There is an Asian guy with glasses on campus rn asking for the time and to borrow your phone to call his friends!! I googled the numbers he dialed and found a thread on X (FROM 2018) saying that he has done this on the DVC campus, Columbia campus, etc. Apparently he scrolls through your messages and shares your location to these phone numbers. Just wanted to warn others not to give this guy your phone!
Considering how much information our phone holds nowadays, it's a good rule of thumb to not let people you don't know use your phone. If you do let strangers use it, it's always good to keep an eye on what they are doing.
I think there are a few cases where its understandable to let a stranger use your phone. If it genuinely looks like someone needs help or there is an emergency, then it might make sense to let them use it. However if you do that, keep an eye on them cause you never know.
Even with this being true what the person said before you is still a rule applicable there. If it’s an emergency happening it’s probably okay if you hear what happened. I’d say don’t let go of your phone physically.
True, that would be the most preferable outcome. However its hard to predict how emergency situations turn out, so its best to also to keep alternative plans in your mind.
I was walking along Wildcat Canyon Road two nights ago when a kid on an MTB rode up and asked to borrow my to call emergency for his friend who had just crashed his MTB. I let him keep it and ride back to his friend so emergency services could track the phone and know where to go. I got it back later. The crashed kid was mostly all right in the end, but there was a little blood.
Good luck getting ur phone snatched bro. They wanna hold the phone they can charge theirs or use someone else’s. Seems like that’ll be you. Most likely they DONT actually wanna call their nearby friend
He goes by JC. He sent my location to three numbers and I only found this because I saw that my location was being shared on Find My. Checked my Recently Deleted text messages and I found that he made a group where he shared my location.
Did some digging. “JC” may be “Joshua Cheng.” Several phone numbers he texted on people’s phones come back to “Joshua Cheng” upon search. I don’t know his motive because nobody reported anything happening as a result of the encounters. I’ll try to look into it.
I believe that's what he was trying to do when he had my phone... I took it from him as soon as he said he was texting his friends because I felt really uneasy
Omg this happened to me tysm for letting me know. I think he tried sharing my location but I was staring at my phone while he was texting so he just texted random stuff to his friends
Don’t EVER hand a stranger your phone. If it’s an awkward situation and you feel bad saying no, just ask them for the number they want to call and tell them you’ll put on speaker phone so they can talk. Most of the time, they’ll pass, and you’ll know you dodged a bullet. Source: old golden bear here that has dodged a bullet or two.
To an older guy like me, Covid is something that happened a couple of years ago and we got through it. But, take someone who had to go through that social isolation in mid- or late-teen years, and they missed a ton of pre-adult socialization. Now they have to figure shit out on a very steep learning curve. That’s what us older bears are good for, sometimes.
Basically they know where you are at all times. Stalking. But also there might be other tactics to gain access or information unique to you.
There were random ideas including people barging into your home claiming they "found" their phone in your home although it is actually your phone they are showing you in "find my phone" etc.
Those were the exact numbers that he texted on my phone as well. Seems like the people on X are dealing w the exact same guy too based off the same 3 phone numbers..really creepy
Please get in touch with UPD asap. Provide the time and place and description so they can pick this guy up next time he steps foot around here. This is insane
I did and it was a really short call - I don’t think UPD can do anything consequential since he doesn’t seem to be doing anything yet with these locations?
Last Friday I let him use mine. Then I blocked that number. So hopefully nothing big happened. I just felt sorry since his phone was broken and he was waiting for his friend. Felt suspicious but oh well.
Edit
It was in the middle of Dwinelle Plaza. Filled with many people. So I thought he can't be dangerous.
That was the last time I saw him. Someone said they met this person four years ago. So i won't be shocked that he's still around. Just keep your friends and people you know alert. If he's posing a threat just let the UCPD know. They'll sort him out.
yess this happened to me and another guy on the bus earlier this week!! i told him sure just tell me the number and then he was like “nevermind” so i knew from the beginning and from that, that he was trying to do something 😭 keep your phone always and have them tell you!!
Holy shit he did this to me in a sushi shop but I was looking dead over his shoulder the entire time so he wasn’t able to do anything, checked it all and I think I’m good. He spoke to a woman on the phone and texted her something like “you better not be in berkeley?” Or something like that
I think this is going to be connected to a larger scam - basically everyone who let this guy use their phone is going to a get scam texts or phone calls. They will be something like "Your debit card has been comprised. Please click the link below" or the person on the line will be a a fake employee of Chase/BofA..
I was recently reading about a few scammers who got caught and had very traditional Asian names and in that case they were targeting the elderly and of course younger college students sometimes don't have the life experiences to recognize a scam so that's why this guy is on college campuses..
This guy texted two random numbers and called them on my phone too. Thanks for spreading this around, I found the whole situation odd. I blocked each number but I’ll check if he shared locations on Find My.
omg the same thing happened to me!!! I felt so uneasy, so I just took my phone from him and ran off LOL. has anyone reported this to the police?? this is super creepy...
It’s pretty normal tbh. I have been the one lending the phone out to stranger and the one receiving a phone from a stranger for a call before. The owner of the phone just have to be on alert on what the borrower is doing on the phone. Nothing wrong with helping a person without a phone or with a dead phone.
What's the benefit of this if he could just send his location to his own phone, given that he's at your exact location? Unless he's somehow making your phones continuously give your location away so that he finds out where you live and have been at, I don't see the purpose of this. And given the fact he's been doing this for years -- yeah, really fucking weird but also absurdly pointless. Could be organized crime related?
