
She Gets Calls and Texts Meant for Elon Musk. Some Are Pretty Weird - jelliclesfarm
https://www.npr.org/2020/05/21/858155045/she-gets-calls-and-texts-meant-for-elon-musk-some-are-pretty-weird
======
theshadowknows
I get emails for a celebrity. So far I've received: receipts for things like a
boat, invitations to perform at large events, 'just catching up' notes from
old friends, and confirmations of event planning among others. Recently I got
an order confirmation for a large purchase, along with a shipping address and
mobile number. I used the mobile number to text the celebrity, explain the
situation, and offer my apologies for the mixup (I took a screenshot to prove
I wasn't some psycho and sent it along)...they responded 'thanks' and I've not
received any other messages from them since, though I have gotten some other
emails.

~~~
Aeolun
It seems they’re not very interested in resolving the problem?

Too busy, or just don’t care?

~~~
bagacrap
I get occasional emails meant for my mom as we have similar email addresses.
It's a common mistake made by many of her contacts, what is she supposed to do
about it?

~~~
ta17711771
Use an email account attached to her own domain so any address at that domain
goes to her.

------
Semaphor
> Full disclosure: I reached out to Musk during one of those controversies,
> when he threatened to sue the California county that is home to Tesla's
> manufacturing plant over its coronavirus-related restrictions. Instead, I
> got Tucker.

It’s not explicitly said, but I’d bet that’s how this story came to be ;)

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ChrisMarshallNY
However she got the number, she's got no intention of getting rid of it. Note
that she has already provided it to many talent contacts.

Plus, it's probably something that she's actually treasuring, at this point.
I'll bet that she's quite warm and friendly to anyone that calls, no matter
how bizarre.

She's trying to break into a very competitive field, and every edge counts.

This is a big one. If she has the talent to follow through, this may be good
for her.

I sincerely wish her the best.

~~~
bagacrap
skin care consulting at Sephora is competitive?

~~~
epanchin
Later in the article it states aspiring actress. Ironic that you’ve been
condescending and yet lack basic reading skills. I certainly wouldn’t want a
skin care consultant that couldn’t read the bottle.

------
gerland
I heard someone found shoes that Bill Gates once wore and a gum chewed by
Steve Jobs. Both became relics and worshippers write articles about this in
the internet.

Seriously though - would someone think it was ok if I got a number after a
local bakery owner and started sharing messages that were sent to me by
mistake? Is this ok because EM is a more known person? I think it still falls
under privacy standards.

~~~
ricardobeat
The messages were sent to _her_ number. I don't think there is any privacy
violation if you drop mail addressed to 'person residing at this address' at
the wrong house.

~~~
gerland
I agree that there is no privacy law violation, but it is a bit distasteful.
We have some implicit standards in the society and it seems those are
conveniently ignored at this point. There is some excuse given in the article
in the form of "he probably gives out this number to people he does not wish
to talk to", which I find a bit suspicious.

When I got letters to previous tenants at my current address I did not open
them and share with everyone I met. I sent them to their new address.

~~~
Spooky23
My guess is that the real problem that was touched on is Mr. Musk gives the
number out to get rid of unwanted contacts.

I had a number like this, except it was for a drug dealer with a similar area
code, and most of the crazy texts and calls slowed down after a few months. I
have a common name and get similar wacky emails. It's an impossible problem to
solve when it is a problem.

Every couple of years stories like this come out. It's pretty common for
celebrities to give out old numbers to undesirable contacts. There was a story
in the NY papers a few years ago about a guy getting calls from one-night
stand hookups of a musician. The musician gave out his number from 20 years
ago because it sounded real.

------
julianlam
Why is everybody taking at face value the claim that "we met up and Elon gave
me this number"?

It's the first trick in the book to get your foot in the door, pretend you
already have your foot in the door.

~~~
iso1631
Indeed, why give someone an old number. If you are concerned about meeting
them again and want plausible deniability, transpose a couple of digits and
swap a 1 for a 7.

