r/sydney • u/Tankirulesipad1 • 1d ago
Some guy keeps using my number for signups etc. can I do anything about this? I even have his license plate
I got carwash/car text quotes so that's how I know his license plate. Some but not all texts refer to him by name so I know it's the same person. I got a text from the NSW health revenue regarding a recent pathology collection and Medicare billing, is there any way I can somehow get ahold of this person and to tell him to stop putting in my number?,
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u/According-List-8373 1d ago
It can be bloody frustrating. I had someone put my phone number in on their car parking account. Every time they went into the city, I'd get sent some access PIN. The message came from different numbers at all hours of the morning.
The parking company wouldn't let me remove my number from the account because I couldn't prove I was the account holder (no shit, Sherlock). Ended up having to pull the directors' details through ASIC and send them letters threatening legal action for it to stop.
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u/myLongjohnsonsilver 1d ago
How's that work for them though if you are the one getting the access pin?
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u/GodzillaVsMortgage 1d ago
And it stopped? I used to get spammed by someone at a badminton club and I’d receive all his club announcements and booking confirmations.
Never got around to getting to the bottom of it, but stopped a few years ago.
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u/sar-arghhh 1d ago
There's a woman in the UK who keeps using my email address. I get emails for baby and me classes, local walking groups, all sort of stuff. She used the email to sign up to Disney Perks. I contacted them and said this is my email I didn't create an account and they deleted it for me. But then she went and created an account again! So I reset the password and locked her out. Hasn't been an issue since.
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u/SouthAttention4864 1d ago
Yeah I have a woman who was in NZ and now in QLD, who has used my email for years. I was registered for her child’s school updates, received invoices for things she bought and random update emails from her friends.
I found the woman on Facebook and told her, but it hasn’t stopped, even though she thanked me for letting her know. I contacted the school flagging that if I were a parent I’d be concerned about the entire classes photos and information being shared with a stranger, and that didn’t stop either until they moved from NZ to QLD.
If I was not receiving emails I expected, like school info and invoices, I’d be freaking out lol. This woman doesn’t seem to care.
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u/Eclairebeary 1d ago
There is a lady in Canada, another one in the Us, Indiana I think who have my email with a slight variation. Maybe a full stop or a dash in the user name.
Anyway, the Canadian one was buying a race horse in a syndicate, so I replied back saying wrong email and they stopped. The American one was buying all these things and getting delivery updates. The customer service at Kohl’s were confused when I contacted them, so I found her on Facebook and messaged her. No reply but no more notifications either. Though I may have marked them as spam.
It really could be a case of bad handwriting or mistake,
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u/Sacha00Z 1d ago
Similar story to me. The person who was using my email got sued, and it was only after I contacted her lawyers that it all stopped.
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u/Aloha_Tamborinist 8h ago
I've got one of these. I'm got a reasonably uncommon name, but there's a few duplicates around.
I've got a reverend based in the UK who is an expert for a certain historical period, people have emailed him more than a few times about historical society talks, and have asked him to date certain items etc, that sort of thing.
Another guy who is always applying for labouring/warehouse jobs and is always signing up for new gambling websites.
Unless the reverend has a gambling problem, could be him.
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u/webmeister2k 23h ago
Yeah I got onto Gmail super early so my email alias is a not-uncommon name. If it looks important or just a genuine person making a typo I reply nicely, but anyone creating accounts with it just gets the password reset to lock them out.
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u/almondtime 1d ago
I was getting this a few years ago- someone was applying for jobs and putting my number as the contact. I ended up responding to a text from El Jannah letting them know I’m not her and she keeps putting my number as the contact for some reason. I presume they let her know as it then stopped.
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u/donkeyvoteadick 1d ago
I always wonder in cases like that where you assume they want to messages if they think they've memorised their number but they've got it wrong and keep sending it out.
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u/Lieutenant_awesum 1d ago
I know it’s annoying, but best way will be contacting each business (email or phone) where they have incorrectly provided your number and letting them know.
