News

A guy got a girl's phone number without her knowing and the internet is creeped out

A guy got a girl's phone number without her knowing and the internet is creeped out

A 20-year-old student revealed that a man she had spoken to briefly on the train found her on Instagram and somehow got her phone number without her consent.

Lynda Lorraine was left "creeped out" after the man, who she hadn’t exchanged personal details with, text her out of the blue.

Taking to Twitter she wrote:

So I briefly spoke to someone on the train last week, we didn’t even exchange socials or anything and today he messaged me.

Am I overreacting by being creeped out because what on Earth.

The man, who called himself 'Josh' text her: "Yo it’s Josh from the train the other day. Got ur number from one of ur friends hope you don’t mind."

Lorraine called the message "creepy" (because it is) and asked which of her friends had supplied him with her number.

That’s when it got creepier.

I searched u on insta and you follow some people I know so I asked about u.

Uh, why hadn’t he direct messaged her if he found her on Instagram?

He replied: "Yh but ur not the type of girl I dm I only dm girls I wanna pipe. Wanna get to know you."

Lorraine asked him again to tell her how he got her number, at which point he told her he’d reveal it all on Thursday – when he was "taking" her out.

And then the passive aggressive gas-lighting began.

You can read the exchange below:

Picture: Lynda Lorraine, supplied

Picture: Lynda Lorraine/supplied

indy100 caught up with Lynda about the messages.

She said: "Initially I thought it was odd but it didn’t register how seriously creepy it was until later on in the day.

I haven’t heard anything from him since, his number is blocked.

And I tried finding out who our mutual friends were but I haven’t had any luck finding his social media.

Could he have found Lynda's phone number by other means?

I don’t have an active LinkedIn account at the moment, so I don’t think he accessed it that way, and as far as I know, none of my contact information is online.

The text message exchange went viral, and people online thought the way Josh got her contact details was inappropriate and intrusive - and likened his behaviour to that of Joe from Netflix's new thriller, You. If you know, you know.

People said whatever 'friend' gave her number out without her permission needs to be cancelled.

A few misguided souls people thought the gesture to be 'romantic'. Was it?

Lynda disagreed.

I can see how someone would find it romantic seeing as he showed interest in me etc, I just felt like he crossed a line and I didn’t like how he got aggressive when I expressed that he had made me uncomfortable in the way he went about contacting me

Guys, don't be like this.

More: An armed police officer delivered doughnuts to Downing Street and people made the same Brexit joke

More: Donald Trump once made an advert for McDonald's in 2002 and it's really weird

The Conversation (0)
x