Can you call the police if someone continuously prank calls you?

Question

It is getting really annoying and I have heard that you can call the police. Is that true?

Answer 1

Yes. It's considered harassment.

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

What do you mean by prank calls? Are they just hanging up? Are they a breather? Do they talk to you at all and if so, what do they say?

If all they are doing is hanging up or just breathing on the line, then the police may not do much except tell you to change your number.

If it's something that could be potentially threatening then they will get involved.

Caller ID can be a good idea, however if they are calling from a private number, then it won't do you any good. On the other hand, you can set your caller id up so that it won't accept calls from blocked or private numbers (at least you used to be able to).

Keep a log of the calls: Time they come in, how long they're on the phone, what they say/do if anything.

If possible, have your answering machine record them if they talk to you. It won't be admissible in court, but it can give the police an idea of what's going on.

Answer 4

Yes, you can call them.

Just keep in mnd that they may not want to do anything about it. If you live in an area where police resources are stretched pretty thin, they may feel that nuisance calls are of low priority. You may just end up being told that if you can find out by yourself who is doing it, and get some record of it, they will be happy to send someone out to talk to the caller.

If they do get involved, they will probably first get you to try your own methods for finding the caller, such as dialing *69, which in many areas of the US will give you the number of the last person to call your house. However, that doesn't always work, as many people show up as anonymous. Also, if you do get a phone number, it may not mean anything to you. If the problem is really severe, the police might even put you in contact with the telephone company, who can further help you.

If the problem is just a real annoyance, I suggest you contact the phone company, and ask for a different phone number. Most carriers will change your number free of charge if you are having a problem with nuisance calls. The trick is that when you get your new phone number, you make it unlisted, and also make it so it is anyonymous to people's caller ID units. You also need to specify to the phone company that you do not want the new number given out in the recording people will hear when they call the old number. The trick after that is to only give the number out very selectively to those you know you can absolutely trust.

If your problem is not with a land line telephone, and is, instead with a cell phone, can you simply turn the phone off during the peak time when they call? I am not sure, but I believe that cell carriers will also change your number free of charge if you are having a lot of nuisance calls. You would need to talk to them to find out.

We have had pranksters calling us before, and I know it's a real pain. I hope you are able to resolve your problem.

Answer 5

Harassing phone calls is a criminal offence in Canada. Do you know who is doing it? If you do, tell them to stop and if they continue call the police, they will tell them to stop and if they don't you could proceed with charges. If you don't know who they are then you could press *57 (call trace, the # may be different where you live). This is the call trace feature and the police will need a warrant to get the number that is calling you. This is a lot of paperwork and hassle. Our departmental policy is to recommend someone change their phone number to an unlisted one if the phone calls are only a nuisance (if they are threatening or obscene that would be a different story). There is also call block and caller id if they aren't blocking their number.

Answer 6

Depending on your location, there is such a thing as harassing, or threatening phone calls. If you have caller I.D., then you have positive proof, otherwise keep an accurate log of the calls, date/time. Do this for about a week to show repetition. Call the Police, and have a report made on the information you have, then contact the phone company, and request to talk to a supervisor. Have the report number available. Good luck.

Answer 7

A reverse cell phone lookup service I have used is http://www.youtips.info/r/rd.asp?gid=179

Enter the number in the system and they will tell you a lot of informations about the phone number and the person who owns it.
If they have extra details you will have to pay for the report.
Free reverse phone lookup sites generally don't provide anything interesting. To get further information, money will have to be paid. The free searches do not provide much more than what can be found through the phone book.
The best thing is that you can get informations about anyone!!

Answer 8

Reverse Phone Number Look Up Services

Answer 9

Untrue. You call the "Annoying Calls Hotline.' Bell South has set up a line for this problem. You keep track of the exact time of each call and the telephone number it comes from. If you don't have the telephone number, you will need to keep a record of date, exact times, and report this to their bureau. I did it to a guy who would not stop calling and hanging up. The phone company contacted him and told him if he continued to call me they would disconnect his phone. So he called from other phones for a while, but eventually went back to his late night calling. I reported every call, even the ones from other phones, or pay phones. They disconnected his phone!
Thank god! It was scary and I would've called the police if he had made any overt move toward me. Be safe. Be watchful. Call Ma Bell and report this. The number is in the front of your directory.good luck.

Answer 10

I was in this situation and the police told me they could not do much because they would have to harassing me, which i think there are doing when they prank call. the police also told me to get call trace put on from my phone company and everytime they called i put the trace code in and this for a month, i took this evidence to the police, whom in turn contacted my phone company and they were able to tell who it was and i was able to take them to court.

Answer 11

Tell the phone company. Have the prank caller's number blocked.
The police are busy with murderers, thieves, and drug dealers.