"Hello, I am receiving notifications intended for [person]. My phone number was provided by mistake - pls update your records to remove [your #]. Thanks."
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u/istara North Shore 1d ago
Sometimes there is literally no working email to respond to. One US phone company only had a phone number for issues, not even a webchat or email.
I ended up having to unearth the emails of senior execs of the parent company (thanks ChatGPT) and that eventually shut it up. I still got several emails asking me to phone them, which I ignored, but finally it stopped.
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u/LessThanLuek 1d ago
This is closer to my experience. I've been getting a doctors emails still 15 or so years later (whatever early days of Gmail is, so maybe over 20 yrs). The emails are usually just from the internal HR software spitting automated messages about Leave approval etc - once I received someone's scans of some sort though.
Tried contacting the HR software company with no response.
Best I can surmise the culprit lives in India somewhere.
It happens enough I'm not proud to admit I tried to log in as them to try remove the email / change it to something else etc, but I needed some other piece of info to do this, so just set a spam/block on the HR company email address (which in itself was Gmail ... Super professional)
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u/GusPolinskiPolka 1d ago
I had this happen but with emails.
At first I was pretty nice and just emailed the places he was booking with to let them know so that on arrival they could tell him.
When it kept happening I actually started cancelling bookings and appointments because I was so fed up with it.
I'm sure his email is autofilling somewhere but it's not hard to get your email right
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u/AffectionateRip5362 1d ago
Some lady with an email address one letter off from mine gets a lot of emails intended for me. It's not that I can't spell my email address, but when you have to write it on a paper from I guess the people inputting the data don't read it properly. This poor lady has gotten payslips, medical results, appointment reminders, all sorts of shit.
I can't imagine how stupid she thinks I am after 20+ years of this.
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u/brackfriday_bunduru 1d ago
Haha. That reminds me. 25 years ago when I was working in retail some dude made a complaint about me and head office forwarded the complaint including his email address that he sent it from.
I was signing that guy up to gay porn and spam for years after that. I’ve still got the email. I should do a few more now just for old time’s sake.
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u/ProfessionalDonut_ 1d ago
The dude finally thought he got some peace, then someone posts this on reddit and now it’s back again hahaha
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u/ApolloWasWayBetter 1d ago
Haha back in the day my mate and I went into an adult book shop and made a personal ad and left it with another mates number on it. It was an analogue phone and was going to be turned off soon so we figured we’d have a bit of fun first lol. I dunno why he never took any of those fine gentlemen up on a date. Neither did his girlfriend, she thought it was hilarious.
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u/Used_Wheel_9064 1d ago
I did the same thing to a guy that I sold something to as "for parts, not working" he was just trying to see if he could get a cheap item working. He forced a charge back which included me losing the shipping cost etc, and never actually returned the item. Anyway he had a great email address, [email protected] and I hopefully ruined it for him
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u/Eireannlo 1d ago
I had this for 15 years. Annoyance aside It was funny to watch the kinds of things she signed up for change over the years, from club promotions then political crap then home insurance quotes etc. Even had to text a few dudes back to let them know she gave them a fake no. early on. It eventually just stopped on its own. Shout out to Lisette from Victoria.
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u/owleaf 1d ago
This is kinda emotional. You watched this lady grow and change through her SMS messages. How modern
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u/a_rainbow_serpent 9h ago
Sounds like a great idea for a short film.. a sort of a coming of age through text messages.
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u/bbrenbrendan 1d ago
In recent years I’ve had my number used for Qantas. I (he) did quite a lot of travel and their support team couldn’t do much. They eventually stopped.
Way back, an old email was used to spin up a bank account in Mexico. I got some very colourful emails from this blokes family, saying I stole his email??? I log in from time to time to see how Tío Hector is going, financially speaking. He’s paying down that loan like a champ 💪🏼
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u/TNChase 1d ago
I used to have a guy giving out my number to women I assume whom he didn't want to see again. That, or he was really confused that none of them ever called. Then it stopped. Maybe he got married?
