As we begin a new academic year, this may feel like an unusual message to hear from me. Usually, back-to-school notes are about passwords, phishing, software updates, or the latest thing trying to impersonate your dean. This one starts with something much smaller: a text from someone who appears to have the wrong number.
It might say, “Are we still meeting for lunch?” or “Sorry, I think I have the wrong number.” A polite “wrong number” reply may feel harmless, but to a scammer, it can confirm something valuable: a real person is reading and willing to respond.
These messages are often the first step in long-running confidence scams, including “Pig Butchering,” where criminals build trust before steering victims toward fake investments, cryptocurrency platforms, job offers, or other financial traps.
Why a Reply Matters
Scammers may already know your number exists. What they want to know is whether someone on the other end reads quickly, responds politely, and is open to engaging with a stranger.
One quick reply can mark your number as active and responsive. That does not mean you have been hacked, but it can make you a better target for future scams.
What Happens Next
After the first reply, scammers usually take one of two paths.
- The slow-burn path: The scammer keeps the conversation going, becoming friendly or personal over time before introducing an investment, a crypto platform, a side job, or a “sure thing.” The platform may look real. The losses are real.
- The recycling path: The chat ends, but your number is labeled as responsive and reused later for fake bank alerts, delivery notices, job offers, or other scams.
Common hooks include friend mix-ups, recruiter messages, delivery problems, neighbor concerns, or family emergencies. The goal is not always panic; often it is just enough social pressure to make you reply.
Real wrong-number texts happen. The difference is what comes next. A genuine mistake usually ends quickly. A scam keeps going: “You seem nice. Where are you from?” That is your cue to stop.
What To Do Instead
A few simple habits help reduce the risk:
- Do not reply to unexpected messages from unknown numbers, even to be polite.
- Do not click links in unsolicited texts, especially for deliveries, tolls, banking, job offers, or account warnings.
- Do not move the conversation to WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, or another app at a stranger’s request.
- Report the message using your phone’s spam-reporting feature, then block the number.
- Talk to someone you trust before sending money, buying cryptocurrency, purchasing gift cards, or sharing personal information in response to an unexpected message.
For the Chapman Community
If a message claims to involve Chapman, your account, paycheck, department, student matter, or urgent university business, slow down and verify it through a trusted Chapman channel. Do not use the contact method provided in the message. When in doubt, forward suspicious messages or screenshots to abuse@chapman.edu. A quick check is much easier than unwinding a successful scam.
The Bottom Line
A polite reply may feel harmless, but it can feed a system built to exploit trust and basic human decency. The safest response to an unexpected message from an unknown number is no response at all.
I hope everyone at Chapman has a successful, safe, and rewarding academic year. Stay curious, stay kind, and when a mysterious stranger texts you out of the blue, remember that no response is sometimes the best response.
Keith Barros
Chief Information Security Officer
Chapman University
Stay safe, stay vigilant
