Mobile Number Directory Enquiry

[SIRandyraven]

Just curious ....

We got a letter from a tracing company asking wife to contact them with regards to a relative death. The company put together a family tree (heir hunters) and wrote us a letter.
My wife is the correct person and having checked it was not a scam we called them on our landline. My wife never have my name during conversation.
Next day we got a call from the local authority where the person died to my mobile number.
So how did the heir hunters bet my mobile number and pass it on ?
They could have passed on our landline number if they wanted , we contacted them on that number.
Does vodafone have a directory lookup service ?
Such as “hello could you give me the mobile phone number of Mr John Smith who lives at 123 Any street , Any Town ....

[lankeela]

Could the deceased person have left your name/number somewhere? Was the LA call in connection with the heir hunters or for a different reason?

[Chinajan]

Perhaps the heir hunters just gave your wife's name and address, and the local authority concerned accessed a shared database which has a record of mobile numbers linked to your address?

[Buenchico]

If your landline is unanswered, have you got a message which asks people to try your mobile number?

[Chinajan]

Further thoughts - how sure are you this was a local authority? If they rang you how were you able to verify who they were?

Were they asking for money/personal information in exchange for 'something beneficial'.

Be very careful.

[SIRandyraven]

First it was a letter from a company called ‘Finders’.
I checked them via Google and they seemed legit and had a free phone number. They knew details of my wife and had been trying to trace relatives of the deceased person who had left no details of any family.
They obviously did some research to find our address (we have only lived here 2 years - new build also). We called finders on freephone number and they said they would pass our contact details to local council concerned. We called ‘finders’ on our landline and only conformed my wife’s name was correct and was the correct person (remote family member).
Yet today council called and it was on my mobile.
So somehow ‘finders’ worked our who I was and got my mobile number.
My wife has a mobile also , but Council didn’t use that number or landline number we called them on.
It is all legit and we know the person who died.
No contact with them since my wife was 3 years old.

[SIRandyraven]

Our answer phone is simply ‘please leave a message’.
We don’t mention mobile numbers.

We get very few landline calls these days.
Billy nomates :-)
No, most calls are to mobiles or via email/social media messages/text messages.

[Chinajan]

It concerns me that the so called local council has called you and you haven't verified that.

Please ask them to put any further requests or information in writing to your address, and certainly do not give any bank details or pay any 'outstanding bills' for the deceased.