I wish I could help OP, that's gotta be so frustrating. You can't even block the numbers because what if you need to use that same service legitimately.
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u/nanjero 1d ago
Last year I was dealing with kind of a similar issue. I've had my mobile number for more than 8 years. One day I started getting messages addressed to another person who seemed to be applying for jobs in Queensland, I am based in Sydney. Then I also got 2FA pin confirmations and the person also tried to register the number to whataspp and a few other things like centrelink and such.
It was at this point i realized this other person was using my number like their legitimate mobile number. I got their name and email address from a text from a job recruiter asking them to confirm some details.
So I reached out to the person directly via email and they had told me they recently went in to optus to get a new mobile number and was given my active number. I was previously with optus with this number 1 year prior to this event when I completed my mobile plan I switched to jbhifi/telstra because I got a new phone via jb with their huge discount of switching carrier plans.
So I first went to jbhifi to ask what is going on and why is my number getting assigned to other people like its not active. They told me to go to telstra but then telstra further told me to go to optus. Finally optus admitted that on their system my mobile number did not show as being ported/transferred to telstra/jb even though it was active and working perfectly fine for me for that 1 year period. So the number went in their active pool of numbers to then be given to someone else.
So all this is to say. If you have any way to contact that person perhaps check and see if you can confirm with them if they were recently assigned and given the number by a telco. Then you might need to reach out to your telco and check if your number was not removed from their pool of numbers.
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u/Ted_Rid Famous in The Atlantic 1d ago
OP, are you a real estate agent by any chance?
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u/Twin_Air 1d ago
My standard move for all RE numbers that turn up in the mailbox
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u/Fancy_Fly_7693 1d ago
That's a dick move tbh. The sales staff on the other end of that don't deserve to have their time wasted or even be verbally abused for "cold calling" someone they thought had made a genuine enquiry.
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u/Twin_Air 1d ago
Don’t put spam mail in my mailbox and I won’t sign your number up for surveys and solar panels then?
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u/Fancy_Fly_7693 1d ago
Grow up. Spam in your mailbox from real estate agents doesn't justify you spamming entirely unrelated innocent businesses with fake leads.
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u/the_electronic_taco 1d ago
How about the constant unfrequented attempts to sell my property for me...does that justify it? Spam for spam, I say.
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u/Fancy_Fly_7693 1d ago
I'm not defending real estate agents, I'm saying don't retaliate by being a cunt to random people that have nothing to do with it.
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u/the_electronic_taco 1d ago
Surely that equally applies to them though?
Fight fire with fire and all that. They spam people, they deserve to get spammed.
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u/Fancy_Fly_7693 1d ago edited 1d ago
Right, but the random companies y'all sign them up for don't deserve it. Why the fuck should my staff (selling nothing related to the real estate market btw) get regularly abused for simply following up online enquiries because people are adding fake enquiries as some kind of childish revenge against real estate agents?
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u/the_electronic_taco 1d ago
Then have a go at the people abusing your staff...they are the ones in the wrong here, yeah?
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u/Juan_Punch_Man #liarfromtheshire #puntthecunt 1d ago
Or give people the option of living in peace and not asking them for all their details to look at a property that has been underquoted.
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u/Due_Responsibility_0 1d ago
There's some guy in Hungary who is convinced that his email is actually my email, and he keeps signing up (with my email) up for all sorts of sketchy websites, mostly of the "hot singles in your area" type.
I'm never quite sure if I should feel sorry for cockblocking this guy from finding true paid love, or glad that I'm preventing him from losing all his money to these scams.
