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Woman with Elon Musk's old phone number has been getting his calls for years

Skin care consultant Lyndsay Tucker has received calls and texts from space volunteers and Disney executives

Adam Smith
Friday 22 May 2020 10:43 BST
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People trying to contact Elon Musk are finding his calls are taken by an unexpected person: 25-year-old skin care consultant Lyndsay Tucker, who has the CEO’s old mobile phone number.

Speaking to NPR, Ms Tucker said she has been receiving the SpaceX and Tesla CEO’s calls for the past few years.

On average, she receives at least three calls or texts intended for Elon Musk. MsTucker, who works at a Sephora beauty store in San Jose, California, had not heard of Musk until she started receiving his messages.

Mobile network AT&T assigned Tucker the number when Musk stopped using it, yet some websites listed it as Musk’s current number, resulting in numerous calls and messages.

“I asked my mom, ‘Hey, I keep getting these text messages’ – and I was also now starting to get phone calls – ‘for this guy Elon Musk. I don’t know who this is’,” Tucker said. “And my mom’s jaw just dropped.”

Tucker has apparently received calls from a woman volunteering to go to space, an IRS representative calling about tax issues, a South African businessman who wanted to purchase 1,000 vehicles, and another with a blueprint for a bionic limb “which is, number one, really cool, but I have no idea how it’s built,” Tucker said.

She also received texts from Former Walt Disney executive John Lasseter about his recently purchased Tesla.

However, Tucker often has to prove that she is not Musk to those calling her. “They say, ‘Oh, how do I know you’re not Elon?’,” she said. “And they suddenly want proof that I’m not him even though they’re obviously talking to a woman on the phone.”

Reached for comment by NPR, Musk said “Wow. That number is so old! I’m surprised it’s still out there somewhere.” Musk did not respond to whether he gave that number out to people he was trying to avoid.

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