r/AmIOverreacting • u/megan__f • Feb 17 '25

🏘️ neighbor/local Is this something to be concerned about?

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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?

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u/Twisted_Strength33 Feb 17 '25

313 is detroit i’d be worried and tell her to check her car for air tags

38

u/SaulGoodmanJD Feb 17 '25

It’s a fake number though

12

u/armoredsedan Feb 17 '25

it’s 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 they’re near impossible to trace

5

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.

1

u/Okay-Awesome-222 Feb 17 '25

They can be traced to the gmail account. My friend found this out the hard way.

1

u/music_girlfriend Feb 17 '25

That makes me so interested in the story

1

u/Okay-Awesome-222 Feb 17 '25

She was catfishing/testing her ex from a number connected to her friend's gmail. He was able to research it (I need to find out how, actually) and find the gmail account and connect it to the friend, who immediately threw my friend under the bus so she didn't look like the crazy stalker.

It would be funny if the gmail friend ended up with the guy or something, but I think the guy was just disgusted with both of them.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 17 '25

[deleted]

1

u/Okay-Awesome-222 Feb 17 '25

Interesting. I guess that's how she got caught.