DD 13 "haressing" phone call advice

[kcork1026]

Ok...I will try to keep brief, we are not sure what our next step is.

Sunday night 3 phone calls came in from same number within an hour (we have caller id) everytime we answered they hung up. I didn't think a whole lot of it.

Monday - we started getting calls from "unknown name, unknown number" and again they would hang up, except for one time when the "guy" (teenager) asked for my 13 year old daughter, and then hung up. We got about 15 calls, in a matter of 3 hours. We also got 3 calls from the number from Sun, I called and same voice that asked for my daughter answered, when I asked who he was and why was he calling he hung up. Our phone company is Vonage.

Tuesday - we got 4 calls all hang-ups. My husband after 2 days going around and around with Vonage was told they basically couldn't do anything, that maybe we should report to police.

Fast forward to today I just got 2 calls in 2 minutes.

If I call police can they do anything since it is techniccally not a "threatening" call? ANy suggestions other than changing phone number?

 

[malibuconlee]

Can you block calls from certain numbers?

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't there a feature (not sure if it's available with Vonage) where if it doesn't come up on caller ID the person calling has to give their name and you can decide to accept or decline the call?

I swear I've had to do that before when our cell wasn't showing up on a caller ID.

 

[Kirby]

Don't have any advice. We don't answer the phone here if the caller's name doesn't show up on the caller id or if we don't recognize the number. We feel that if they really want to talk to us, they will leave a message.

Does your daughter do chat rooms, myspace, xanga, etc? If so, you might check out her profile to see if she has any personal information on them. Or if she does chat rooms, she may have given out your number to someone that she thought was safe.

 

[Patch'sD]

I guess the best thing to do is to do a reverse look-up on the Phone Number. You may get the address of the offender. Next time they call read off the address, that may help. If you have a tape recorder, Record a shrill sound. When they call play the shrill sound at the phone so that they get an earfull. Or you can laugh at them in the phone. Answer the phone, Town Name Police Department, Sex Crimes Division.

 

[Puffy2]

If it were my kid, I'd contact a private detective for assistance and then I'd change my phone number and make it unlisted.

 

[dmslush]

Talk to your daughter and see if she knows who this person is. He may not be harassing her, but rather stalking her.

 

[Shutterbug]

Yep make a report to the police definetly.
And also use reverse look up on that phone number.

 

[disneymom3]

My sister has the thing where you have to say your name if your number doesn't show up and then she decides if she is accepting the call. We have also used the one where no unknown name ones are accepted. Doesn't Vonage offer any of these services? I realize that these are just basically putting a bandaid on the problem though.

I would def do the reverse look up. Then call your police dept and ask to speak to someone and just tell them what the situation is. They can then advise you of your best course of action.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Call your phone company, they can help you. We did call the police once for this but there was really nothing they can do.

We took care of it through the phone company.

 

[Poohnatic]

Two things here: (been there, done that)

1. Usually, when you have caller id, you've got Call Block and Anonymous Call Rejection bundled with it. Go to your phone companies website for instructions on how to use these services. It varies, Verizon in Maryland has different steps from Verizon in Florida, so I'm not sure if what I tell you would work.

2. Call trace is *57. Trace each and every call. Yes, there is a fee involved, but once you show more than a certain amount of calls in a short period of time (in my situation, I was told 5 in 48 hours), the police will handle it.

Suzanne

 

[momsgoofy]

Yep, call the police...they can do something about it I'm pretty sure. Also, in the meantime...start logging the calls...time, date, if you answered, the conversation, etc. Also, if you really wanna tick off the caller, do as someone else suggested...make a shrill sound into the phone. When I was 12, we kept getting those no talking calls so Dad gave me a metal coaches whistle and told me to blow that baby in the phone when the calls came in...worked great! Only remember to remove the receiver from your ear or it'll kill your hearing, too...trust me...learned the hard way...lol

 

[barkley]

had a friend who was getting obscene calls (seemed to be from some teens) so she took the caller i.d. number and waited until a time of day when the kids would not likely answer (like 5 a.m. when a parent would more likely answer the house phone) and advised them of the situation-said they could take this as a verbal warning that any repeat calls would be reported to the police as well as the phone company (harrassing phone calls are a basis on which to have your service terminated). worked like a charm (mom's who are awoken to have to deal with this type of situation are not happy campers).

i would leave the answering machine on and also keep a log of hang-ups. if it gets to be a greater nuisance the phone company can use the log to determine who the incoming calls were from (if a person does'nt have caller i.d.).

 

[PixieDust32]

Sorry about that.
Well, my phone has those features like caller ID and call blocker, and also call rejection from annonymus (sp?) calls, they have to press *67 when they call you so their number won't show, but if you have the call rejection (I cannot remember the number and you have to check with your phone company to see if you have them) just put the * and then the code number, then when someone call you annonymous, they will get the message that your phone won't accept the calls from them.

Good Luck.