Lewis Capaldi fans are confused after the singer gave out his phone number and asked people to give him a call.
Taking to Twitter this week, Lewis, 26, shared his UK phone number with his followers out of the blue, but some people are convinced it's a scam. Take a look at what happened when someone called him:
When one confused follower spoke up, insisting that it simply had to be a con, Lewis himself replied: "Haha is my spare number!"
Advert
Some fans decided to put the number to other uses.
"Can I give this to the annoying guy at the bar," asked one woman, to which Lewis wrote back: "Please DO!"
After trying to make contact with Lewis, one fan shared the text message she got from the number, which looked almost exactly like the scam texts that we're so often warned about.
Sharing a screenshot of the text message she received, the fan asked: "How real is this?"
Assuring fans that they had nothing to worry about, Lewis replied: "So real!!! if ya fancy giving the click a click there's a video from meeeee x"
You see, this is all part of a marketing campaign for his latest song 'Pointless' - the second single off his upcoming album Broken by Desire to be Heavenly Sent.
Fans might be disappointed to hear that, when they call the number, they won't really get through to Lewis, but to a pre-recorded voice memo from him that goes as follows: "Hello, thanks for very much for calling!
"It's Lewis. It's absolutely pointless calling me, I have got nothing else to say.
"Just make sure you click on the link and download the song."
That's when callers are sent a text message with a link to Lewis's single.
It's a scheme Lewis has tried before with the same phone number, to promote the same single.
Back in December, he shared the phone number to his Instagram account and encouraged followers to give him a buzz, but when they called, another pre-recorded message would say: "Lewis Capaldi here, I just wanted to say thank you for listening to Pointless this week."
It continued: "So go buy it now, and send me a screenshot of the link in the text, because my label are demanding yet another number one single and let me tell you guys, I don't know if I've got it in me. So give me your money and I will give you my body and soul."
People have had a very mixed response to the marketing tactic.
Some people were furious, claiming that they had been let down by the 'Someone You Loved' singer.
"Ugh, I thought I was actually gonna have a chat with you," tweeted one disappointed follower.
"I called, it goes straight to a voicemail promoting his album, don't bother," commented a second.
"Absolutely hate everything about this," complained another. "Fake social media interaction to be told to buy multiple copies/versions of a song. Pretty disgusting level of marketing manipulation for something that is just about money making, not music."
Lewis quickly got back to the disgruntled callers, writing: "Im sorry you feel that way but genuinely I've spent more of my personal money getting this song out there over the past few days than I'll even come close to making back. I just want the song to do well x."
Others were delighted after making the call - even if they were just listening to a voicemail.
"Pure nearly had a heart attack when I thought he answered," admitted one fan.
"Best minute of my life I'll never get back," joked a second.
Topics: Lewis Capaldi, Celebrity, Music
Ali Condon