Re: reporting the prank phone call
Posted by:
Call Trapper - John
()
Date: October 16, 2009 01:36AM
Take a Stand Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> yes , you can prove it.
>
> However the police should have handled it, and not
> pushed it off to you since there were threats
> given on the phone.
> You can call the phone company and ask for the
> Call Data Records for the whole month. CDR logs
> look a little different then your phone bill,
>
Alert: Hard economic times cause some telephone companies to revert to messy tactics, to draw income. (Example 1, some calls are being charged back to your phone that you have no knowledge about. Example 2, person or recording device, calls from South America is using a satellite phone through a 3rd party firm (but you cannot see the type of phone they are using) to call your number and ask you pointless questions about a movie, or leave word on your machine, claiming they work for Nelson rating agency or some other line, trying to chew up minutes. You get the bill a month later and it turns up $55 for nine minutes with charge-line note "Satellite phone" with strange-LLC-business-tail, or it is an obscure name of a company.)
For Prank call or suspected nuisance call:
Make a note on paper of the approximate time. When caller hangs up or is disconnected, wait for dial tone: dial *57 (for remembering: 5 is the middle key on touch tone pad plus 7, 5 down-diagonal 7, 57 Chevy)
*57 initiates a call trace on the number that has just phoned you, irregardless of where the call-originator resides or what type of phone they are using.
The phone company plays back a recording, when the number is captured, to tell you they got it, or did not. If they did, they want you to call back on a number they provide, during normal business hours. It is usually a 800 number, but they can charge you approximately $6.00 for the call-trace or capture. This is why you need to write down the time, so you can make reference if it happens a lot, and make note of the phone companies call back line for dealing with these matters.
The phone company claims they cannot release the information to you, when you call. They act like they have a role of protecting information of all paying customers, but if you persist, claiming you paid $6.00 or will be charged this amount, you should get something in exchange and that is the information. If you ask them to site the law, in such circumstances, they usually cannot, so it appears as a vague claim the telephone company is making, but is probably a good policy to not release the info to you, as someone above posted, you probably know the person, and if you will be patient, you can let the phone company deal with it, and just go on doing things you like.
The phone company can fax the info to a sheriff, and if sheriff decide to make disclosure to you, they can. So if you are serious, you may need to talk with your local law enforcement, for assistance, after you contact the phone company.
The phone company can tell you, if the call is coming from a legitimate business. Or if the call is coming from out of state. They can also tell you when they fax it to a sheriff, and what the name of that sheriff department is, so you do not get the run around in a large metro area.
The $6.oo is for clerical work and forwarding information to law enforcement if it is genuinely a problem. They play an important role, in trying to provide accurate information in an escalated situation, and getting it, to the proper authority, so that authority can make a visit, if they want to intervene.
- - - -
For other nuisance calls, from satellite phones or companies making claim for payment based on your phone number, you must follow through on this, and determine if someone in your house gave out your phone online and sniff it out. If you asked for a bill to paid to your phone, you have to fess up to this, as you may need this service later and you do not want to make things bad for yourself. You have to be honest. This is mainly for those things which make no sense to you or to someone in your family, like a senior parent or grandparent, or neighbor you may help out on occasion.
At one point, I could not figure out the source after some research and looking into 3 mystery charges I got one month. So called the phone company back to ask them about 3rd party or subsidiary businesses they have registered, or do business through. They refused to provide me with this information, and it put me in a quandary. I wrote a note on my next bill, making the request formal, for a transcript of my conversation with them, as I thought one of the representatives made mention of a subsidiary firm doing this, and protested the charge. The next month the charge was removed and they did not provide me with the transcript either.
The issue was handled in this way. During the phone conversation, I got the impression the phone company was double talking or providing some obscure, catch-22 type message, that would bind me to be obligated for the charge. I mentioned they had a duty to provide me with some protection from obscure devices like a satellite phone, or a company charging such amounts back to me, without me having knowledge of the expense. Normally when talking with a long distance operator, they will tell you the cost per minute, which is much lower than a satellite call per minute (making basic comparisons). Had I known I was on a satellite phone, I probably would have asked about the costs associated with a call and if the call was charged to me or to the one with the phone (which makes more sense if the one with the phone is paying their own bill).
