Google AI gives out strangers' phone numbers instead of service provider contacts

Google's AI Gives Out Strangers' Phone Numbers Instead of Service Contacts

Once a month, Google Gemini outputs completely random phone numbers when searching for specialist contacts. People whose numbers end up in the results get bombarded with calls from strangers for weeks looking for lawyers, designers, or plumbers.

How it started

A desperate Reddit user wrote that his phone has been ringing non-stop for a month. Strangers were asking for services he doesn't provide: lawyers, product designers, plumbers. In March, an Israeli programmer experienced something similar through WhatsApp — he was flooded with requests from people who found his number through Google Gemini when searching for recommendations.

What actually happened

When users asked Google Gemini to search (for example, "find a good lawyer in New York"), instead of returning actual company contacts, the system would output random phone numbers from the internet index. This isn't an error in a single record — Google collects numbers from thousands of websites, and the system simply started outputting them without checking relevance. The danger is that the number isn't filtered. Someone looks for a lawyer and gets their neighbor's number. Or the number of someone who moved long ago but their old number is still in some directory.

Consequences

• People receive waves of calls from strangers for weeks and months
• Numbers spread across the internet through social media and forums
• Entire campaigns are demanding explanations from Google on Reddit and Twitter
• There are suspicions of lawsuits and complaints to the FTC

The Gemini algorithm didn't start outputting numbers yesterday — the problem has been accumulating for months. Google stayed silent for a long time. Eventually it backfired with public attention — people were writing on Reddit, TikTok and started sharing their stories.

What this means

Google's generative search is not yet ready to replace regular search. If the system can't reliably provide the correct contact, it's worse than useless — it harms real people. Google promised to sort things out, but so far the correction mechanism is unclear. This is a reminder that AI in production must go through much more rigorous checks before being released to the masses.