LINWOOD, N.J. (WHDH) — A man in New Jersey has received more than 15,000 messages and calls from people wishing him a happy birthday. It’s all thanks to an elaborate prank put together by his sons.
Chris Ferry’s birthday is not until March 16, but the Linwood man is already receiving well wishes. Those wishes have been coming from complete strangers.
Ferry’s face and phone number are listed on a giant billboard that sits along the Black Horse Pike, which leads into Atlantic City and the casinos.
The billboard reads: “WISH MY DAD HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LOVE YOUR SONS.”
Ferry’s two sons, who live in Florida, paid for the billboard as a continuation of a childhood prank they would play on their dad at restaurants.
“They would always tell the waiter or waitresses that it’s my birthday, even though it wasn’t,” Ferry said.
Both sons say they thought local friends would get a kick out of it and they did, but so have others around the world.
Ferry said he plans to get back at his boys at some point.
“I would love to see him try,” Mike Ferry said of his dad. “I just want to say I love my dad. He always puts other people first, especially me and my brother.”
The billboard will stay up through April 6.
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