In British Columbia, Canada, a couple has been receiving numerous calls from strangers recently due to a nonexistent cat, causing them great distress. How did this happen?
According to reports from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Jonathan McCurrach and Natasha Lavoie have been receiving calls from strangers in the past year claiming that they have found the couple’s lost cat named Torbo. Most of these calls have been coming from the United States.
However, Torbo is actually a non-existent cat, and their real cat, Mauser, is safe at home and not lost.
Lavoie mentioned that they sometimes receive up to 6 calls in a day, with occasional voicemails stating that the caller has found their missing cat and demanding money.
Some of the calls have been unsettling. In one voicemail they received, the caller claimed to have a snake at home that will “eat free little cats,” while others sounded like scam calls.
After months of investigation, McCurrach finally discovered the source of the confusion. He inquired with the callers about how they obtained their phone number, and they explained that the number was printed on a long-sleeved T-shirt that looked like a lost cat poster.
This shirt was sold by the Wisdumb company based in New York. A customer service representative of the company stated via email to CBC that using a real phone number in the shirt design was unintentional, and they have now removed the shirt from their online store.
Lavoie mentioned that they have no intention of changing their home phone number, as it bears the area code 604, which is the first area code of British Columbia and is now difficult to obtain. In May of this year, the province introduced the sixth area code, 257.
She said, “I’ve had my number for 20 years, and I don’t want to change it. I’ll just continue not to answer the phone.”
The couple had reached out to the Wisdumb company, but the response they received was similar to what CBC got. McCurrach expressed his hope for a “sincere apology” from the company.
Lavoie added, “After this incident, I feel like I should get a T-shirt. I think both of us deserve one.”
Similar incidents have occurred before. In 2021, a South Korean woman received numerous calls after a real phone number was printed on the invitation cards for the Korean series “Squid Game” released by Netflix.
The Guardian reported that the woman received thousands of calls and messages, significantly impacting her daily life. She had been using this phone number for over 10 years and couldn’t change it as she needed it to communicate with her clients.
After the woman complained to the media, the company was forced to change the phone number in “Squid Game.”