Malicious calls

muincav

Hi all,
Im not sure if this is the correct place for this but here goes -
My 12 year old has been getting really nasty messages left on her Vodafone voicemail and getting a lot of malicious calls too.These calls have been after midnight in some cases and I plan to inform the Gardai today.One of the voicemails has even threatened the childs life and I think it is because the child is quite a shy child.
My question is does anyone know of any other way of finding a trace on blocked numbers for calls or voicemail?My child is really really upset by all this.I am going to change the phone number but I am going to put the SIM into an other phone as I really want to find out who is doing this.I havent slept in 2 nights worrying of the effect this having on my child and I would be grateful for any help.
Thanks in advance.

BrianD

I'd imagine that it's a pretty terrifying experience for both you and your child. Firstly, there are a lot of people that believe that electronic communications such as mobile, e-mail, bebo, facebook and so on are on untraceable. Wrong! Though the more sophisticated user can make tracing difficult. People think prepaid phones are anonymous but credit has to be bought and if bought on a card can be traced or if for cash it's quite likely the person did so in front of a CCTV camera. Unfortunately, for the ordinary person it it near impossible to "unblock" numbers.

I would recommend that firstly, you contact your phone operator and make a formal complaint. Following, this make a formal complaint to the Gardai. This demonstrates that your intent is serious and that your operator has to take the relevant action to assist the Gardai. