"What’s his number?" Rosie’s index finger hovered above the dialpad.
"555-0139" I replied.

You’ve seen it in the movies. Or on TV.  You might have read it in a book.
What’s that "555" code all about? Should you care?
A 555 number in the US is a number set aside by the phone companies (both the area code 555, and the local prefix 555) for their own purposes. Those numbers were never given out to customers. Hence they tend to be relatively safe for fictional use. (I say relatively safe, because the phone companies use them for their own internal stuff, so if you call one, you might end up calling the phone company.)

The reason people use 555 is because there’s always some person who will call a number cited in a movie, or in a song, or in a book — making life hell if you give out someone’s real number, and they get all the calls. (And they aren’t likely to forgive you for it.)

When I did a bit of research on this, I found out that 555-0100 – 555-0199 are kinda set aside for fictional use.

Real 555 numbers do exist, some have been given out, but they are very rare.

So while I’m all for keeping it real, I wouldn’t want to subject someone to phone harassment. I’d use a 555 prefix/area code instead. Yes, it can ruin the reality of the story, but is it worth putting in a number that might be real? I don’t think so.

The same goes for addresses. If you must use a real road, in a real town… at least give the house a number that doesn’t exist. If you don’t, and some person thinks your villain really lives at Number 12, Crescent Drive — they might go there and wait for him. God help anyone looking the way you described the antagonist in the book. Let’s just not risk that scenario, okay?

So yeah, make it up. Use something that looks real, but isn’t. Whether it’s a phone number, a postal address, or a registration plate of a car. (Though the latter is less likely to cause uproar.)

Tags: Addresses, Fictional Accuracy, Phone numbers