Mobile phone number discontinued after users keep dying

Probably best to stay with that random group of digits...
Probably best to stay with that random group of digits...

A mobile phone number has been suspended after the three people it was allocated to have all died.

The number 0888 888 888 was first issued to the CEO of Mobitel - Vladimir Grashnov - in Bulgaria.

He died of cancer in 2001, although The Telegraph says there are rumours he was poisoned by a business rival.

Number of doom

The number went to Konstantin Dimitrov, a man suspected of owning a massive drug smuggling empire, was gunned down in 2003 when out eating with his girlfriend, allegedly by Russian mafia.

The number then went to estate agent Konstantin Dishliev, who ran a £130 million drug trafficking operation that was intercepted just before his death in 2005.

Like Dimitrov, he was also shot whilst dining out, this time in Sofia - and after that the number was left dormant. Presumably because assassins were able to phone and ask where their target was?

Even so, when your numbers up...

Via The Telegraph

Gareth Beavis
Formerly Global Editor in Chief

Gareth has been part of the consumer technology world in a career spanning three decades. He started life as a staff writer on the fledgling TechRadar, and has grown with the site (primarily as phones, tablets and wearables editor) until becoming Global Editor in Chief in 2018. Gareth has written over 4,000 articles for TechRadar, has contributed expert insight to a number of other publications, chaired panels on zeitgeist technologies, presented at the Gadget Show Live as well as representing the brand on TV and radio for multiple channels including Sky, BBC, ITV and Al-Jazeera. Passionate about fitness, he can bore anyone rigid about stress management, sleep tracking, heart rate variance as well as bemoaning something about the latest iPhone, Galaxy or OLED TV.