Do you know who used to have your cellphone number?

hemiram

hemiram

Full Audioholic
Unfortunately, I do. Both of them are kind of "Colorful", I won't post last names, but wow, these guys are busy.

I got this number in Nov of 2015, when I changed networks to get a deal on a new phone. The first day I had it, I got a couple of calls from Russian women, looking for "Fury". Fury?, I thought it was "Yuri", but Fury was who they were looking for. The women would talk to me in Russian, and while my dad knew a few words (His parents were from there) I know little but "Da!", and "Nyet!".
Me asking them to speak English really got them angry and I blocked both of them the first day. Almost every day I would get a call for Fury, a text from a woman looking for him, or both. A couple of weeks after I got the phone, I got the first "Rodney" call. From a prosecutor in Oklahoma. Rodney was/is a very bad boy. I told him I had this number now, and I don't know Rodney. It took like a couple of years for me to finally understand what Rodney's last name was, it's a 5 letter name that has an amazing number of ways people pronounce it. Before I knew how it was spelled and got to see what he looks like, I had all kinds of guys pictured in my head and none of them were as old as Rodney is, and none of them looked as crazy as he does in his mugshots. You know someone is a space cadet when they have "scar from a shotgun slug" on his side, and a "Scar from a knife wound on his forehead". He also has the little blue tear below his right eye.
I had "Fury's" last name almost from day one, and was shocked how many of them there were! Eventually, I found the right one, and he had changed his number back in '13, and that's when Rodney got it. I don't get too many "Fury" calls any more, but Rodney is a never ending source of amusement. I've been threatened by police and prosecutors for "gatekeeping" by answering his calls. I just laugh at them, and tell them I've had the number for 3 and a half years plus now. Last week, a prosecutor's office called Rodney to ask him why he didn't show up for a plea bargain hearing in Dallas. When I told her I have had my cell number since Nov of 2015, she laughed and said, "it figures" and we talked about Rodney for a while. After a few minutes, she said, "You seem to know a lot about Rodney, are you sure you don't know him?". I said, "Just google him, and there is a ton of stuff and pics of him!". She was amazed at all the mug shots there are of him online. He's a registered sex offender, of course, and his arrest and convictions are easily found. Anyone else getting calls for the previous owner of your number?
 
Barron

Barron

Enthusiast
Haha this was an entertaining read. I mostly get wrong calls because of a one digit mix up. Never anything like this though. Maybe you should be Rodney for Halloween.
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
Unfortunately, I do. Both of them are kind of "Colorful", I won't post last names, but wow, these guys are busy.

I got this number in Nov of 2015, when I changed networks to get a deal on a new phone. The first day I had it, I got a couple of calls from Russian women, looking for "Fury". Fury?, I thought it was "Yuri", but Fury was who they were looking for. The women would talk to me in Russian, and while my dad knew a few words (His parents were from there) I know little but "Da!", and "Nyet!".
Me asking them to speak English really got them angry and I blocked both of them the first day. Almost every day I would get a call for Fury, a text from a woman looking for him, or both. A couple of weeks after I got the phone, I got the first "Rodney" call. From a prosecutor in Oklahoma. Rodney was/is a very bad boy. I told him I had this number now, and I don't know Rodney. It took like a couple of years for me to finally understand what Rodney's last name was, it's a 5 letter name that has an amazing number of ways people pronounce it. Before I knew how it was spelled and got to see what he looks like, I had all kinds of guys pictured in my head and none of them were as old as Rodney is, and none of them looked as crazy as he does in his mugshots. You know someone is a space cadet when they have "scar from a shotgun slug" on his side, and a "Scar from a knife wound on his forehead". He also has the little blue tear below his right eye.
I had "Fury's" last name almost from day one, and was shocked how many of them there were! Eventually, I found the right one, and he had changed his number back in '13, and that's when Rodney got it. I don't get too many "Fury" calls any more, but Rodney is a never ending source of amusement. I've been threatened by police and prosecutors for "gatekeeping" by answering his calls. I just laugh at them, and tell them I've had the number for 3 and a half years plus now. Last week, a prosecutor's office called Rodney to ask him why he didn't show up for a plea bargain hearing in Dallas. When I told her I have had my cell number since Nov of 2015, she laughed and said, "it figures" and we talked about Rodney for a while. After a few minutes, she said, "You seem to know a lot about Rodney, are you sure you don't know him?". I said, "Just google him, and there is a ton of stuff and pics of him!". She was amazed at all the mug shots there are of him online. He's a registered sex offender, of course, and his arrest and convictions are easily found. Anyone else getting calls for the previous owner of your number?
Why didn't you ask for a new number as soon as you started receiving these calls?

I wanted to try a flip phone for the times when I don't want to carry my iPhone and got one that uses the same kind of SIM card- As soon as I turned it on, it rang. And rang, And I got text message after text message. I got the authorization to return it after finding that it wasn't a great phone, but they need to come up with more ways to create the number- seven digits is very limiting, even with the area codes.
 
hemiram

hemiram

Full Audioholic
Haha this was an entertaining read. I mostly get wrong calls because of a one digit mix up. Never anything like this though. Maybe you should be Rodney for Halloween.
I'm too old, don't have enough hair, and the blue eyes seem to be the thing that makes his insane stare, and mine are brown. And I don't think I could pull off the child molester (Yeah, he's one of them) creepvibe at all.
 
hemiram

hemiram

Full Audioholic
Why didn't you ask for a new number as soon as you started receiving these calls?

I wanted to try a flip phone for the times when I don't want to carry my iPhone and got one that uses the same kind of SIM card- As soon as I turned it on, it rang. And rang, And I got text message after text message. I got the authorization to return it after finding that it wasn't a great phone, but they need to come up with more ways to create the number- seven digits is very limiting, even with the area codes.
When a friend did that, he ended up getting an even worse number, and then when they switched it again, he got flooded with Spanish speaking voicemail and pic after pic of girls with giant butts. I thought it would just go away, but after all this time, it's kind of amusing. When I go to bed, in the morning (I don't know how people work days, it's death to me), I put the phone on DND and it's kind of fun to see what calls and voicemail I have when I get up. And some of the conversations about Rodney have been pretty funny. The Fury ones seem to be mostly about some sort of car warranty packages he's peddling. I just delete them and block the number.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Pretty sure the only cell number I've had (and still have) was a new number rather than recycled. That would be disconcerting to have a former owner's "associates" calling :). I'd have gotten rid of that number pronto!
 
davidscott

davidscott

Audioholic Ninja
Just got a new phone with a new number. Never thought about any previous owner of the number. Thanks for the heads up.
 
hemiram

hemiram

Full Audioholic
The cellphone carriers all recycle numbers, but it seems like some of them do it almost immediately, as was with mine. One of the first Rodney calls I got was a bail bondsman who had talked to him a couple weeks previous to my buying and activating my phone.
 
panteragstk

panteragstk

Audioholic Warlord
I'm lucky enough to have had the same number for around 17 years or so. Not in the area code where I live, but I don't care.

I have a google voice number I use for work calls, and I never get spammed on it. Kinda weird.
 
hemiram

hemiram

Full Audioholic
I was hoping for a while that Rodney or "Fury" would call themselves, but it never happened..

So disappointed.
 
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