Spam calls were the trending topic Thursday morning in the Estevan area.
People were complaining about receiving a series of calls from Tunisia in a short period of time.
It had to be a scam. Why else would someone in a north African country repeatedly call a phone number in southeast Saskatchewan?
I’m guessing the callers weren’t looking to talk about the weather, or to learn how to properly pronounce Estevan or Saskatchewan.
And how many of us actually know someone currently in Tunisia? Beautiful country, but I’d have no reason to pick up the phone.
Needless to say, local residents weren’t happy about getting bombarded with phone calls from Tunisia, and they did what people do to vent in this day and age: they turned to social media.
Some of them went as far as to post their phone records, with numerous calls in a one-hour span. Others created Bingo games for the location of the scam callers. And some theorized why they didn’t receive phone calls from Tunisia.
(You have to wonder how many people can actually locate Tunisia on a map, identify its flag or name its capital. Hint: it’s on the Mediterranean Sea).
While people’s phones were going crazy, my phone was eerily silent. Nobody from Tunisia tried to call me that day. And none of them have called me since.
I’m not sure why I don’t have a series of calls from Tunisia on my phone records. Perhaps they focused on one particular prefix number, such as 421. My phone is a 461 number. But that theory seems far-fetched.
Maybe it’s because they found out that I’m not the guy to turn to for money. Or maybe it’s because they didn’t want to talk to me.
Regardless, I wasn’t bothered. And I’m not complaining.
Am I knocking on wood? Will I get bombarded by phone calls from Tunisia, or another country, once this opinion piece is out?
SaskTel was understandably a lightning rod for criticism. People don’t want to have a series of spam and scam phone calls. Most people are too busy to answer all those calls. (If those scam calls interrupted a phone game you were playing, then you will get no sympathy from me).
I just hope that people didn’t take out their frustrations on a SaskTel customer service employee who had nothing to do with this situation.
And I hope that SaskTel takes steps to prevent this from happening again, especially if these scammers are working their way up, and will eventually hit 461 once they’ve taken care of all of the 421 numbers.
As an aside, about 2 1/2 years ago, I cut the landline at my condo and went exclusively with a cellular phone. I was probably one of the last people in my age group in Estevan to still have a landline. Once I stopped paying long distance for my cell, that should have been the time to ditch my old 634 number. But no, I had to be loyal to the landline until 2018.
Since that time, I think I can count on one hand the number of bogus telemarketer and scam calls I have received. Canada Revenue Agency calls? Next to none.
I know other people still get lots of scam calls to their cell phones, but not me.
I’m sure I’ll eventually get a series of scam phone calls from somebody halfway around the world. And by the time the third or the fourth phone call has come through, I’ll be eager to chuck my phone up against the wall. I’ll create a wager for how many calls I’ll get in a two-hour span, and I might even create a drinking game for each call I receive, if it happens outside of office hours.
After the experiences that others have had during the past week, I’m sure that I’ll know better than to answer.
SaskTel will apologize for the inconvenience all of these interruptions have called, and they’ll enact measures to keep this from happening again.
But the scammers will find a way to get ahead of the phone company.
And after a brief period of time, I’ll return my attention to other topics that have a far greater bearing on my day to day lives than scam calls from halfway around the world.
