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Did You Get One? Mysterious 'Ghost' Text Messages Confuse Thousands

Thousands of people were left in bewilderment after receiving waves of mysterious text messages dating back months ago.

Thousands of cell phone users received "ghost messages" that were back dated onths.

Thousands of cell phone users received "ghost messages" that were back dated onths.

Photo Credit: File

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Were You One Of The Thousands To Receive a "Ghost" Text Message?
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Were You One Of The Thousands To Receive a "Ghost" Text Message?

  • Yes
    28%
  • No
    72%

The “ghost messages” were sent to both iPhone and Android users this week, and reportedly were prevalent among all major cellular carriers. In total, approximately 168,000 messages were sent due to an “internal maintenance cycle,” according to CNN.

According to The Verge, many of those messages were originally sent on or around Valentine’s Day 2019 but were never received at the time. The glitch was reportedly the fault of a third-party vendor.

Syniverse, which provides networking services, later took the blame for the messages being delayed, faulting a single server that server failed on Feb. 14, trapping messages waiting to be sent out; the server was then brought back online on Thursday, Nov. 7, and the messages were sent out.

Many of the “ghost messages” that popped up were sent around Valentine’s Day earlier this year.

"Last evening, a maintenance update occurred to part of the messaging platforms of multiple carriers in the U.S., including Sprint, which caused some customers to have older text messages sent to their devices," a Sprint spokesperson said in a statement. ”The issue was resolved not long after it occurred.”

News of the back-dated messages led to mass confusion and discussions on social media by people who received messages from ex-boyfriends or girlfriends, family members who have died, or former co-workers.

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