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January 13, 2006
My experience with harassing phone calls
Two nights ago, I started getting obnoxious prank phone calls on my cell phone at 11:30pm. The first time I listened for a while, because I really couldn't figure out what was going on...the next time, Terry took the phone and tried taking the caller on. This didn't really help. They called another 10 times in the next half an hour.
Yesterday, they called me during the day at work and promised to call back later. I lost it. Because my cell phone is technically University property, I reported it to Penn Police, who were more informative and helpful than the Philly Police. Here's what I've learned:
1) The police can really only accomplish something with harrassing calls if you're being physically threatened.
2) They recommend that you not listen to or speak to the caller. I feel this is in direct conflict with #1 being observed - if I don't engage the caller, how will I know if I'm being physically threatened? I didn't point this out to the detective though.
3) T-Mobile is basically useless in the event of a problem - they couldn't retrieve the private number that was calling me, and they claim they are not capable of blocking all private numbers to my phone. A coworker informed me today that Cingular can do this. When it's time to get a new cell phone again, I think I will switch providers. I lust after Terry's 8700c anyway. For now, I will just make a concerted effort to just ignore calls that don't display caller ID. I've also removed my name from my voicemail message, so that ignoring my prank caller doesn't give him more information about me.
4) Both the police and T-Mobile recommend just changing my cell phone number, as if this were no big deal. I don't think this deals with the underlying problem and it's a huge pain in the ass for me, so I'm trying to avoid it. Yes, it would make the caller move on to someone else. But I think it would take months before everyone actually updated my phone number in their address book or phone. In the meantime, I'd have a hell of a time keeping in touch with the people I need to talk to.
I kept my phone turned off last night, and today has been quiet thus far, so maybe this is already over. I can hope...if not, well, I probably *will* change my number, because I just don't have time or energy to deal with this right now. There's too much else going on to waste more cycles on this.
Posted by Janice Ryan at January 13, 2006 3:11 PM
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oh, i'm sure you will miss the drama.
Posted by: dave at February 2, 2006 10:48 AM
I randomly found this page while doing a google search on harassing cell phone calls. What you said is very disappointing, because I really
wanted to go to the cops. Me and my friend have been getting harassing phone calls for over a month now. While they aren't making physical threats, I know who's doing it, and she's crazy. My friend has T-Mobile, so that sucks.
I don't really want to change my number, because I think that makes me look weak. haha
Well, that's all. Hopefully you nipped your problem in the bud.
Posted by: Chandra at March 3, 2006 7:55 PM
I was told that if the calls continued for a significant length of time, even without being threatening, the police would get involved, so I think your situation is worth reporting. Heads up - they're going to ask you for a log of the calls, which you can probably pull from the records on your cell phone bill.
Posted by: Janice at March 3, 2006 8:01 PM
I have Cingular, but Cingular told me that there is no way for to track numbers that show up Private.
Posted by: Erin at August 16, 2006 1:35 PM
I'm having a similar problem now too. The calls have been going on for about a week and they are normally in the middle of the night. They are coming from a private number but I have reason to believe it is my ex husband and his stupid wife because they're both crazy and have no life so they insist on toying with mine. I've had to cancel email accounts, webpages, and change and block my home phone number. I absolutely refuse to change my cell phone number though. I have changed so many things in my life to try to rid him of it and I am done.. I have suncom and I called earlier this week to see if they could do anything and they told me that they couldn't trace it or block it and suggested that I change my number. So I feel everyones pain here. Hopefully one day these people will grow up and get a life (one of their own) :)
Posted by: ALICIA at December 29, 2007 11:41 PM
1) tracking calls doesn't mean having the phone number. Just that you received the call, time/date, and that you are asserting that it was another of the calls that was harassing.
2) by now (2008) you may be able to change cellular providers, and port your phone number over. So you can try switching providers, bring your number with you, and then with the new carrier, if they are the one that is supposed to be more helpful, complain to them ... same phone number, different provider.
I found this page the same way, looking for any info on harassing cell calls, and of course find nothing more ... what I'm looking for is any regulations or cell companies that do like land lines.
With land lines, you can press a * (star) combination and this flags the last caller as a harassing call. With that, you contact your phone company they can either contact that caller, or you can then start filing complaints and get the police involved.
Our next attempt will be in forwarding the cell phone to our home phone, so that we can see if the phone handoff will be seamless... that is that the cellular carrier will hand off the call, rather than "forward from" the phone..
In the phone world.. most carriers support handoffs. That is the call doesn't first go to your cell and then from there connect to the land line... if your phone were turned off, the call would dead end.. so to speak...
so the handoff should work..
Posted by: RC at March 28, 2008 8:34 AM
I was getting harassing calls from a collection agency on my Verizon cell phone. They were obviously for the person who'd had the number previously. I kept telling them I was not her but of course they didn't believe me. I called Verizon Customer Service and they were extremely rude and unhelpful. They said the only thing they could do was issue me a new number. Well I don't want a new number. My cell is now my primary phone since I had my landline disconnected. I would have to notify too many people. The calls finally stopped but it was unnerving.
Posted by: Lynn at May 14, 2008 11:14 PM
if it isn't threatening, why do you care so much?
don't you remember laughing your head off when you call someone with the "ben-dover" prank?
i can understand that its a pain in the ass, as it has happened to me, but just give the kids a little compassion. If it does turn threateningly physical, i agree with you.
Posted by: AnnaLee at November 1, 2008 3:03 PM
..my 17 year old daughter has been getting creepy phone calls from some old man in the middle of the night. We have T-mobile, too. I thought I would do a google search first and see what could be done. How easy it is to hide behind a cell phone and make crank calls. She thought it was a joke at first (yes I remember the prank calls we would make), but to continue on for 2 months and starting to make sexual comments has crossed the line. She works at a restaraunt and I'm wondering if it is someone that works there with her. The number shows up as 'private'.
Posted by: sister2 at April 20, 2009 9:59 AM
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