See my post above. *57
Sorry… I must have not read your post Loach.
So now I’m getting texts from a new number. This person knows where I live. Not that I care… If someone were out to get me, they wouldn’t warn me about it. I went to the cops again, and came back to me saying they can’t do anything with the new number.
I chose now to prosecute, an option I refused last time. What really bothers me is that I don’t know who it is. I’m afraid I never will. The curiosity is killing me. The cops were very nice about it. In fact, they got back to me the very next day. Unfortunately, there’s not a thing they can do, so…
I joked with the officer that this might be karma, as I’ve been known to prank call people when I was younger. But I never threatend anyone.
To say the least I’m very frustrated. I’m sick of dealing with this.
Sucks…the only way to stop it sounds like to get a new number yourself. What a pain.
Thanks Omar.
I think I’ll block this new number first, then see what happens. If the person’s so desperate to get in touch with me again, maybe they’ll slip up and call me on a number I can get traced.
That really sucks. You wouldn’t think a prankster would be so tenacious. Good luck and keep us updated.
Get a new number - give your number to only select individuals - make sure it stays unlisted.
If the calls continue - you;ve just identified the most likely suspects.
Them knowing where you live is interesting - was it specific or general?
Ugh, but changing your number is so horrible. I’ve had the same number for about 10 years. It’s traveled to four different cities with me. How can it be changed after so long? Maybe Foot isn’t as attached to his number as I am, but in any case, changing your number is more work than blocking. I say block for now, and if it gets really out on control, then maybe taking the horrible leap is a good idea.
Yes, I agree MOL. Thanks to all. It helps to rant about it.
peace of mind is worth alot - I’ve had the same number (and email address) for 14 or more years - I would hate to change it (memory is bad, remember a new number? reall?) - but if I were getting threatening calls and now texts taht I could not stop - thats the easy way to do it -
If nothing else - ‘retire’ that number for a period of time - to see if the threats follow to the new number - the whole point is to ferret out the killer and make him act in haste… err… to find out who is watching you when you … errr… to find the pranksters.
I know Verizon at least lets you suspend your phone service for up to 6 months w/o losing your #; so suspend it, get a pay as you go number to give out sparingly and perhaps the jerk will reveal itself.
I can’t just get a new number and say; “Ah, I didn’t give my number to you, you must be the killer!”
This could be ANYONE, because I don’t know anyone who would do this. Everyone’s a suspect.
You could buy a bunch of $10 prepaid cell phones. Make lists of people:
- Family
- Work
- Known Assholes
- Friends
If any of the lists are too big, make sublists, so you have Work:Department or Friends:A-H, etc.
Do this over the weekend, so you can sit at home and watch your new numbers without everyone knowing you have a sack full of burner phones. Wait for developments and narrow things down from there.
You might also talk to a lawyer about contacting Google’s legal department about the harassment via Google Voice. I would be shocked if Google doesn’t know the creep’s address, favorite color, Mother’s maiden name, most recent five Visa purchases and the last thing he watched on youtube. The trick is getting them to cough up the info. It might be worth a few hundred bucks to chat up a lawyer about it.
Three anecdotes that may or may not be relevant or useful here:
-
When I was in college, working for a fitness company’s headquarters, we fired a salesman for sexual harassment. He went a little crazy after that and started sending harassing phone calls, faxes, and even voice-mails after business hours. We told the phone company (AT &T was the only land-line provider at the time) and they were obligated (by some law or internal rule) to change our office phone and fax numbers for free. I don’t know if service providers are still required to do that any more.
-
When I was in Grad school and in charge of one of the dorms, one of our residents got a call on her voice-mail. It was a super-deep voice that said, “I know where you live. I’m going to kill you.” Campus police was called, they recorded the message on a little tape-recorder, then left. Nobody else in my dorm got calls like that.
Weeks later, an article came out in the campus newspaper: Prank Callers Face Felony Charges.
Apparently, a couple kids got their hands on some memory chips and upgraded their synthesizer (one was a music major). Then they recorded a voice. They they’d call numbers and play back their recorded ‘sound emulation’ using low notes on the keyboard. Ha-ha! Funny little prank.
Except it wasn’t. Since they were calling dorm rooms, the voice-mails included time stamps. Since they were calling from a dorm room, the calls had time stamps. The campus police correlated several calls and complaints and narrowed them down to a single room.
But it was just a prank!
No. Since the message was threatening, it was assault. Since it was conveyed over ‘the wires’ (telephony/telegraphy, etc.) it was a felony.
I believe the university settled for confiscating the synthesizer and putting the kids on probation until they graduated. Since they were Freshmen, that was a long time to be on probation.
3) When I left Grad school I stayed with my mother again for a short while. She started getting obscene calls in the middle of the night. I told her to have the police deal with it; the police said they had to catch the caller in the act and they weren’t going to put someone on our couch for a week to try and intercept the calls.
A couple nights later, my mother woke me up and told me the guy was on the phone again, whispering sick stuff. I went and picked up the hand-set (it was an ancient “Princess phone” remember those?) and listened for a few seconds, then mustered up my deepest authoritative-sounding voice and announced, “This is Lieutenant Frank Stone of the San–”
Whoever it was hung up at that point. He never called back again.
—G!
Oh! (Oh!)
Telephone Line
Give me some time
I’m living in twilight.
. --Jeff Lynne (ELO)
. Telephone Line
. A New World Record
Do you know what happens if you impersonate a police officer?
Heh.
I had my friend pick up one of the calls. The killer just hung up. He later tried calling on his phone when the calls turned to texts… the person didn’t pick up.
Why don’t you give us the number he’s texting from and we can bomb him back from phones all over the world.
I was thinking about that too, post it here, on Facebook, write it on bathroom stalls…
Haha, the cops told me not to reply. So I’m sticking with that.
Are you sure, absolutely sure, that the calls are not originating from somewhere in your house?