Bizarre spam texts

[Sojourner]

I just got this one:

Lucy, should we go relax at the beach with Anna next week?

On average, I've been getting weird, random, "wrong number" texts like this at least twice a week (sometimes nearly every day) for months now.

What is the spammer's strategy here? Are they just hoping for a response, any response? Do responses like "I'm not Lucy, you have the wrong number" actually lead to successful interactions for the spammers? I assume they must be working on some level, or else they wouldn't be so persistent.

Has anyone responded to these kinds of texts before, and if so, what was the rest of the conversation like?

 

[GalaxyBoy]

From this article https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/wrong-number-text-scam-rcna39793

So-called wrong number scams — in which con artists send out huge batches of eye-grabbing but innocuous texts — have become the introduction du jour for scammers looking for people to bilk for money. If recipients respond, scammers will try to establish relationships with the potential victims and eventually try to persuade them to give away their savings under the false impression that they’re investing in cryptocurrency.

 

[fosterscik]

I also get these. Often 1 or 2 a day. Like yu I do not respond (I report as spam but I suspect that's really a waste of time). I too am interested to hear what any further conversation would be like.

 

[statsman]

Usually I get emails about an order I've placed, and that if it is a mistake, to call a certain phone number or click on a link in the email.

 

[aja8888]

I feel left out as all I get are "Your PayPal account is locked" or "Your car's warranty has expired" stuff.

 

[REWahoo]

I've been getting "Your Netflix account has been suspended" almost daily for the past few weeks. So to teach them a lesson I subscribed to Netflix yesterday. Take THAT, scammer!

 

[Souschef]

The scammers have started the latest McAfee and Norton barrage.

 

[Sojourner]

Here's a quick TL; DR snippet from an article about "wrong number" spam texting:

What’s the deal with the weird wrong-number texts? These texts are usually the lead-in to romance scams that usually end with fake crypto deposits, written so as to imply wealth and success on the part of the scammer, who is often an abused and captive worker operating multiple phones and attempting to con several people from a compound operated by shady gambling rings somewhere in Southeast Asia.

Incredible. The depths of greed and depravity in the world apparently have no lower bounds.

EDIT: Here is the link to the article on Substack where the above quote is from. Really good article that explains a lot of this. You can read the whole article without logging in or subscribing, but you have to ignore (keep scrolling) past a nag screen/widget. https://maxread.substack.com/p/whats-the-deal-with-all-those-weird

 

[Involuntary Retiree]

Don't respond. Report and block.


I can report spam messages to my carrier (Verizon) by forwarding the phone number to 7726 and then I block the contact. If there are multiple recipients (arguably other innocent spammees), I block every number associated with the original message.



If a spam message comes by iMessage on my iPhone, there is usually a link to report the message as "junk" to Apple, which I do and then I block the contact. If there's no link, I report it to Verizon. Sometimes I do both. Ha! I hate spam!

 

[xlf11]

Got hotmail spam regularly with "someone logged into your microsoft account". At first I tried to hit reply to see their address mostly from ad places. Now I just hit Report function in the hotmail and seems to get less recently but not too sure if Microsoft cares or not.

 

[scrabbler1]

The scammers have started the latest McAfee and Norton barrage.

OMG I get at least 5 junk emails a day telling me my McAfee service has expired, many of those emails telling me I have 237 (or some other number) viruses on my PC! I have never had McAfee on my PC.

 

[Time2]

the lead-in to romance and a trip to the beach with Lucy and Anna

Text me at XXX-653-8970.

 

[HenryD]

Last week I got an invoice, generated from QuickBooks, for camera equipment I didn't order. It originated from Intuit.com, it wasn't faked at all. I'm familiar with these invoice emails because I use QuickBooks myself. I wasn't sure what to do with it but I wasn't about to click the link to view the invoice because I know that the 'invoice has been viewed' event is visible to whoever generated it, and then they'd know it got delivered to a live email address.

 

[W2R]

I don't think I have ever received a spam text. If I did, I sure wouldn't respond.

 

[ls99]

Once a week: "Yor bill has been successfully generated"

 

[friar1610]

Multiple times a day…”Your UPS/FEDEX/USPS package is out for delivery.”

 

[RobbieB]

So far...

My Amazon account is suspended
My Netflix account is suspended
My Paypal account is suspended
My Apple account is suspended
My Venmo account is suspended
The IRS has a warrant out for my arrest
My house has a tax lien

So far no children are in a Mexican Jail, but soon, I just know...

Assholes.

 

[CardsFan]

Lately, may 1-2 times a week, I will get a text from a number I don't know, with a naked link. No other message. Uh, no, not gonna click on that one. I just delete it.

 

[Sue J]

Here's what I get. I think someone had my number before me.

 

[Sunset]

Oh great, and I bought a new Speedo to meet Lucy and Anna at the beach

 

[RetireBy90]

Ok, I had to lookup that address. It is only 32 min away. Sounds like a good time [emoji41]

 

[HarveyS]

I've been getting more and more spam texts. About 2/week E-mails have died down a bit - or go directly to Junk and I don't see them.

 

[Go-NoGo]

A new one today, they are getting creative:

Here is your Venmo one time access code: 578799. Do not share this code with anyone as it may be a scam, if you did not request this code, click here: bogus-venmo-site.com/gotcha

 

[plex]

I've received some dumb ones, but a similar one I received was along the along the lines of "Hey, Mary are you there?" or "Is this Mary." Then through my identity monitoring service I noticed someone randomly sold my name in conection with that number as "Mary" without me even responding once.

So, I can definitely say that some of these texts are fishing to confirm your basic information so they can sell it and make a quick buck. That's the age we will live in now, no trojans/viruses, just hands reaching in from everywhere trying to get your information.

 

[djsander]

I’ve had every account that I don’t have suspended. On a lighter note my wife received an email from a friend who was checking on her and wanted to see how she’s doing. It was from her friends email and her friend passed away several years ago! I think we might be able to communicate with the dead!