~~~
wrsh07
Or if you're musk, pay a personal assistant to field calls from people you
don't want to talk to

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tnolet
completely off topic: why do so many folks on HN refer to Elon Musk as "Elon"?
Rarely are peopling talking about Bill or Steve; you always add the surname or
use just the surname.

~~~
jarofgreen
Something to do with his image? Here in the UK people complain about exactly
the same thing when people reference "Boris".

~~~
apricot
I guess I'm showing my age, but "Boris" without any qualifiers defaults to
Badenov.

------
11thEarlOfMar
I'm reminded of an old Wired article about Steve Wozniak 'collecting' phone
numbers. Pan Am (by mistake) and 888-8888. It's pretty far into the article,
but the outcome was pretty funny: the number was unusable because...

[https://www.wired.com/1998/09/woz/](https://www.wired.com/1998/09/woz/)

[spoiler alert: toddlers picked up the phone and randomly pressed buttons,
often enough hitting the 8 key repeatedly. He got too many calls to be able to
use the number.]

------
sixQuarks
I Find it so disingenuous when the journalist describes Elon musk like this
one did. Here’s a guy who’s started multiple successful companies in the
hardest industries, and he describes him as the guy who smoked pot and defied
stay at home orders.

~~~
goldenkey
His recent behavior and original status as a member of the PayPal mafia does
make you question how much is his doing versus his connections and placement
in spacetime. I do think he is rather intelligent as evident from the Joe
Rogan podcast, that is -- long form conversation on topics. But he has shown
an affinity for stupidity as well. He's an interesting man but remember that
Tesla and the other companies he has been part of have been partnerships and
have stellar engineers at the helm. Musk is a Muskateer, not a solo bolo.

------
pyb
"Some of those who texted Tucker said Musk himself provided the number to
them. When NPR asked Musk whether he gave out that number to people he was
trying to dodge, he did not respond."

~~~
Chris2048
Better he just respond with the same number: "call me: .."

------
mywittyname
I receive emails intended for a person who shares my name. This gentleman
happens to be an accountant, so I get lots of W2s from wealthy people -- I
don't look on them, but the sender like to provide executive summaries in the
body. I usually just tell them, this is not the mywittyname you're looking
for. But he has also signed up for other services using my email, which is
concerning.

I actually moved away from $myname@gmail.com to $random_7_characters@gmail.com
due to fears that I may lose the former somehow. Nobody seems to think twice
when I tell them my email is (like) hrtd435@gmail.com, so I guess it's either
common, or people get why I do it.

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someonehere
I have the rarer luxury of an early gmail address with a first initial last
name prefix.

Lately I’ve been getting emails for things like trip confirmations, flight
confirmations, appliance repair receipts, medication ready for pickup emails.
The person is clearly on the side of the country and shares a common last name
for where they live.

Anyway, turns out it’s an older gentleman who shares my same first initial and
same last name. For whatever reason he signs up with my email address. Not
sure what to do because I don’t have a way to reach him.

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billme
Weird that Elon did not just pay to keep the number and blackhole it.

~~~
usrusr
But now he can always shrug off unwanted new contacts to his current number by
pretending to be that woman who accidentally got Musk's old one. They ask
Google and the story checks out, he will never hear from them again. Best
possible outcome.

~~~
billme
What exactly are you suggesting?

The woman that’s photograph appears in the article, “Lyndsay Tucker, a
25-year-old skin care consultant, who works at a Sephora beauty store in San
Jose, Calif.” — is obviously a real person.

~~~
woodrowbarlow
i think the suggestion is that musk is picking up the phone in his mrs.
doubtfire voice and saying "hello, this is tucker, i'm a real person, who is
this mr. musk you speak of?"

... or more likely just for text messages.

~~~
usrusr
Roughly like that, yes. And it really would only work for text messages, not
only because of the voice issue but also because a phone call rarely contains
actionable information before both sides have informally confirmed identity.

