wrong number

Nazare, Portugal last month. I highly recommend visiting this lovely town.

My husband and I just came home from four weeks of slow travel in Portugal, with a side jaunt to Valencia.

On the day we landed, we got SIM cards for our phones and signed up for four weeks of service in Portugal.

About two weeks into our trip, I got a text in Portuguese asking about an apartment I had for rent and if it was still available. Of course, I did not have an apartment for rent in Portugal, so I responded briefly with tem o número errado (you have the wrong number).

An hour later, a second person texted me about the apartment and I responded as I had earlier.

The next day, a third person texted about the apartment. In this case, the texts started off questioning the validity of the real estate listing and the person said they suspected a scam. As it happened, I didn’t see these texts when they came in, so I didn’t respond to let the person know that they have the wrong number.

Less than 24 hours later, this same person sent a few texts in quick succession asking why I hadn’t responded and escalated to insults. At that point, I saw the previous texts and responded that they had the wrong number.

I quickly received a response that translated approximately to, “I don’t believe you. You’re just scamming and cheating people.” I just ignored the texts.

Several days later, more texts arrived and told me that I cheat people and I am a liar, so the person was going to give my phone number to the police. This time I responded in English and said, “Hey. I am a tourist visiting Portugal and got a Portuguese SIM card to use while I’m here. Whoever you are trying to contact does not use this telephone number.”

Naturally, the person texted back and said that I was a liar and a terrible person and that the police will take care of me. At that point, I just blocked the number and that was that.

There’s really no point to this story, except to share it since it was somewhat amusing, plus along the way I learned the Portuguese words for liar, witch, scam, and bullshit. Because you never know when those might come in handy.