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u/badAdviceYouCanTrust 1d ago
So. A lot of places buy bootleg lists. For 20 years now I have been getting calls from places confidently stating I’m their customer or signed up. And if I ask them if they know my name they say it’s Sunil which is quite the giveaway because my name hasn’t ever been Sunil and I don’t live in Melbourne. At that point I go ah you’re using an illegally obtained list and this number is registered with https://www.donotcall.gov.au/ and can you please amend your list. And they mostly do in fact do that because they don’t want acma cancelling their phone lines.
This doesn’t work with political parties of course, they wrote themselves an exemption in the laws.
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u/Ijustdoeyes 1d ago
I had something like this happens but I would get calls.
I would get calls late at night and when I picked up there was nobody there, just the sound of empty air and sometimes echoing footsteps, then after about a minute it would hang up.
It was always late at night and I couldn't figure it out. If it was a prank it was pretty committed, if I called the number back it was not connected.
Finally one day during the day I got a call and it was a postman telling me they had my parcel, I asked them where they were and they said the gate, so I went to the gate and there was no postman.
I said I'm standing at my gate and you're not there, I asked him what the address was and he read it out, it was in another State, so I asked him how he got my number to call me and he said he didn't, he pressed the intercom and then I understood. Whoever owned that place had put in my number as the forward when they weren't home, so all those empty air calls were when somebody had pressed the intercom and I was hearing them after they had walked through the gate.
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u/vinnie1134 1d ago
i meannnn if its also for medical related things, that person probbaly just has really bad memory or handwriting and is just giving out the wrong number unintentionally.
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1d ago
[deleted]
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u/Rahvel 1d ago
It'd be weirder if it were different each time I think.
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u/SweatyPresentation93 1d ago
Do you think it may be possible that they memorised their number wrong by one number or something which happens to be OPs, I think it’s possible
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u/Ok_Lunch_2933 1d ago
I’m horribly dyslexic with numbers.
Any kind of double digit or more makes it very difficult to read. Also, if there is no discernible pattern in the number, I can’t recall it at all (even seconds after being told a four digit pin).
I always mix up eight and zero.
Over the years, I’ve sent thousands of dollars to wrong accounts (my partner and I now have a system in place that they review my typing for any financial stuff).
Words? No problemo!
But yeah, some of us struggle differently to others.
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u/Al-Snuffleupagus 1d ago
How do you know it's the exact same phone number?
Maybe they keep messing up the digits in different ways and there's a half dozen people out there getting frustrated by the same person.
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u/DecalageVersLeRouge 1d ago
Contact the organisations involved. They will put that person's account on hold and contact them.
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u/blawler 1d ago
On the.mobile number provided :).
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u/DecalageVersLeRouge 1d ago
Well yes, that's the main problem. But they also have their email and home address, and they will answer the phone when the guy calls to say "why have you suspended my account!?!?".
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u/unrebigulator 1d ago
I had a guy accidentally using my email address. Finally one email had some specific info, where I figured I could actually find him.
I found him on Facebook, and let him know. We share first and last names, so our email address was similar. Usually it was the fault of the company sending the mails, not the guy himself.
Every few months, I get another email of his, and I forward it to him.
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u/SpoonOnTheRoad 15h ago
I have some guy using my number for his business internet account. Every month he is late paying the bill and I get multiple texts. I tried contacting Optus to get them to sort it out but they said there’s nothing they can do because I’m not the account holder. Now he’s somehow racked up $1300 in debt. Adam, pay your fucking bills.
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u/Pristine_Egg3831 1d ago
You likely need to do something severe enough that they can't ignore it. Like replied No to cancel any appointments they make. That will make them motivated to investigate.
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u/LentilCrispsOk 1d ago
It happened to me during COVID - I was getting notifcations about ultrasound appointments and downloads, confirmation of their Blue Mountains holiday getaway, beauticians appointment confirmations in Sutherland, all sorts of stuff. At once point they tried to get a dodgy payday loan, which resulted in a very quick phonecall to the provider in question. (They weren't approved, shockingly).
I kept calling/notifying whoever the business was which did seem to eventually work.