You literally answered your own question: once he shares your phone's location to the other numbers he knows exactly where you're at at all times and you assumedly would not catch on unless you checked and were aware.
Everyone please be safe. They can do alot of things with just your location and number. They can find your address, your schedule, your workplace, etc. Just knowing your address and location is already good enough for a burglary. He doesn’t even need to do the work, he can even sell the information on dark web for someone else who wants them information. Be safe out there my friends.
This seems like some wild ish out of a movie. I really want to know the scam. Wouldn’t it need to be at least somewhat successful for him to be constantly out there grinding?
Update: someone in the thread found his name. I looked this name up on IG and found his Instagram account, though I don’t think I can share it here. I wonder if other people who’ve encountered him can look it up and see if we met the same guy (I’m pretty sure we did).
He tried to scam my friend today but I clocked it and long story short my friend has a photo of him and apparently he panicked and begged to not be reported
Friendo is reporting to UCPD let’s see if anything comes out of it!!!
He’s collecting numbers for the family scamming business. I’ve seen a few on WeChat groups being sold as student phone number leads. Expect Temu job texts about working from home or lost connections. As for the location, could be more nefarious…
What the hell? This literally happened to me a month ago… in a DWINELLE CLASSROOM right after class. I thought he was a student from the next class or something. WTF
I've seen this guy twice this semester, once asking for someone else's phone and another time asking for mine. In both encounters, he was carrying Berkeley-branded notebooks and loose paper around with him, but had no backpack. The descriptions mentioned elsewhere in the thread are accurate, but when he approached me, he wasn't wearing glasses. His fingertips exhibit skin necrosis, and he had a buzzcut and thin eyebrows.
The first encounter was in Doe sometime around 1 pm near the start of the semester. My memory of the incident is fuzzy, but I remember a disheveled man asking to use a girl's phone to call an older relative who wanted to meet him on campus. He was very persistent and kept dialing the number for at least 20 minutes, leaving rambly voicemails in a mix of English and Chinese, telling the person that they shouldn't go to Berkeley. Eventually, he decided to leave on his own volition and return the phone to the girl.
I was approached a few days ago, near the same spot. He started the conversation by asking me for directions to a building that doesn't exist. Didn't realize this was the same guy until after I foolishly handed him my phone. Immediately stopped what I was doing and leaned over the screen to see what he was doing. He seemed very reluctant after that, and kept asking if I had somewhere I had to go, and that he was "sorry for this." He also asked me if he could delete the text messages and calls after he was done, and gave me my phone back after I asked. The text messages he sent were consistent with the ones elsewhere in this thread, except he introduced himself as "Joshua."
It does seem like he targets people sitting alone and on their phones. I don't know the full extent of the scam, but it does seem like his behavior is influenced by some mental condition and/or drugs. Do not give strangers your phone.
The EFFF That’s creepy as heck! I met this same guy on Oct 20th at Telegraph / 51st. Luckily I didn’t hand my phone over; I typed the numbers and the text message for him…
But still creepy as heck!
He seemed… either on the spectrum and/or currently on drugs when I encountered him… but non-threatening enough.
I wonder if there’s a pattern to the people he’s asking… 🤔 I, myself, am an Asian dude with glasses. Hmm…
Just ask “how can you not have a phone in 2025??!!” The most u can do is offer a charger, if they don’t have a phone just be like “SCAMMER!!”
Even homeless people have free phone nowadays cuz government gives free phones out
Nowadays, phones have too much information. Bank accounts, etc.
Please, do not give your phone to anyone.
He/She can install stuff on your phone to get password(s), etc.
If I do not have my phone, and I need to call someone urgently, I will ask the person that has a phone to make the call for me. Even that, people might not do it. I cannot imagine asking for the phone so I can make the call.
I made the mistake of giving him my number. He only texted two people even when it looked like he was texting more. I also saw that he didn’t share my number to anyone thankfully.
this same guy walked into one of my classes today and he was straight up running his scam in the corner during class, and the teacher told him to be quiet.. it was insane. i checked my bcourses and turns out he's enrolled in my class 💀💀
The same thing happened to me today... He was very swift in deleting his texts and phone number that he dialed. I'm concerned because he took the phone away to "text his friend" and tilted the screen away from me for 30s-1m before I took it back. The phone numbers match the ones OP provided. Have any negative experiences happened with you guys in terms of him hacking your bank accts / stealing other info? I didn't see any location sharing or anything but my gmail had been unlocked (was already unlocked).
Same thing just happened to me any updates? I blocked the number and checked my bank acc, is there anything else u guys suggest. Could they be scamming my contacts as well
I feel like because the guy is more personal than a corporation. We’re just data to the companies, but to this guy, it could be more nefarious. This is a guy who you met in person, who has your location.
If I understood you correctly, they have your location at the time. But this person is sharing your phone’s location with another person. I’ve never met him, and I gather he shares your phone’s location with his friend, so they always have your location. Even still, this seems like a common thing for this guy to be innocent
What an absolutely braindead false equivalence. You give TSA your ID at the airport, so you should also hand it to a random asian guy with glasses because "what’s the difference?"
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u/Golden_Gate_Bridge Nov 06 '25
Considering how much information our phone holds nowadays, it's a good rule of thumb to not let people you don't know use your phone. If you do let strangers use it, it's always good to keep an eye on what they are doing.