Followed it up with a written note, make protest and requesting transcript of conversation, giving date and approximate time and with who at the phone company I talked with, employee id, etc.
Targets for telephone company mischief (acting through a third party subsidiary or business to make claims or charges to a phone customer): The elderly. The wealthy elderly. (People who are less likely to ask too many questions.) A neighbor who is getting up in years and may be struggling with short term memory or having trouble remembering everything to perfection. Someone who did not grow up with technology and is immediately put at odds if they do not understand it.
Precautions: When someone calls you(or your family member) with a survey, ask for a call back number. If they do not have a call back number, it is more possibly, the person believes they work for a call center (and can be deceived in their belief or a willing party if mischief is afoot) ... could be legit but chances increase of a fraud or charge back situation. You must be aware of this, chances increase if they cannot provide a call back number. Not conclusive, just should send your alert antenna up. Most legitimate businesses have a phone and you should be able to call them back. Get that number and then ask for a manager.
With manager on the phone you ask how they came by your number, and what the name of the business is, who provided them, your number. Then you ask what their call center is called, and what business owns it. Then you ask what company they are calling for and ask for address of that too. Chances are, the call center, the data-providing-company, and the company they are calling for, represent 3 different business entities. Any one can be a subsidiary of another company, including your phone company. After you collect as much information as you can, phone numbers and locations for the separate entities as well, Manager's name or employee id, her/his direct call back number, then you ask them to take you off their call-center data base, effective, immediately. Then you ask them how long it will take, to remove your number and name, because you do not want to be called the next night or the 3rd night and 7th night, etc. Again and again.
If you are not on a state's "NO call" list, you should ask your phone company about that, so that when you do get calls, it is usually from someone you know.
We did this several years back (got on a no-call-list) and have stopped using caller id to screen calls. We only need a phone machine, as anyone who has anything to say, leaves a message and if they dont talk with us directly, it prolly wasnt important and our phone is quiet now, which I love.
Also, since only our friends and family call 97 percent of the time (we pay our bills on time so do not get nuisance calls), you can imagine phone does not ring much and when those rare odd calls do come in, that we dont like, we can trace them and ZZZZZAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPP the caller like a bug in bright light.
Prank calls usually stop when the sheriff of your town makes a visit. No need to press the charge, unless you have had trouble with the party before.
Some people making prank calls are likely having a struggle and it indicates a lack of power, in their lives, and so you do not need to get over on them with criminal charges. Most sheriff realize this and the mere visit, is enough to de-escalate and resolve the phone issues. To bring peace of mind, it is important to have some compassion on a person who does not have power, in their lives, and to try to make peace if you have the opportunity later, without sheriff looking over shoulder or if it is a small town, make a peace offering so the sheriff can see their role as a peace-maker, and let it go to a good day of discovery and peacemaking plus, we will see what comes to pass... Kindness can cover a multitude of interpersonal mistakes.
If you really pissed someone off, and you know that you did, you need to make a better effort to fix things and not keep up the dishonest-front of they are harassing you, if you are the one, who made things bad for them and did so deliberately. People who maintain false accusations, do deserve to be followed by their own bad conscience and haunted by bad conscience, in every shadow they occupy. If it takes a few prank calls and whispers or coughs, to speak to your conscience, then maybe you should make things right and stop fooling yourself or giving pretense that someone is out to bug you for no reason at all.
That is plan b for prank calls: Make things right with others whom you suspect, and maybe your bad conscience will stop calling you on the phone and breathing or shouting, as a conscience can sometimes do in-audibly.
If the matter is your fault and you cannot make it right, then pressing charges through a sheriff could make for inflaming the situation. And if you just want it confirmed that the one is the one doing the calling, then look above for a message from the person who works for the phone company. Ask for that more detailed list of calls ... "You can call the phone company and ask for the Call Data Records for the whole month. CDR logs look a little different then your phone bill..."
That would be a different number than the one they give you for call-trace.