General Chat

I was getting prank calls all night last night! I cant turn my phone off cos i use it as my alarm clock, but from 1.30 this morning through till 4.00, i had someone ringing me and they were making moaning noises! It was sick! Obviosley it was a witheld number. I get them quite often, but i dont want to change my number, anyone know what i can do? xxx

Some phone suppliers offer you the option of barring Witheld numbers - I know Telewest do. But of course that's not much help if you have anyone - family/friends - who have their number witheld....... Report it to your supplier, they may have some way of tracking it even tho it comes thru to you as witheld. It's miserable tho isnt it?? and always a worry when the phone rings in the small hours. Last resort - buy a VERY LOUD WHISTLE - and blow it down the phone next time - their ears will be ringing for so long they wont bother you again LOLOL!!! Good luck PS. I also believe that you can get your supplier to screen all your calls before they connect to you.

Steedie we had a spat of these one weekend in the end we just left the phone under a cushion downstairs without hanging up and left it like that the following day all day ............ they either had a very heavy phone bill and/or no use of their phone at all till we replaced our phone back LOL A loud noise ( whistle or horn etc ) down the phone may get rid of them too. however if it continues call the police. Wish you well with this most annoying issue. Debi

That's horrible for you. I know you can report this sort of abuse to BT but don't know about other networks. Do you think it's someone you know?-

Have a word with BT. They may be able to put some sort of trace on it, though they will probably suggest a new number. Either put the phone straight down or keep a whistle by the bed and blow it hard when they ring.They are looking for a reaction, so other than possibly the whistle, ignore them and don't give them the satisfaction. Hopefully, whoever it is will get bored soon. Chrissie Blimey - when I started to type this there were no replies - haven't read them yet but apologise if I've duplicated anything!!

yeah it probably is someone i know, a couple of weeks back they told me what i was wearing! My mobile is on the 3 network, ive tried calling them, but there call centre is in India and they dont know what im talking about! xx

If its a mobile,put it on call divert.... Anna :-)

Yes the whistle is a good idea, but i havent told anyone im getting them cos they will just worry (i used to get them all the time and it turned out quite nasty!) so i cant really start blowing whistles cos people will go mad! lol xxx

yep i think your right Dawn...was creepy when i they knew what i was wearing! so i might look into it! xx

How about one of those silent dog whistles Steedie. No one else would hear it but I bet your caller would LOL Chrissie

Whats that Chrissie, ive never heard of that??? xxx

Apparently you can get whistles that sound silent and only a dogs ears can pick it up !!

lol ! x

Steedie.... start logging them and then report it to the police!! It's too personal to be just a prank call!!

Steedie - if it's calls to your mobile report it to the Police - it is definitely a 'prosecutable' offence - I used to work for a magistrates court and I have seen proof of people being done for it.

Dawn, wow! Thank you so much! im gonna print this off now and hang on to it! xxxx

Steedie, a couple of years ago I had nasty phone calls. They started on the 1st Friday of the month and were repeated on the 3rd Friday of the month. The line would be quite for a while and then there would be this horrible laughing. These people withheld their number, but BT can trace them and they did!. BT said they took action against them, and it never happened again. Get onto your phone provider, I know from experience this is very frightening. Good luck Christine

i just phoned up my network...and they said they couldnt do anything about it! (the centre is in India!) x

I had prank calls for a while, the only way to get it sorted is to report this to the police - although your phone company aren't helping you, all companies should have a department that deals with this sort of thing, and often they have a police liaison phone number, not available to the general public. If they are telling you they can't trace the calls, this is untrue - a call made to a mobile can be traced "historically" ie after the call has been made. Malicious calls made to a mobile are actually a lot easier to deal with from a police point of view than those to a landline, because of this fact. Contrary to what others have said on this thread, you DON'T need to speak to your phone company first, you can go straight to the police and they will take a crime report from you, and hopefully help with dealing with your phone provider. The police will have to take a crime report from you, as you are making an allegation of crime, which is ultimately what these prank phone calls are.

contact BT nuisance calls bureau - the put a trace on your phone - trust me - been there done that and got the t-shirt - when they have enough info - they pass it on to the police - I know this - I had it for over 2 years - even if they with hold their number with a code you are given by BT they can still trace it. Our calls werent just prank calls - they were downright evil - one even pretended to be my mother - as she was dying. the number for BT Nuisance Calls Bureau is 0800 411 422