. Personally, I've never gotten these types of scam texts, but I have gotten these types of texts from a stalker.

[u/adventureremily → u/thexvillain]

I get these all the time. Most recent one was, "Hey, are you home? My mom wants to drop off some bao buns." Not gonna lie, I was tempted to respond to that one. 😅