Any advice on dealing with harassing phone calls?

I've got three or four calls today from the same number, which I don't recognize, that would stay silent until I hung up.

Just now the same number called and some woman demanded my name and then told me that she found the number on her husband's cell phone, and that he had a message from somebody who sounded like me (this, needless to say, was news to me.)

I told her that I wasn't in the habit of calling strange women's husbands, that no I sure wasn't telling her my name, that I don't know anybody by the name she gave for her husband, and that I expected no more harassing phone calls regarding the marital disputes of total strangers. And I hung up.

Needless to say, I don't want irate women who got my number from god-knows-where calling me at odd hours. Actually I don't want irate women calling me at even hours, either. I'm going to call my cell company to see if I can block the number, but they suck and I kinda doubt that will be possible, and in any case it's easy enough to call from another number if you're as much of a nutjob as this lady sounds like. Is there anything else I should do if it continues?

Then hang up.

and the next step, you might wanna write this down: First, get a crowbar... :evilgrin:

If I get any more calls, it's going to my phone company, hers if I can identify it, and the police. Not in that order.

If she's using a listed landline, you can find out who it belongs to. http://www.anywho.com is one site that you can use, either that or use Google to search for "reverse lookup"

*57 Call Trace. Requests that your local phone company make note of that incoming call and note the phone number it came from. How they provide that documentation varies. I believe in some places it will show up itemized on your next statement. In other places I think you have to call customer service and request a report.

*69 Return Call. Calls back the last person who called you. This can be blocked though, so it's not fool-proof.

*77 Annonymous Call Rejection. If the don't provide a number in Caller-ID then they can't call you.


If you call your local phone company and speak to a customer service rep they can almost certainly help you with other options.

I don't know how much help my cell company will be, their service isn't real impressive. I only have them because of a killer deal on long distance, since I burn up a pile of LD minutes.

:evilgrin:

Or, if she calls and is nasty again, tell her to back the fuck off or you're telling her husband she is harassing you since you broke up with her :D

Cell companies have to be able to provide a call detail for all calls, incoming and outgoing. If you note the times of the calls they should be able to tell you exactly what number that person called from.

Then, a simple complaint to your local police department is probably enough to get an order to find out who had that number.

Or, once you have the number that person is calling from, many phones will let you program exceptions, so you can block incoming calls from that number and never be bothered again.

If I have to do that, I think I'll be switching companies at the same time- that's how unhelpful they were.

:(
I work the corporate end, so I deal with different people that you had to. Obviously, I overestimated how well they treat their residential customers.

Your cell phone may be able to block the call. Many cell phones allow you to program how it responds to specific numbers. You can program a specific ring, or block it so that it doesn't accept the call at all.

that's it.

I had some freeper asshole call me (drunk of course) after I had an letter to the editor printed in the LA Times.

He must have sobered up, the next day he called back w/o blocking his phone number. He was a doctor. He must have written down my phone number and got mixed up and called to reach one of his patients. I had his number and blocked it.

http://whocalled.us/

Hec, it may be someone you know.

:shrug:

:shrug:

umm.. Lucy Smith, you got the wrong number. Stop calling me or you I may appear at your door with a can of wh00p ass.

:)

Cell phone, more than likely.

Just hang up and move on with your life. sheesh

She sounded like a goddamn nutcase.

It just seems like you are paying way to much attention to her. She is a lunatic but so is anyone who listens to her.

She talked really fast, like she was either flustered and angry, cranked up or both.

And only that long because I wanted to find out who the hell had called me several times with no message, in case it was legitimate business. Once it was clear it wasn't, I told her not to call me, that I don't know anybody by that name, and not to call back.

Seems to me though, that this sort of nonsense often leads to more calls, friends calling, etc, which is why I wanted to ask about how to deal if that happens.

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No, local number.

:spray:

:rofl:

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:rofl:

Run!

That happened to me once, only I was getting the calls on my land line.

This woman called and asked for whatever-his-name-was. I said there's no one here by that name, sorry, goodbye.

She called back. Told her the same thing.

Then she called AGAIN, and accused me of having an affair with her husband!

Me: "Ma'am, I can assure you there is NO ONE here by that name, and the only husband here is mine. Stop calling me!

