Latest news with #JonathanMcCurrach
New York Times
3 days ago
- New York Times
Pet Owner Flooded With Puzzling Calls About a Lost Cat While Hers Is Safely at Home
Starting in 2024, Natasha Lavoie began getting calls on her cellphone from people who said they had found a missing cat named Torbo. But Ms. Lavoie's cat is named Mauser, and each time a call came, her black cat was where he was supposed to be, in her home in British Columbia, Canada. This went on for a year. Finally, about two weeks ago, she handed the phone to her partner, Jonathan McCurrach, who demanded to know why one man was calling so many times late at night. The man admitted he was calling as a joke: His son had bought a shirt online that advertised a cash reward for a missing cat and listed a telephone number to call. That telephone number was Ms. Lavoie's. Her cellphone would ring in spurts. For days in a row, she'd get multiple calls, even in the middle of the night. Then two weeks would pass without calls. 'At first I was thinking, like, who did I anger?' she said. 'Who posted my number somewhere?' She contacted the American company that sold the shirts, Wisdumb, to find out why and how it chose her phone number. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
New York Post
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Couple hounded with calls after their number is listed on t-shirt decorated with missing cat poster
What a purr-fect cat-astrophe. A Canadian couple is being hounded with calls about their missing cat — and all because their number was splashed across a t-shirt decorated with a poster of a lost cat by a brand 3,000 miles away on Long Island. Jonathan McCurrach and Natasha Lavoie's phone has been on fire with strangers calling to tell them they've found their feline, Torbo. However, the British Columbian couple doesn't even have a cat named Torbo. Their furry friend is Mauser, and he's happily chilling at home. 'Sometimes, like six times a day, I'm getting these really random phone calls and people leaving me voicemails saying that they found my cat and they want money for my cat,' Lavoie told CBC News. The contemporary clothing company, Wisdumb, based in Smithtown, NY, made the missing cat t-shirt. CBC News 'I'm like, 'My cat's at home in the air conditioning.'' At first, the pair first thought the calls, which mainly came from the U.S., were scams. 'When we started actually picking up the calls or responding to the voicemails, I thought it was some attempt at a scam. You hear about scams all the time about missing pets,' McCurrach told the outlet. 'Half the time, they just cut you off and go like, 'No, I've got your cat. I want the money for the cat.' And I'm like, 'No, there's no money, there's no cat.' And they usually hang up.' After months of their phone ringing off the hook, McCurrach finally asked a caller how they got their number. The caller explained their digits were printed on the t-shirt, made by the contemporary clothing company Wisdumb, based in Smithtown, NY. CBC News reached out the business, which reported the shirt was no longer available for purchase online, and said in an email that 'the use of a real number within the art created was not intentional.' The couple also contacted the company, which offered them a similar answer, but no 'real apology.' Natasha Lavoie and Jonathan McCurrach didn't receive a 'real apology' from the company. CBC News Lavoie said she's not ready to change her number because it has a 604 area code, British Columbia's first, which is now difficult to get. 'I've had my number for 20 years,' she told the outlet firmly. 'I don't want to change it. I'll just keep not answering.' Lavoie thinks purr-haps she deserves compensation for the aggravation the clothing has caused. 'I feel like I deserve a T-shirt after this,' she added. 'I think we both do.'
