Irish People Warned Not To Answer Any Calls From Numbers Starting With 021

HAVE you missed a call recently with the local dialling code 021? Experts are warning people not to ring these numbers back after confirmation that the code is from Cork, which could lead to an unwanted conversation with a Corkonian.

The unsolicited calls, which have been happening in some form or another since the arrival of telecommunications to Cork in the late 1990s, with the rest of the country powerless to prevent the calls arriving to their landlines and mobiles.

Many unsuspecting people have spotted the missed calls on their mobiles, prompting them to ring the caller back. This has led to hundreds of minutes of time being wasted as the caller wears the skin off their ears with what has been described as ‘pure shite talk’, usually about how class Cork is and how shite Dublin is in comparison.

“It’s a very simple formula to keep yourself safe on the phone,” said Jim Hanlon, head of telecommunications in Ireland.

“021 calls are to be avoided at all costs. Do not answer them. Do not call back if you see a missed call from one. Do not engage in a text based conversation with them. It’s obvious that someone from Cork has your phone number. Remove your SIM card, and smash it with the nearest blunt object you can find”.

Hanlon went on to state that this issue also affects people outside Ireland, and that the notion of having phones may have to be re-thought altogether.