In brief
After a year of receiving prank calls about a missing cat, Natasha Lavoie discovers her phone number was mistakenly used in an online T-shirt campaign, leading to a relentless stream of calls.
Natasha Lavoie, a resident of British Columbia, Canada, is in the midst of a perplexing situation that arose when she unexpectedly became the target of phone calls regarding a fictitious missing cat named Torbo. Since 2024, her cellphone has been inundated with inquiries from well-meaning individuals who believe they've found the lost feline—despite her own cat Mauser being safe at home.The onslaught of calls turned into a relentless tide, with Ms. Lavoie receiving repeated inquiries, particularly during late-night hours. The dynamic shifted just two weeks ago when her partner, Jonathan McCurrach, took matters into his own hands, confronting a repeat caller who was calling for fun. It turned out that a boy had purchased a T-shirt online that advertised a reward for the missing cat, listing Ms. Lavoie’s phone number.Initially bewildered, Ms. Lavoie wondered how her number ended up in such a quirky situation. "At first I was thinking, like, who did I anger? Who posted my number somewhere?" she remarked. Desperate for answers, she reached out to Wisdumb, the American company behind the shirts, to get to the bottom of this mix-up that had turned her phone into a makeshift hotline for lost pets.As the calls have continued to roll in, her life has taken on a comedic twist, balancing the antics of a prank gone awry with the very real worries of a pet owner attempting to keep her furry friend safe and sound.