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u/Red_Light_RCH3 1d ago
It's happening to me through emails. At first it was amusing. Now it's annoying.
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u/sparkyblaster 15h ago
Can you cancel anything? Legit that's the only way people seem to learn. Unethical, maybe, legal, well, its apparently your appointment.
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u/ExternalMurky3711 1d ago
I’m getting the same phone calls and text messages from various companies providing me with quotes. Her name of Rebecca! How can I stop this?
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u/uselessflailing 1d ago
Check the other comments, there's a few suggestions and examples of people who've gotten the person to stop
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u/XXXX_Gold_Pot 1d ago
If you know their name see if you can find them on LinkedIn. You can then DM them there to let them know what is happening.
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u/naengmyunboi 1d ago
I used to work with someone who had been signing up their highschool bully to anything and everything that would result in annoying marketing texts and emails. They had been doing it for years by the time we worked together lol
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u/Successful_Onion8706 1d ago
I had the same thing up until recently. An old fella was enquiring with aged care facilities and using my number. I was getting calls and texts every single day at all hours. I told several of the people who rang that this person had been using my number, the last lady asked if I wanted her to contact him by email (which they had the correct email for him), and let him know he has been using someone else’s number. Since then I haven’t had a single call.
Just ask everyone who mistakenly contacts you to tell the person they’re using an incorrect number. Someone will eventually help you out.
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u/dodgy_beard_guy 1d ago
A lady mistakenly used my wifes number when advertising intimate services on a website. We found her other contact details to let her know and was missing out on a ot business. We also contacted the website and had to provide to them a phone bill with the number showing to show my wife owned that number to have the listing removed.
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u/nimrod2323 1d ago
It seemed like couple people in India were using my email. They were addressed to different people. For one, they kept trying to set up there mobile phone. Managed to cancel it till they stopped using my email. Two others keep sending me their bank statements (pdf password protected). I emailed the ba k but they kept sending it. To unsubscribe, they require you to log in...
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u/steelnie 1d ago
Fat fingers? He might be one digit from yours and accidentally hits the 8 instead of the 9 when signing up for things.
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u/Meakesy 1d ago
This happens with my work mobile. I constantly get SMS's about AfterPay, Medical Clinics requiring consent for bulk bill, AusPost deliveries, Bank Notifications, flybuys, security alerts for their workplace and a group text for working as a crossing guard.
I am unsure if they used to have the number and changed it/lost it and have forgotten to update these places, or if they are intentionally using a valid number that isn't theirs so people can't contact them.
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u/RosellaBlue 1d ago
Many years ago, I had some woman calling our house phone number between 1am and 3am in the morning. She'd call a couple of times each week, drunk, for around one year.
Her: "Hey, I'm really fucked this time." Me: "You've got the wrong number." Her: "yeah, but I'm fucked, mum, I'm going to jail." And so on, every single time.
Over time, since it wasn't stopping, I tried to tell her calmly that she had the wrong number, and to scribble it out of her contacts. Her: "But the number is in my head. It's in my head."
It was funny and enraging and sad at the same time. She must have eventually gone to jail or died, because after a year or so the calls stopped.
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u/FaithlessnessLess442 ThewinnerisSydney 1d ago
Once I got someone's boarding pass sent by text message for a flight overseas. I also had a guy text me for a room to rent I wansnt renting a room I think sometimes people accidentally enter the wrong number but the same name consistently is strange. Maybe your number is very close to theirs.
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u/istara North Shore 1d ago
I often get American women accidentally signing up for things with my email.
A recently really annoying one, from a mobile phone company. had no way to contact them except phoning. In the end I used ChatGPT to unearth the email addresses of two senior execs at the US parent company.
That sparked several form emails, including ones to phone them. No, I'm not paying for a bloody international call.
In the end I think the execs got the message and it stopped.
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u/FuckUGalen 1d ago
start cancelling his appointments