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
B.C. woman's number listed without permission on American lost cat T-shirt
Over the last year, Surrey's Natasha Lavoie has been receiving dozens of calls about people finding her lost cat Torbo. But Lavoie's cat is actually named Mauser, and isn't missing. Lavoie and her partner Jonathan McCurrach investigated and found out that an American fashion brand called Wisdumb had listed her number on a T-shirt depicting a lost cat, without her permission. The couple says the label hasn't been co-operative after they reached out.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Woman flooded with calls about nonexistent cat due to a T-shirt
July 18 (UPI) -- A British Columbia woman's phone has been flooded with calls about a missing cat that doesn't exist, and it's all because of a T-shirt. Natasha Lavoie and Jonathan McCurrach said dozens of calls have come in from people claiming to have found their cat, Torbo -- but their cat is named Mauser, and isn't missing. "Sometimes, like six times a day, I'm getting these really random phone calls and people leaving me voicemails saying that they found my cat and they want money for my cat," Lavoie told CBC News. "I'm like, 'My cat's at home in the air conditioning.'" The couple discovered Lavoie's phone number had been printed on a T-shirt sold by company Wisdumb NY. The shirt features a missing cat poster and Lavoie's phone number. A Wisdumb NY representative said the shirt has been pulled from the online store. "The use of a real number within the art created was not intentional," the representative said in an email to CBC News. Lavoie said she does not want to change her phone number as it bears a 604 area code, which is difficult to get. "I've had my number for 20 years," she said. "I don't want to change it. I'll just keep not answering." Lavoie said she would like a "real apology" from the company. "I feel like I deserve a T-shirt after this," Lavoie said. "I think we both do."
CBC
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- CBC
B.C. couple dodging dozens of calls about their missing cat — but their cat isn't missing
A B.C. couple is begging people to stop calling them. For over a year, Natasha Lavoie and Jonathan McCurrach have been fielding dozens upon dozens of calls from strangers claiming they've found the couple's cat, Torbo. But they don't have a cat named Torbo. And their cat, Mauser, isn't missing. "Sometimes, like six times a day, I'm getting these really random phone calls and people leaving me voicemails saying that they found my cat and they want money for my cat," Lavoie told CBC's On The Coast host Gloria Macarenko. "I'm like, 'My cat's at home in the air conditioning.'" After many months of trying to figure out why this was happening, McCurrach asked a caller how they got their number. The caller explained the number was listed on a shirt styled to look like a missing cat poster. "Why would you use a real number?" McCurrach asked. CBC News reached out to the company in question — Wisdumb NY — which said the shirt is no longer online. However, on the company's Instagram page, there are photos of missing cat posters with 604 area code numbers attached. "The use of a real number within the art created was not intentional," a customer service representative said in an email to CBC News. Some phone numbers have been set aside in North America for fictional use, all starting with the number 555. As Terry O'Reilly explained in a 2021 episode of Under the Influence, the use of 555 started when TV shows and films started using phone numbers more frequently in their plot lines, and attached to those numbers complaints about prank phone calls. Phone companies reserved 555-0100 through to 555-0199 for fictional use. The Guardian, Netflix was forced to edit a phone number in the series Squid Game after a South Korean woman was deluged with calls in 2021. In 2009, the same thing happened when rapper Soulja Boy featured a U.K. family's phone number in a song. Lavoie said she's hesitant to change her number because it's a 604 area code — which was B.C.'s first area code and nowadays, is hard to get. In May, the province got its sixth area code, 257. "I've had my number for 20 years," she said. "I don't want to change it. I'll just keep not answering." WATCH | Woman bombarded with calls after number listed on shirt: B.C. woman's number listed without permission on American lost cat T-shirt 4 days ago Over the last year, Surrey's Natasha Lavoie has been receiving dozens of calls about people finding her lost cat Torbo. But Lavoie's cat is actually named Mauser, and isn't missing. Lavoie and her partner Jonathan McCurrach investigated and found out that an American fashion brand called Wisdumb had listed her number on a T-shirt depicting a lost cat, without her permission. The couple says the label hasn't been co-operative after they reached out. Some of the calls have been disturbing. In one voicemail they received, a caller claimed they had a snake that "eats free kittens." "When we started actually picking up the calls or responding to the voicemails, I thought it was some attempt at a scam. You hear about scams all the time about missing pets," McCurrach said. He said the calls are coming primarily from the United States, but they have received a couple from Canada. "Half the time, they just cut you off and go like, 'No, I've got your cat. I want the money for the cat.' And I'm like, 'No, there's no money, there's no cat.' And they usually hang up." Lavoie and McCurrach did reach out to the company, which gave them an answer similar to what CBC News received. But McCurrach said he wishes they'd offered a "real apology."