Phone rings again; I ignore it.

Phone rings again; I ignore it again.

Phone rings yet AGAIN! This time, I unplugged it until the next morning.

Fortunately, she never called back.

I don't know if her husband was having an affair, but I know for certain that if he was, it sure wasn't with ME!

And USE IT when they call again.

When whoever it is loses the hearing in one ear they'll think twice before calling you again to lose the hearing in the other one.

and make it silent.

For years someone, or multiple people, thought my number was for a lawn/landscaping/bullshit service. I would get messages all the time about when to trim the bushes or cut the grass. A few times I even answered when they'd call. I'd explain that this was my number - they checked their number, which they'd dialed correctly, but just written down incorrectly. Then I'd get another voicemail a few weeks later. My favorite was a very angry message about how I hadn't plowed the driveway, which made this person's daughter late to work.

the number is listed on my caller id as "unavailable". When I answer the phone, I don't hear anyone. It annoys the hell out of me.

You really should just pay them,.

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A joke typically has, at a minimum, a set-up and a punchline, at least one of which is reasonably expected to be funny.

You've got the set-up, thanks to the OP, but no punchline to speak of, and in fact no part of what you posted is funny. Aside, perhaps, from the fact that you appear to think that it's funny.


So if your defense, following a rude post, is to claim that the reader "has no funny bone" or whatever, then perhaps it would behoove you to post something funny in the first place, so that your defense doesn't sound even more lame than the post that it's defending.


Just something to bear in mind as you regale us with your wit in future postings...


Welcome to DU, by the way!
:hi:

dick walks over to bush and says "I have some bad news, 3 brazillion troops have been killed" bush starts stammering and spitting and sputtering and finaly says "omg thats horrible" than he turns around and leans close to condi and whispers in her ear "how many is a brazillion"

(No offence ment to any people from brazil)

No one on DU has a greater fondness for the Brazillions joke than I, by the way.

Oh, wait--that's not dirty.

:shrug:

comment, it was not biggoted or hatefilled.

Me and my girlfriend used to joke back and forth about all the mortgage companies callin to get us to refinance. we would always say "well if you would pay your dam creditcard off the collection agency would stop calling"

Than it kind of turned into a standard response to any wrong number, I am sorry if its not well taken. I realize that its probably not very funny to some people.

Thinking more about it I am sure that it could even be taken as vulgar or mean spirited by somene who has or had credit problems and may be the recipient of those knd of calls.

I will never try to make light of bill collection calls again, thank you all for your concern and insight.

If the first bunch were all silent and the most recent was the one where you told her to piss off, it sounds like she was trying to get up the courage to say something on the earlier ones and once she did, you told her what she needed to hear.

One can hope, at least. Otherwise, reporting it to your phone company is the next step. The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse has some clever ideas:


http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs3-hrs2.htm

Nothing like saying "wei" to somebody (pronounced "way") and getting greeted by stunned silence.


of course, it didn't work so well when my wife's friends would then start rambling in Chinese.

Short of that, I'm not sure what to do...

..into the phone.

Remember to put ear plugs in first!

Very effective. :-)

I unscrewed the recorder and blew as hard as I could through the mouthpiece. It makes a noise as nasty as any police whistle.

They'll have the records of the calls to verify your complaint.

If that doesn't work, PM me the phone number and I'll see if Accurint can pick it up. With a name and an address, you can likely get some police assistance.

Tell her that if she calls back. That you have her name/address and are going to the police. That should stop it.

I've also called my boss and my Dad lately. Maybe one of them ran off and got hitched when I wasn't looking.

One of those really loud sports airhorns.

http://www.killsometime.com/video/video.asp?ID=164

edited to more complete version.

with, "Da boss don't like having a meetin' interrupted, and he's gonna send a couple of his boys around to have a little chat wit' whoever is responsible."

Read that in MAD magazine years ago.

I was getting a variety of wrong numbers from angry women asking for Marvin for a while. I've had this number for years, but it made me think Marvin was giving out a made up number to women he met - and he happened to make up mine.

