The Medicine Chest Pharmacy was the victim of a long distance phone hacking scheme this month.

Tracee Vickerman, owner of the local pharmacy, said Northwestel Inc. called last Monday to inform the business that suspicious calls were being made to places like Saudi Arabia, Mozambique and the Philippines.

"It's great that Northwestel called us or we wouldn't have found out until we got our huge bill at the end of the month,” she said last week.

The calls appear to have started on July 3, Vickerman told the Star.

While most calls seem to have been placed at night, some did occur during the day, and Vickerman said looking back there were signs it was happening.

Staff had noticed strange numbers showing up on the call display as well as notes that calls were being transferred, but didn't think much of it.

The pharmacy had also received complaints that its lines were always busy, and occasionally staff wouldn't be able to make outgoing calls even though it appeared lines were available.

"When we look back now, it was happening during the day; we just didn't know what was happening,” said Vickerman.

Polarcom, which supplied the pharmacy's phone system, called the store manager last week and offered to pay this month's phone bill.

Gerard Angel, Polarcom's operations director, said the company covers any costs associated with what he described as "toll fraud.”

This particular attack, he said, did not appear particularly advanced, which allowed Northwestel to pick up on it easily.