Is there anything I can do about this? Someone uses my #

zissou'smom

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Starting a few months ago, I keep getting calls for this woman, I'll call her PC. Apparently she gives out my phone number to people she doesn't want to talk to. A few months ago, she owed (owes?) someone a TON of money, and the collections agency was calling like 15 times a day for a while until I finally convinced them I wasn't her (you know, cuz my vm says "This is JULIE leave a message!). They were kind of rude about it at first but I'm sure they get that a lot from people who really are that person.

Anyway, it's happening again, but this time it's different. I'm not sure, but it seemed like the person I just talked to was a cop in Jacksonville FL. He's been calling for a few days too. He never said what company he was with... If it wasn't he had a lot of questions and I guess maybe I shouldn't have answered them all, but he didn't ask where I live or my last name so the red flag never went off... you know, how long have you had this number, how much do they call for her, you're sure you've never met her, why are they calling you for her, etc.

Is there anything I can do about this? Is she allowed to give my phone number out to people? I've had it for 4 years now, and I can't change it for any number of reasons.
 

natalie_ca

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If you have her name, which it sounds like you do, report it to the police. What she is doing is considered "mischief" and is a crime, a minor one, but getting arrested might stop her from doing it or at least making her change the number she was giving out.

Other than that I really don't know what else you can do. Reporting her to the phone company isn't going to do anything because if her phone gets cut off she will still just give yours.

The next time someone calls for her, try and find out some information about her. Tell them that she has been giving out your phone number and that you want to report it to the police and ask if they will help you out by letting you know her address and city.

I had a similar situation of mistaken identity some years ago. There is someone else in my city with the same last name as me but her first name is "Lynn" not "Linda". She is not related to me.

Apparentlly that girl was quite the "party girl" and I don't think she ever met a guy that she didn't spend the night with
but so often when I took a cab or made a phone call and had to leave my name, I would get all kinds of comments about me supposedly knowing that person's brother, cousin, uncle or something. Then there were the times the police and collection agents and lawyers would be phoning me and accusing me of lying about who I was when i told them they had the wrong number. I was lucky and I knew who they were actually wanting and finally convinced them that I wasn't who they thought I was and was able to direct them to this other family who actually was related to that girl.

Then there was the time a large furniture company called "The Brick" moved into my area and their customer service phone number must have been very close to my home phone number, a number I had for 7 years. I started getting calls from people all hours of the day and night asking me when their furniture was going to be delivered or if their financing was approved. They would even leave a message on my answering machine that said "Hi, this is Linda. I'm not home right now....."


If it was a once or twice thing I wouldn't have cared, but this was a multiple times per day occurance, 7 days a week. And I was really annoyed.

I called the phone company and they said that they would change my number for me. I told them forget it. That they could change the number of "The Brick" since I had my number first.

I called "The Brick" and told them that they better do something like change their number. They told me to change my number and that they would even pay for it. I told them no. When people called I started telling them that their furniture was already delivered or that their financing was refused or that "Leon's had a better price". Eventually the phone calls stopped because "The Brick" changed their phone number.
 
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zissou'smom

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Yea, I think I might call the cops. It is my cell phone #, I don't even live in the same city as her. I wonder if she even knows that there is someone out there being woken up all the time because of her bs?

That stinks about the furniture company! We used to be 1 digit off from the Pizza Hut. And the party girl who nearly shares your name... someone else's reputation precedes you
 

green bunny

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Oh, that reminds me of an amusing story about callers who apparently don't listen. A few years someone called out house and I answered.

Me: Hello?

Caller: Hello, is Mark there?

Me (politely): Oh, I'm sorry; you have the wrong number!

Caller: Oh. Is Steve or Jacob at home?

Me: No, you have the wrong number!

Never did figure that one out. It wasn't a telemarketer, and the caller didn't have a foreign accent, so I'm apt to think he was just a moron.

Tricia
 

pipersjo

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I have someone that calls my number constantly. I told this kid (he is a young teenager) that I didn't know he person he was looking for and he said, and I quote, "oh, is this his mom?". I don't know the person and I'm his mom?!! He calls me constantly even though my vm says "this is Jo....". Stupid kid!
 

lunasmom

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I had something similar like that happen, but it wasn't for mischief reasons. The people contacting another "Jenny" were just plain dumb. If you changed the area codes from what my number is you got another "Jenny" in a different part of the metro area.

I finally figured this out after looking up the local exchanges. So I called and left her a message stating that I would go to the police if this continued. I never heard from a strange number since.


Natalie gave some really good advice. People doing something like that who don't realize its illegal will promptly stop when the men in blue visit.
 

pushylady

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When people called I started telling them that their furniture was already delivered or that their financing was refused or that "Leon's had a better price". Eventually the phone calls stopped because "The Brick" changed their phone number.
Well, I'd get pretty ticked off after a while too.
 

carolpetunia

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When I was a teenager, a restaurant called the Imperial Palace opened with a number very similar to ours, and we started getting phone calls from people trying to reach them.