Then don't. :evilgrin:

Thank you for calling the LeftyMom company. Here at LeftyMom, fielding your harassment call always interrupts our very busy schedule *beep*

Your call may be recorded for quality assurance, contract verification, or criminal complaint purposes *beep*

Our basic harassment call charge is $125 per minute or fraction of a minute for the first call. Charges are billed from the moment our phone rings. Subsequent calls may be billed at higher rates. Please feel free to search for further information about our fee structure on our website www.leftmom.com, now under construction. All fees are subject to change without notice *beep*

By remaining on the line, you fully and completely agree to all our terms of service, including but not limited to any charges and fees specified here or on our website. If you do not agree to our terms of service, please hang up and do not ever call us again *beep*

By continuing, you have agreed to pay all our fees and charges, including any agency or attorney fees necessary to collect should your account become delinquent. You also agree to reimburse any costs, including inconvenience costs, the LeftyMom company incurs, should it become necessary to prefer criminal charges against you *beep*

Our services are offered without any warranty, express or implied. You assume all risks associated with your use of our services. You further agree to indemnify and hold harmless the LeftyMom company for any untoward results from your continuing use of our services *beep*

In the event of any dispute with the LeftyMom company, you also agree that you will not initiate, continue, further, or otherwise participate in any litigation against the LeftyMom company but will instead to submit the dispute to arbitration using the services of Mr. F.L. Vegan, whose decision will be binding and final. You further agree to pay all charges and costs of Mr. Vegan's services. *beep*

To further assist you, we now need certain personal information in order to bill you. Remember to speak slowly and distinctly. Remember that your failure, to provide clear or accurate billing information can result in the addition of costly and unnecessary investigator fees to your account. Please state your name *beep*

To further assist you, we now need further personal information in order to bill you. Remember to speak slowly and distinctly. Remember that your failure, to provide clear or accurate billing information can result in the addition of costly and unnecessary investigator fees to your account. Please state your street address *beep*

To further assist you, we now need further personal information in order to bill you. Remember to speak slowly and distinctly. Remember that your failure, to provide clear or accurate billing information can result in the addition of costly and unnecessary investigator fees to your account. Please state your zipcode *beep*
'
To further assist you, we now need further personal information in order to bill you. Remember to speak slowly and distinctly. Remember that your failure, to provide clear or accurate billing information can result in the addition of costly and unnecessary investigator fees to your account. Please state your telephone number, beginning with the area code or country code *beep*

To further assist you, we now need further personal information in order to bill you. Remember to speak slowly and distinctly. Remember that your failure, to provide clear or accurate billing information can result in the addition of costly and unnecessary investigator fees to your account. Please state your sixteen digit credit card number *beep*

To further assist you, we now need further personal information in order to bill you. Remember to speak slowly and distinctly. Remember that your failure, to provide clear or accurate billing information can result in the addition of costly and unnecessary investigator fees to your account. Please state your mother's maiden name *beep*

Thank you for calling the LeftyMom company. Your basic charge for this harassment call will be $500 plus any applicable fees and taxes. Future calls will billed at higher rates. Good-bye!

(sotto voce) Did I keep her on the line long enough officer? *click*

The person who had my then phone number before me also shared my first name. Allegedly the other Jessica "stole" somebody's boyfriend so she kept calling me. After this had gone on for a little while I tried contacting the police and was told that they couldn't do anything without three specific verifiable threats. About a week after that she left a voice mail for me stating my address, giving a date and time she was going to come, and describe what she wanted to do to me. I forwarded the voice mail to the local police and let them know that even though this was only the first recorded threat I wanted to let them know because I planned on defending myself. They never gave me any of her contact info but they went to her place and the calls stopped. Funny how when my safety was in question they wouldn't get involved but when hers was they jumped to do something.

when we got a call from a company looking for vinyl siding jobs. He held the phone up to the computer speaker and let Mr. Rogers talk to the person.
For a while we were getting so many calls from boiler rooms I wish we had been able to play these phrases each time to leave the caller confused, and maybe they'd strike our number off of their list.
http://www.realmofdarkness.net/sounds/rogers/mrrogers-soundboard-1.htm

:rofl:

and do a custom ring for it (NONE).

Every time she calls from a new number, add it as an alternate number to the same contact.