I got a phone call on my cell this morning from a guy who sounded out of breath, and there were lots of sirens in the background. He asked for an unfamiliar female name, and when I told him he had the wrong number he said “shit!” and hung up. He didn’t seem to be in a hurry.
Over the course of the day, I got several more phone calls from this guy. Each time he was surprised when I said he had the wrong number. He always asks “what’s up? It’s Ricky…”
Tonight he called and I had my BF answer. “Ricky” asked for “the young lady who’s phone this is”. BF handed me the phone and I answered (he didn’t know the situation) and I told Ricky, “Look, whatever you are doing isn’t working. This is not the right number.” He hung up.
But I’m kind of worried. I know someone with a shady past has owned my phone number before, and I’ve gotten lots of mysterious calls, but the frequency of this is sending off warning bells. I’m pretty sure nobody is checking out my house because a large inviting Amazon package sat untouched at my doorstep all day, I can easily see if anyone is in the front of my house, and frankly my apartments have had so many burglaries recently that it’s pretty clear that it’s not a place that requires sophisticated surveillance techniques.
I’m thinking your best bet is to don ninja gear and kill everyone. Just to be on the safe side. Then sell your story to Hollywood.
In all seriousness, my advice is to call the cops and let them know what’s been happening with this guy calling you. I hope they would have some ideas as to how to track the guy down and get him off your back.
Well, obviously it’s your future son from another timeline, trying desparately to contact you and warn you about the horrible events that will end civilization as we know it in the next 20 years.
My sister got some similar calls once. Eventually one of her friends who had been told the situation answered the phone with “LocalTown Police Station. Can I help you?”
The calls stopped. Worth a shot?
Although yours is a cell number, which makes it less believable. But the guy may still get a scare.
Looking at my cell phone, it looks like each of the calls was from a different number.
I seriously doubt the Oakland police are going to be at all interested in a few wrong-number phone calls.
I’m not worried, but I do know suspicious behavior can sometimes follow a pretty obvious pattern, and was wondering if this particular pattern rings a bell to anyone. The whole “young lady who owns this phone” thing was pretty off-putting, although he may have been looking for the “young lady” who he was trying to reach in the first place.
Well, I guess we’ll see what happens. Maybe this will clear up by once every few months I get a message that has a robotic voice counting down numbers in Spanish…
The police may not do anything about it right now (they might but assume they won’t) but at least it estabishes a police record of this. Should the calls continue and the record grows the police will be more likely to do something sooner than if you wait and start the paper trail somewhere down the road.
I would also make a list of all numbers he has phoned from before they drop off your cell phone. The numbers may be useless but you never know.
Pretty much every time I get a new new phone, I get wrong number calls for a few months.
When they continue, asking for the same person and/or FROM the same person, I tend to get a little testy.
“NO! THERE IS NO FUCKING MONICA HERE!!! STOP CALLING ME YOU FUCKING CUNT” usually does the trick.
Ask him what number he thinks he’s dialing, including area code. Ask him where he got the number. You might have the same number as someone else in a different area code, or the wrong number might be published in a school directory, or inhouse company directory, or whatever. I’ve had this happen to me. And do keep track of the numbers he’s dialing from, and the times he’s called.
Don’t forget, too, that it’s a cell phone and unless this person has alot of hookups at your cell carrier’s HQ, they aren’t quite likely to get your home address.
I’m rather lucky . . . very few people call my cell phone. If a call comes in with a number I don’t recognize, I just don’t answer.
If it’s actually someone trying to reach me, then they’ll get my voicemail and leave a message.
If they’re trying to reach someone else, experience teaches that they will call back about eight times, until eventually they call me when I have nothing better to do than answer the phone, and say crossly, “No, you can’t speak to Keisha. I don’t know anyone named Keisha.[sup]*[/sup] All those times that you got my voicemail, and it said leave a message for Podkayne Fries, did it ever occur to you that this isn’t Keisha’s number? Hmmmm? No? STOP CALLING THIS NUMBER, you idiot.”
[sup]*[/sup] Obviously, that’s as much as I say. Everything after the asterisk is just a stupid fantasy of mine.
Punch one of the buttons so that it makes a couple of beeping sounds and say, “Officer, this is one of the calls that I’ve reported. I’m following your instructions.” Then hang up. Do something similar every time he calls – if he ever does again.
WAG: Some chick gave this guy a fake number when he wouldn’t stop bugging her for it. He’s hoping she’ll pick up the phone and isn’t getting the fucking clue that she gave him a bad number.
Most areas have *57 which initiates a trace, it bypasses *69 and logs the call with the phone company, you call back the next day and they ask if you would like to press charges or something like that. Check with your carrier and see if they have that. I found out my “she who I thought was my best friend” had some sort of lesbian dream fetish about me which manifested itself in daily single ring, hang up calls at 9:30 am. It took me a couple of months to finally do something about it because it happened 15 min before my alarm went off and I used it as a pretty reliable snooze button.
It may just be some freak who dialed the number wrong once and said “hey, she sounds cute, I’ll keep calling.” in which case I would recommend keeping the calls short and curt, oh, and get a whistle, those things will kill your ears. If he is calling from different numbers, he’s doing it on purpose. The call asking for the girl is what makes me think he’s just getting off on calling you. I have had wrong numbers try to ask me out, it’s pretty weird.
Log the calls on your end, the duration and the number they are calling from. Make sure you call your provider and see if they have something similar to *57. With all the directories around, he could easily have your address. Also, if you recognize the number, if there is a male friend around, have him answer. Even if it doesn’t phase him, it let’s him know there is someone else besides you, who probably doesn’t look quite as cute in a g-string as he probably imagines you do.
“You have reached a number that is currently under surveillance,” she said, pitching her voice low and mean. “Under FCC regulations and state and federal wiretapping and recording guidelines, I am required to inform you that all calls to this number are being recorded, and will be admissible as evidence in police procedures and in a court of law. Leaving a message implies informed consent. If you still wish to leave a message, do so after the beep.”
from Hollyt Lisle’s book Sympathy for the Devil [available for free at baen webscriptions.net]
