The model hands out a phone number that was never yours
Where does a phone number come from that we never had?
A model without live web access answers from what sat in its training data. If your number was not in there, the answer gets assembled from what looks like a number from your area. It reads like a fact and is an invention.
In our own run on 17 August 2026 across four physiotherapy practices in one German city, the same model produced two different wrong numbers for the same practice in two runs. Both belonged to other businesses in that city.
Models with live web access make this mistake less often, because they look it up while answering. In exchange they copy whatever the first source says, and that is usually a directory listing rather than your own site.
What to do about it
- Search for the wrong number yourself and find out who owns it. It is usually listed in a directory that also lists you.
- Put your number on your own site as text, visible without a click, not only inside an image.
- Check your entries in business directories, map services and review sites. An old entry with reach beats your own page.
- Run the check again after four weeks. As long as the source stands, the wrong answer stands.
Where this stops
A number cannot be deleted from a model. What can be changed are the sources the model draws on.