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Police in Surrey, B.C., saw more than 20,000 false 911 calls last year as South Asian residents attempted to call family and friends in India using the country code 91.
"If you forget to dial the international code, which is 011, before the country code, which is 91 in India's case, you end up dialing 911 and getting connected to emergency services," Telus spokesman Shawn Hall told CTV News.
Many communities in India have area codes that begin with a 1, resulting in the 911 combination.
Surrey RCMP say this has become a serious issue -- 20,000 false calls in one year means almost 55 misdials each day. And the number of mistaken calls has increased dramatically.
"This number was actually up over 40 per cent over 2008's figures," said Const. Peter Neily.
He added that a misdialed number can have negative consequences on police work.
"It is dangerous for us to divert our resources from real situations to these false 911 phone calls," Neily said.
Some Surrey residents have had police show up at their door more than once in response to a misdialed call to India.
Resident Gurpreet Singh saw the police twice in one year when his parents and in-laws visited from India and tried to call home.
"First time when this happened in my family, [police officers] did go and search all the rooms and then they also acknowledge that this is very common in [a South Asian] community," said Singh.
There is no definite explanation for the increase in calls to India, but one Surrey resident said it could be the lower cost of long distance calls.
"A few years ago you couldn't even dream to call India because it was so expensive. Now it's a penny. So basically you call India," said Surrey resident Surjit Virk.
The city of Surrey, Surrey RCMP and Telus are planning a campaign to educate the South Asian community on making international phone calls.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Julia Foy
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