Someone else in SA has exactly the same cell number as me! WTH???!

MegaTesla

MegaTesla

Senior Member
Joined
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Location
Stellenbosch
I live in Stellenbosch and I'm on a Vodacom contract. I got a Virgin prepaid sim 4 years ago, and then ported to a Vodacom contract 3 years ago.

So in the past week I started receiving random Virgin Mobile sms messages:
Welcome to VMSA...
Your balance is...
You will receive your settings soon...
etc, etc

Then I started receiving calls from unknown people. I didn't think this was too weird, because my calls and smss worked fine. I thought it was just a glitch.

Last night I received a call, and the incoming number on the screen was my own!! :confused::confused: A Miriam from Limpopo says: "Sir, I think we've got the same number..."

What the heck! So it seems as if Virgin released my number and it was sold again in a prepaid sim pack.

Now this woman receives my banking details and who knows what else personal info of me.

How should I go about sorting this out and getting her sim stopped?

cheers
MT
 
Wow, not nice.

I suggest phoning Vodacom, or post on hellopeter and see if you get a reply. The responsibility lies with Vodacom in my opinion, since the number was ported to them and they had to make sure it wasn't circulated again.
 
Are you certain you haven't gone through your own portal?
 
According to the porting website my number has been ported and is serviced by Vodacom. This is correct.

I've tried calling the other person but it seems that all calls to my number routes to my sim. I don't know about smss. So I will have to wait for her to contact me again...
 
Log onto vodacom's website and send yourself an sms from there.
 
Could also be that this other person set up a divert on their phone and entered the wrong number.
 
MegaTesla said:
According to the porting website my number has been ported and is serviced by Vodacom. This is correct.

I've tried calling the other person but it seems that all calls to my number routes to my sim. I don't know about smss. So I will have to wait for her to contact me again...
Click to expand...

vodacom needs to contact virgin to sort this out for you, as you legally ported the number, virgin has no right to use it.
 
The same thing happened to me when I ported my old number to MTN, except in my case I had the old SIM...

This is due to the absolute laziness and sloppiness within the cellphone networks, because you're moving away from them, and in effect taking your business elsewhere they like to "punish" you by dragging their feet...
 
Update:

I went to my local Vodacom4U on Thursday afternoon. The guy there was very helpful and we logged a case with the Vodacom technicians. I got a case number, and they also phoned me to confirm what they were going to do.

Problem: Virgin didn't remove my number from the available pool when I ported. Someone bought a Virgin prepaid pack and when they activated it they got my number.
Solution: Vodacom contacts Virgin and tells them to immediately release the number fully and give the other user a new number.

Friday morning the Vodacom technician phoned me again and confirmed that everything should be back to normal. I haven't had any issues so far and it does seem as if everything is back to normal.

Vodacom+1
Virgin-10
 
I realise this is an ancient thread, but I received a call from myself this morning. The guy calling wanted to apologise to me as he had "given someone my number by mistake, and if they phone me I must just tell them it is the wrong number". He did not identify himself as being from a mobile network, so I just got off as quickly as possible.

How does this happen and should I start wearing a tinfoil hat?

Obviously worried about scams.
 
mellowredwc said:
I realise this is an ancient thread, but I received a call from myself this morning. The guy calling wanted to apologise to me as he had "given someone my number by mistake, and if they phone me I must just tell them it is the wrong number". He did not identify himself as being from a mobile network, so I just got off as quickly as possible.

How does this happen and should I start wearing a tinfoil hat?

Obviously worried about scams.
Click to expand...

I think what he meant is that he sent someone your number by mistake and told them to call him - possibly on email... doesn't sound too ominous.
 
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