------
Mister_Snuggles
I've gotten the occasional email for someone, possibly multiple someones, with
the same name as me.

Nothing terribly exciting though - an order confirmation for a Casper
mattress, a hotel receipt from a Las Vegas hotel, and a bunch of stuff related
to a high school reunion.

I was able to contact the organizer of the high school reunion, hopefully she
got in touch with the right person. I didn't have enough to go on with the
other emails though, so I just deleted them.

------
pvaldes
Some are pretty weird, and all messages are pretty private, therefore, not to
be dissected publicly in npr.

The other option is that this piece of new is pretty fake and made for the
love of clicks, something that I wouldn't discard. Ethic's level seem pretty
low in this case.

------
drawkbox
It is a bit funny that Elon Musk makes cars, and this girl getting errant
texts is named Tucker (her last name). By Tucker I mean Preston Tucker the
American automobile entrepreneur who made the famed Tucker sedan. [1][2]

Note, Tucker also had some run-ins with the SEC. [3]

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preston_Tucker#Tucker_Corporat...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preston_Tucker#Tucker_Corporation_and_the_1948_Tucker_Sedan_\(1944%E2%80%931947\))

[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preston_Tucker#/media/File:194...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preston_Tucker#/media/File:1948_Tucker_Sedan_at_the_Blackhawk_Museum.jpg)

[3]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preston_Tucker#Turmoil_surroun...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preston_Tucker#Turmoil_surrounding_Tucker_Corporation_\(1946%E2%80%931948\))

------
iso1631
So the IRS start going on about complex tax things before confirming who they
are talking to?

~~~
exhaze
U R NOT COMPLIANT ON UR TAXES. REPLY 1 TO PAY, REPLY 2 TO GO TO JAIL

~~~
mlthoughts2018
2

------
ranDOMscripts
I have the same name as an entrepreneur who had a fairly successful exit and
is now an early stage investor. As a result, I get a slow trickle of cold
intro emails with hot* start-up funding opportunities.

*definitely not hot

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paradox242
I have a similar situation but much more mundane. Someone listed my number as
theirs on a county clerk of courts website and now I get all of their phone
calls regarding their delinquent properties.

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onetimemanytime
Great way to have Musk buy her (his old) number. Its not like he hasn't the
money.

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Hamuko
How often do people ask her where their bitcoins are?

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obilgic
tldr: His number was leaked, he got rid of it, the person who just got the
number is dealing with bunch of random people who think they found elon's #
online.

~~~
midasz
AT&T should just retire the number at that point right

~~~
fastball
There aren't that many phone numbers where it's reasonable to retire them
willy-nilly (given the desire to have consistent "area codes").

~~~
mehrdadn
You don't have to retire them for all eternity, just long enough that it stops
getting a lot of contact.

~~~
macintux
Judging by Elon’s reaction, it’s been out of his hands for many years.

~~~
mehrdadn
Well, longer then. And I imagine it's been active that many years, not getting
"this subscriber is no longer available" or whatever.

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mberning
Elon has really kicked the hornets nest. This is the level of petty BS they
will publish about somebody they don’t like. Imagine what they turn a blind
eye to if they like you.

~~~
elliekelly
If this is some sort of hit piece it’s not a good one. It doesn’t color my
opinion of him at all. It’s more of a human interest story.

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tiku
Why does she keep using that sim/number..

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gbrindisi
perfect phishing opportunity, if not worse

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lasagna_coder
2FA

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qwe098cube
Seems like a good idea to change your number... after 4 years.

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callmemaybe
A friend of mine got the old number of a prostitute. He received tons of funny
text messages of thirsty dudes.

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jamisteven
Can imagine Elon reading this and thinking, why tf would you even report on
such nonsense? I mean really, why is this a story? And these pictures of the
woman receiving the texts, they position her like she is a victim somehow, I
mean look at these facial expressions LMAO.

