The inbox of Melbourne man Tom Seppelt is just a series of six-digit authentication codes from faceless corporations, it has been revealed.
The 45-year old explained that he still experienced a small surge of excitement every time his phone buzzed, but it was quickly replaced by the realisation that it was just another string of digits required to process a bank transaction.
“I heard a ‘ding’ this morning and I was hoping it would be a message from an old friend asking if I wanted to catch up for a beer, or maybe go to a party, or even just ask a question about something. But it was a message telling me that the verification code to access my superannuation account is 938761,” Seppelt explained.
“Look, I’m probably exaggerating, I do get other messages from time to time. For example, today I got an automated text from a courier company asking me to press 1 if I want a parcel left in a safe place. But mainly it’s codes”.
He admitted he had started to try to interact with some of the code-bots to recreate the feeling of communicating with a human. “I have from time to time messaged back thanking it for sending me the code, or complimenting the code on its symmetry. But it’s never messaged back – I guess it’s busy,” he explained.
“I did once get messaged by the same code twice – 480881. So that was nice to be in touch with a familiar face, or code I should say. Hopefully it’ll reach out again at some point”.
