FORGOTTEN HISTORY: Wrong numbers funny texts | History Defined

Research of 2,000 Brits has shown that mistakenly opening a chat you didn't mean to is the biggest phone faux pas. More specifically, the rankings were:

1. Sending a text to the wrong person – 61%
2. Making an unintentional phone call (pocket dial) – 34%
3. Accidental typos (for duck's sake!) – 29%
4. Dropping your phone in public – 24%
5. Reading a WhatsApp message too quickly – 18%
6. Forgetting to put your phone on silent during a meeting or event – 17%
7. Accidentally liking an ex’s old social media post – 16%
8. Accidentally liking a social media post from years ago – 12%
9. Having a bad phone signal on an important call – 12%

And while the exact numbers might differ from country to country, I can relate!

So, as you can tell from the aforementioned numbers, saying "sorry, that wasn't meant for you!" is pretty common.

A survey of 2,000 Americans revealed that the average person in the United States has accidentally sent six intimate messages or photos to the wrong person.

Although a third of the respondents surveyed—which included an even split of genders and age ranges—admit they've sent an intimate photo, 43 percent still think it's "taboo," with Gen Z being the most open-minded.

In fact, these situations are so common that scammers are trying to capitalize on them.

"You'll get a text message that says, 'Hey, you coming for dinner tonight?'" says Amy Nofziger, senior director of victim support for the AARP Fraud Watch Network. "And you're like, 'Oh, I'm sorry, I think you have the wrong number.' And they're like, 'Oh, OK, I'm so sorry to bother you. But I hope you're having a great day.' And then you start an innocent conversation."

That is exactly what perpetrators of fake wrong-number text scams count on. Once they make a connection with an unwary target, they work to become friends or even cultivate a remote romantic relationship. The goal is simply to get the target to relax their defenses so they become susceptible to a fraudulent cryptocurrency investment scheme.

At first, such an approach might seem to have a low success rate. But as some of the screenshots on this list show, an unexpected human connection can be quite wholesome. Consequently, these scams succeed because criminals are highly skilled at exploiting their targets' friendliness.

Security experts say it is surprising how many people who receive a wrong-number text are willing to help the person they think made a mistake.

That is because seemingly innocent exchanges allow fraudsters to collect plenty of personal details from conversations about your personality and finances—whether, for example, you own a home or have relatives who might lend you cash—that indicate exactly how much of a payday you might provide.

So as fun as it might be to engage with a random stranger, be wary of texts from people you don't know. If you get what seems to be a wrong-number text, the safest thing to do is ignore it and not reply. If you respond and it turns out to be a scammer on the other end, they'll mark your phone number as active, which could lead to even more scam texts. And at the very least, that can be really annoying.