What are wrong number text scams, and how can you avoid them? – Engadget

Nadia_bormotova/Getty Images

There’s a good chance you’ve gotten a message from a “wrong number” at least once. These follow a familiar pattern: a random number asks a question addressed to a name that’s not yours, so you politely respond and say they have the wrong number. Instead of acknowledging this and moving on, they thank you for being so kind and ask if you want to be friends.

While the other person might claim that it’s “fate” you met like this, a terrible fate awaits if you continue talking to them. It’s the start of a scam, not a friendly person looking for conversation — one of many ways crooks try to take advantage of you being kind.

Gorica Poturak/Getty Images

If you continue talking to a “new friend” who contacts you this way via standard text message, they’ll eventually ask you to move to another messaging app like WhatsApp or Telegram. There are several reasons for this, including centralizing their communication, avoiding fees associated with SMS in other countries and splitting duties among their teams. Once you connect with a person on a web-based messaging app, they’ll begin to develop a “friendship” with you, checking in throughout the day.

These greetings often start with relatively innocuous questions, like asking whether you’ve eaten. In many cases, conversations take on a “romantic” element. These people will pretend to share in personal matters you mention to them, like the loss of a spouse. The scammers like to send pictures, almost always claiming to be Asian women living in major US cities as entrepreneurs.

They’ll often hint at being wealthy by showing luxury purses or mentioning that they just got done golfing at a fancy course. After a short period of “normal” conversation, the scammer will bring up some mention of investing in cryptocurrencies, often mentioning that some member of their family has made a ton of money by doing so.

From here, they’ll goad you into signing up for a (legitimate) crypto exchange platform, if you don’t already use one. They’ll show you screenshots of the gains you can supposedly earn by investing in their platform and pressure you to take advantage.

Jack_the_sparow/Shutterstock

If you go along with their asks, the scammer will guide you through buying real crypto and then “investing” it in a platform they claim they’ve made huge returns on. In reality, you’re sending money to their crypto wallet that you’ll never see again. But a single transaction won’t be the end. They’ll show you fake “growth” results and encourage you to “invest” more. They’ll go even further, too, often urging you to take out a loan or borrow cash from friends to put even more in.

Typically, the scam goes on until you want to get your money out. If you try to withdraw a lot, they might say there are taxes and fees to pay — which you can conveniently only cover with new deposits, not the money already supposedly in the account. Once they don’t think they can deceive you any longer, they may send you a nasty message blaming you for losing your money or making fun of you for falling for the scam. Then they cut off all contact, and there’s very little chance of getting your money back given the nature of crypto.

While it’s an awful feeling to realize you’ve been fleeced, these con artists might not even stop there. Earlier this week, I got a random Telegram message from someone claiming to be a victim of these scams. They mentioned that they had been given a “list” of other victims and that one of them knew a “hacker” who might be able to help folks recover their money — with no cost unless it’s successful.

As you probably guessed, this is a follow-up scam. Anyone contacting you who claims to be a lawyer, detective or similar is trying to take further advantage of you and steal even more of your money. You’re more likely to be targeted if you post about being a victim online, though apparently these scams are common enough now that randomly messaging people about recovery is a viable strategy.

This scam might sound silly if you’re careful about online security and generally refrain from engaging with messages from unknown numbers. Even when I’ve intentionally engaged with these scammers to better understand how they work, I found their messages incredibly bland and annoying. However, they’re depressingly effective.

Americans lost over $1 billion to romance scams in 2025, so con artists aren’t going to stop anytime soon. And the people who send money aren’t the only victims — many of these scam organizations operate by tricking people with fake job ads, then capturing them and forcing them to work under threat of extreme punishment. It’s an upsetting situation from every angle.

The best advice to stay safe, which you should share with those in your life who aren’t as tech-savvy, is to be skeptical of everything online. Assume everything is phony until you have clear proof that it’s legitimate. Recognizing the patterns of common scams is also vital; these almost always play out in the same way, so knowing what’s coming before it develops gives you the upper hand.

For instance, it’s worth considering anything involving gift cards, and virtually everything with crypto, a scam. Gift cards are a favorite for fraudsters because they’re gone instantly and can’t be traced. Crypto obviously has legitimate uses, but it’s utilized by bad actors against people who don’t know any better.

It’s also a good idea to limit the amount of information you share about yourself online, especially in public forums. Anything people know about you is something they can exploit to falsely connect with you. Also consider switching away from Telegram to another messaging platform. While I used to get most “wrong numbers” via SMS, they usually come via Telegram now — and might even start with a voice message, which could trick someone more easily. Unfortunately, you can only prevent non-contact numbers from messaging you on Telegram if you pay for the Premium subscription.

When you get a “wrong number” message, it’s best not to respond, unless you have the time or energy to verify their identity or motivations. Android and iPhone both have a feature to report messages as spam, which should appear at the top of the conversation when you get a message from an unknown number. You can also forward suspicious messages to 7726 (SPAM) and your mobile carrier will investigate it.