Person on dating site asks for my cell number. I'm very suspicous. What kind of scam could this be?

I recently signed up on a dating site. I was promptly deluged with messages from women (or people claiming to be women) that, either on their first message, or after a very brief exchange, ask for my cell phone number. I mean, if we’d chatted back and forth for a dozen messages and one of us suggested meeting in person and then she asked for my cell number, I’d find it believable. But to just right off the bat say, "Let’s get off this web site and talk on the phone" … ? I’m very suspicious.

I’ve asked a couple of them to have a Zoom video call. Most just stop talking to me at that point. That pretty much confirmed my suspicions that it was some sort of scam. One said something vague about not liking to do Zoom calls and then practically demanded my phone number. I didn’t reply and never heard from her again.

But if it’s a scam, what could they gain by getting my cell phone number? I’ve heard of a scam where someone gets your phone number and then contacts a cell phone company saying they want to switch the service, plays some games with the verification and gets it switched, so now they have your number and can use it to beat two-factor authentication. But for that to be of any use you’d have to also know accounts the victim has, and these people didn’t even have my last name. Or am I just not creative enough in imagining how a scam could work?

(BTW clues that these people are scamming me: 1. Their messages do not refer to anything I said in any previous message. Like they’ll say, "Several things in your profile really interested me", but not mention what things. So they could use the same message with all their victims. 2. Inconsistencies. Like one woman said she was from California, but her profile said she was from Pennsylvania. Another woman claimed to be in the army in Afghanistan, but her messages were all set from a server in California and were all sent at times that would be evening in California but the middle of the night in Afghanistan. Etc.)

So okay, I signed up with a dating site, I don’t want to be so suspicious that I miss opportunities to meet someone. But I also don’t want to be a gullible victim.