HEY THERE, NEIGHBOR

A new trend has people texting strangers who have similar numbers — with mixed results

WON’T you be my “number neighbor”?

A new trend has picked up steam over the past week where people text complete strangers — what they call their “number neighbor.”

Also called a “textdoor neighbor,” the trend involves messaging phone numbers that are identical to theirs except for the last digit — which is one greater or one less.

The hope is to find a modern-day pen pal and to forge a digital connection. But blindly texting random people has produced mixed results — at least according to screenshots of recent text message exchanges posted on Twitter as part of the Number Neighbor Challenge hashtagged #NumberNeighbor.

Some are sweet. One new graduate of Milpitas High School in the Bay Area discovered her number neighbor was the sister of a classmate — and had attended her graduation.

“OMG what a small world,” the number neighbor writes after the two connected and shared pictures.

A California high school soccer player named Brooke Wheaton captured an exchange with her number neighbor, Nancy: Brooke lamented that her car had broken down, and Nancy replied that she had recently started work at a Honda dealership and could hook her up with a deal.

But there are awkward moments, too — such as when Bibiana Arredondo, 17, reached out to her over-40 number neighbor, and who chastised her for giving personal information away to strangers. “Have fun, but always be careful,” the neighbor writes.

That advice would have been handier for Ashley, a Los Angeles woman who received death threats from her number neighbor. Screenshots show chilling lines like, “You know I’m going to kill you right.” Ashley, who declined to share her last name, ended up reporting the incident to police when she received 70 harassing calls from another private number — which, she believed, was her scary number neighbor.

And Twitter user @laurrrenv got a dose of reality when she texted her textdoor neighbor with a friendly hello, only to get the response: “Who is this and why are you texting my husband this late?” She attempted to patch over the situation, only to be called a “wannabe home wrecker.”

But here’s a wholesome exchange from Twitter user @nicksonr_, whose number neighbor was looking for an adoptive parent for his dog. “Bro swear?? I been wanting a dog for a while,” @nicksonr_replied. The two met up to give the dog a new home.

“Best decision I ever made was texting my number neighbor!” @nicksonr_ tweeted. “You could make a new friend.”