Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Report Creepy Prank Telephone Calls

Prank calls are a form of harassment. The caller's goal is to unsettle or upset you. This may be a teenager or adult playing a prank as a joke, because of intoxication or mental illness or someone trying to intimidate you. Many people have different definitions of "creepy" when it comes to prank calls, which may involve multiple hangs up, heavy breathing, laughter, loud noises, sexual or threatening comments or no sound at all. Whatever type of prank calls you're receiving, you usually only need to report the issue to two groups: your phone service provider and the police.


Instructions


1. Make a list of the dates, times, the length of each call and the number or numbers displayed on Caller ID during the calls, if applicable. Additionally, write down as many details that you can remember about the calls: hang-up or voice calls, words or other sounds, gender and age of the callers, accent or speech oddities such as a lisp or camouflaged voice and any background noise.


2. Contact your phone service provider and advise a customer service representative of the situation and the details. Ask if call blocking or other services that can stop the calls are available and for help with reporting the issue and tracing the caller. The representative may transfer you to an "annoyance" department to assist you or may advise you that the company can't trace the call or assist until you report the matter to law enforcement.


3. Call 911 or go to a local or state police station and provide the 911 operator or an officer with your name, address and day and evening contact information, the details that you wrote down and the outcome of your call to your phone service provider. Complete any requests made by the police in a timely fashion. The police will explain the procedures for stopping the calls and for determining the identity of the caller or callers.