How do you deal with ‘prank/nasty' calls?

Question

For the past few nights my folks have been getting prank calls late at night on the house phone. They’ve come out of the blue, and we never give our home number out to anyone. The first call was nasty, my mom answered it, they (sounded like someone with a Kosovo accent), said they were going to kill her and then hung up. The next few nights we ignored the phone, but after dialing callback, we knew it was their number. So I actually have their number now..any ideas? The police aren’t interested, but it’s stressing my mom out..we don’t want to change our number unless we have to.

Thanks guys..some people eh?

Carl

Thanks so far...yeah i've had that home number for years, shame to change it. They are a bit dumb not hiding their number eh? I might spread it about on the net ;) Any prank software out there?

Thanks a bunch guys, really good and fast answers! Seriously thanks, i've got some options now...it's a mobile phone number they ring from

Answer 1

you're not going to hcange your number unless you need to?-well in this case, this would be the time you would need too because they already know your number and they are going to keep calling. you can sue them for harressment and get a restraining order against them. tell the police to track their number to find where they live

Answer 2

If you are getting prank calls and the person is threatening to kill then that is very much against the law. If you have caller ID do not answer the phone when it rings. Also get an answering machine and then if they call and leave messages on it turn it over to the phone company. You can also have the number blocked before they call. Call the phone company and give them the phone number of the people who are making the calls and a block can be put on. I had a block put on because I use to get lots of calls all the time from the same person. It can be very aggravating and it is against the law for harrassing someone on the phone.

Answer 3

What do you mean the school cannot do anything about name calling, your child is being bullied whether it be physical or emotional it is still wrong. I would have a talk with the principle of the school about letting this go on and explain the emotional impact it is having on your daughter and hindering her education. You are the parent make yourself heard with the school. Also talk to your daughter about how she feels about herself and try to build a strong sense of self worth in her because everyone is not going to be nice or like her in life you learn to avoid the negative as much as possible but in the end you cannot get along with everyone. Keep her self esteem high and involve her in an activity outside of school where she can make new friends and build her self confidence. Also, have her remember the people who don't partake in this, the people who like her for who she is because friendships at her age are very important. Do not do what another post said about having her change herself, doing this only shows her that these kids have a reason to be making fun and that when someone doesn't like you change yourself and this is a very wrong message to send. Everyone is different and has there own unique qualities that is what makes us who we are and building on the positive things about yourself builds self worth and confidence. Love yourself just the way you are is a very wise saying. If it has gotten to the point that she feels like she needs to defend herself have her do it in a positive way, not violent or retaliating to name calling back but by showing them that there name calling no longer affects her the way it once did, that she really doesn't care what they think of her because she came to realize name calling only happens when the person doing it doesn't feel good about themselves so brings others down to their level. You do not want to teach her that two wrongs make a right, it will only make future problems and situations in adulthood that much harder to deal with. And lastly, you can transfer schools if the problem is too severe and let her get a fresh start somewhere new. Getting her into a new and more positive school setting may be what she needs as a much needed break from these issues. Good luck.

Answer 4

I never understand prank calls. they're just wasting their money. so that said I keep them on the phone as long as possible. but seeing these people hnag up straight away it's not really an option. hmmm... i guess you could do the same back to them, in the middle of the night. but that's just an eye for an eye. don't htink it would really help. You could ring up and pretend to be the police giving them a warning (caller ID blocked of course).
Hope it stops. it's actually kind of sad that some people don't have anything better to do with their time.

Answer 5

Call your service provider and ak for the code for Malicious call trace (aka customer originated trace). It'll be a three digit code (Mine is *42) that must be dialed right after you disconnect the pranker. Here's how it works:

You get a nasty call
hang up
pick up the receiver and dial *xx (whatever the code is)
hang up

The phone company will flag the call, but you will not receive any information. If the calling perists, call the police to file a report, and they will be able to get the records generated by your traces and charge the appropriate party with lots of happy little offences. Problem solved.

Answer 6

Well if you're not going to change your number (which would be your best bet), then call the phone company and have them block that particular number. Also, get caller ID on your phone. If you don't have it already, it would be a good idea to do that. That way, when you get caller ID you'll see who it is calling. Also, when people block their number while calling me, before it actually rings on my end, they're given a choice to unblock their number for that call or just leave a message cause I don't accept blocked calls.

Hope it helps!

Answer 7

Call your phone company and get them to block the number.
Orrrrr... You could put an add in the paper saying youre a lonely 18 year old girl looking for a good time with no attachments and put thier number on it. Get a bunch of old perves to call them :D But im sure this isnt legal and might provoke them to start to same to you.

Answer 8

Ok, here is what I would recommend. Start tracing and recording, and documenting every time they call, then let them know that they need to stop calling and that this call is on record. Then eventually after you get enough of them, turn it over to the police, and then prosecute them. Tell them that you have reported it to the police, and that you will prosecute them, then report and prosecute. Every time they call, say something like, "when you get a knock at the door, it will be to late" or "are we starting this again?
We are on recording." Then they will get the clue and stop calling, or they will get in trouble.

Answer 9

If you know thier number you could do a reverse number look up and find thier address. You could confront them in person or when they call next be like "Do you live at ..... road? Oh good I'll send the police right over..." Or somthing to scare them out of calling you.

Answer 10

Caller Id def will solve this problem I have it at home also there is this code you put when you have caller Id and It will not recieve private calls you will need to unblock your number and show where you are calling from