Some poor person in South Korea is getting upwards of 4,000 phone calls a day because yes, that phone number on the thriller series realy does exist.
The TV series that has everyone talking really does have everyone talking. According to Hollywood Reporter, people with the exact phone number that appears on 'Squid Game', and other slight variations, have been receiving thousands of prank calls from eager viewers.
The hugely successful (and fictional, might we add) thriller series sees 456 participants receive a card with a phone number on one side, inviting them to take part in a reality game where they have a chance of winning 45.6 billion in South Korean won currency. With each person deeply in debt, it's a pretty tempting offer that they can't refuse.
The only snag? They'll probably die while competing in the series of children's games. In order to take part, they each call the number on the back of the card - and it turns out that said number actually exists in real life, and not just on our TV screens.
Reports suggest that a person (conflicting reports suggest it's a woman, others a man) has been receiving upwards of 4,000 calls a day because of the Netflix show. Due to their client contacts for work, they're unable to change their phone number.
Another report suggests that a person with one digit different to the one shown has also been getting a flurry of text messages and phone calls. Another with two digits in the difference has also been inundated.
Pranks calls or not, we'd be steering well clear of this phone number. No real-life 'Squid Game' for us, thank you very much.
The solution of this from Netflix and local production company of 'Squid Game', Siren Pictures, is for them to edit out the phone number from the early episodes altogether, with scenes from the series to be cut.
It's quite baffling to believe that the creators didn't bother to check if the phone number was in existence before putting it on a streaming service for the whole world to see. Granted, they probably didn't expect it to be one of the biggest Netflix releases ever, but still...