Australian woman says 9-year-old grandson given same phone number as brothel

A 9-year-old Australian was reportedly given the same phone number as a brothel — (Image credit: iStock)

On Wednesday, a woman named Margaret called into a Western Australia radio station to complain that her 9-year-old grandson had been given the same cellphone number as a brothel in Melbourne. "All these men kept calling," Margaret told 6PR. "I tell you what, I was livid.... It was such a shock because he couldn't understand it and I couldn't understand it."

Mistakenly shared phone numbers are in the news in Australia, The Sydney Morning Herald reports, because Australian rules football star ("rucker") Nic Naitanui was apparently assigned the same number as somebody in Queensland. Tech analyst Trevor Long tells the paper that two people sharing a number was possible, but "it would almost certainly mean one or more of the checks and balances within the provisioning system of the telco must have failed."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.