Mass. Business' Phone Number Erroneously Put on Alleged KKK List

When the phone rings at KK Insurance Agency in Lowell, Massachusetts, lately, owners Kon and Shally Tan are concerned just who may be on the other line.

The Cambodian couple said their business phone number was erroneously put on a list of alleged Ku Klux Klan members released online Sunday by hacker group Anonymous.

"Last night was crazy, getting calls just constantly – the fax, because my fax number was in there too, and the phone calls," Kon Tan said.

The Tans said almost all the calls were from blocked numbers or from out of state. They said some callers would repeatedly call and hang up, while others would shout profanities into the phone.

"'Are you a KKK member (expletive)?' and hang up," Shally Tan described.

A few were willing to listen to reason from the couple.

"I'm telling them, 'I'm Asian; I have a business here, KK Insurance Agency; I'm not a member,' and then they realize, with the accent, they realize I'm not the profile of that group," Kon Tan said.

Necn reached out to some of the callers, and while most were apologetic, only Tennessee resident Elisa Webber would talk about her 16-year-old son calling the alleged KKK numbers.

"Our family is African American, so I'm not mad at him for – he is very outspoken, we do encourage that in our household," Webber said.

Webber said it will be a good learning experience teaching her son not to trust everything you read online.

"It's good to have your facts straight before you do things like that and I'm hoping that that business doesn't have any more people calling them," she said.

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