One night my father answered the phone and the caller said, "Is this the Imperial Palace?" Papa glanced around the living room and shrugged. "Well, it's a nice place, but I wouldn't go that far."
 

cat mommy

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We get calls from phone who want to talk to Bradley, not close to our names first or last, about his mortage or people calling for so & so telling us all about her medical records


We don't answered the phone (everyone we know, knows this and will leave a message) if we are home we'll pick up. The kicker is too, our answering machine is a generic one that comes with the machine, don't people know who you are calling? Especially, the ones who call over & over.
 

stacyd1987

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I have an Atlanta cell number and I get calls all the time from weird places. New York, Arizona, Alaska, Georgia (of course), Texas... I almost got all the states. It's always for different people too!
 

arlyn

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When I lived alone, I used to get all kinda of strange phone calls.
I started answering the phone by saying "Candy's Massage Parlor, May we feel you?" my friends and family of course all knew about it.

The wrong numbers would all just hang up without ever saying a word
 

sadieandziggy

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Isn't this a form of fraud? If that guy calls again ask him who he is, coz if he is a cop, he's probably trying to help. Can't you just tell this woman to change her number and give out her old one instead of yours.

It's a bit creepy to me. Is she avoiding Taxes or something?
 

cairo

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Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

When I was a teenager, a restaurant called the Imperial Palace opened with a number very similar to ours, and we started getting phone calls from people trying to reach them.

One night my father answered the phone and the caller said, "Is this the Imperial Palace?" Papa glanced around the living room and shrugged. "Well, it's a nice place, but I wouldn't go that far."
Originally Posted by Arlyn

When I lived alone, I used to get all kinda of strange phone calls.
I started answering the phone by saying "Candy's Massage Parlor, May we feel you?" my friends and family of course all knew about it.

The wrong numbers would all just hang up without ever saying a word
These stories crack me up.


When I first came to the US, my brother lived in Atlanta, and I had lost his number. So I whipped out the phone book, looked up his name and found 3 entries.

The first number led to a voicemail that was clearly not my Mike, so I hung up. The second number a woman answered the phone. I said, "Hi, can I talk to Mikey?" She asks "Who is this?" She sounded very suspicious. Mike always had jealous girlfriends, so I paused a moment to think about it before saying. "Um, it's his sister." I hoped that that would relax the girl a bit. There was a moment of silence and the woman replied in a shakey and angry voice, "My husband doesn't have a sister!... CLICK!"


My Mike ended up being the third number. Doh!
 

catfriend

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I keep getting calls for a woman called (I think) Fleur de Lis. I generally tell them the number has been reassigned. They are almost all from HSN or finance compainies. Some people didn't care whether I was she or not:

Me: Hello?

Caller: Hi, I'm calling Flora Lisa (the name seemed to have several variations) to let her know she's won a fabulous vacation package!

Me: I'm sorry, this number's been reassigned.

Caller: Oh, well you've won a fabulous vacation package!

Me: No thank you. Goodbye.

Some scams aren't very subtle I guess!
 

gailc

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When I get a wrong number and I tell them that some ask who is this and I reply why do you ask!!
My parents used to get phone calls for a motorcycle shop that had the name name as my maiden name asking if there bikes were fixed. My dad would take those calls and make up all sorts of wild stories to the caller!!

Have you called your cell phone provider???
 

pennicat

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For several months after we were reassigned our current number, we kept getting calls for the person who previously had it, from collection agencies. They always left messages during the day, but never said who they really were, but to call back as soon as possible. I would ignore them until I finally got fed up and returned a couple of the calls and convinced the agencies that no, I was not Muhammed Whateverhisnamewas. It stopped shortly afterwards.

One time my father missdialed when calling the TV repair shop about our TV that was in being fixed. The person who answered the phone identified the company as "so and so" repair, so my dad asked for Bill. Bill got on the phone and my dad asked about the TV. Bill went to check and came back and said they didn't have one there under our name. After much confusion, everyone figured out that he had misdialed, reached an appliance repair store in another city, who also had an employee named Bill, but of course did not have our TV. Too weird.
 

sharky

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Call the provider...

Call the cops , give the name and city of person giving out #... she may not know it is a working #....
 

lunasmom

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By the way, if collection agencies are calling you more than once (err...the same agency calling more than once) and you tell them that you're not the person nor do they have anything to do with you, it's illegal for them to call you back.

I remember that from last summer. I had posted about receiving a weird phone call on my cell for one of the previous tenants. I forgot who posted it, but they said that once you talk with the collection agency and tell them what's up, they're not legally allowed to call you back and "harass" you.
 

MoochNNoodles

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Originally Posted by lunasmom

By the way, if collection agencies are calling you more than once (err...the same agency calling more than once) and you tell them that you're not the person nor do they have anything to do with you, it's illegal for them to call you back.

I remember that from last summer. I had posted about receiving a weird phone call on my cell for one of the previous tenants. I forgot who posted it, but they said that once you talk with the collection agency and tell them what's up, they're not legally allowed to call you back and "harass" you.
I'm glad you posted this! Dh's first roommate here moved out over 5 years ago now. We still get collection agencies calling for him. They call in short spurts every so many months.
 

diego

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In my own world, its much nicer there
I know this is no help, but I have caller ID and I simply don't answer the phone if I don't recognise the number or if the number is private. 90% of the time its nobody I know and they give up calling.

Funniest story I recall is this woman called my mobile, and left a message which I could not for the life of me understand, and I was young in those days so called her back using caller ID. She was like who is this, and I'm also saying well I'm the guy you just left a message for so who are you?
The kicker was she said she never called me and she doesn't know who I am. I laughed and said well I just got your number from caller ID after you left me a message without leaving your number, so yea you called me.

I dunno eh, theres a lot of idiots in the world.
 
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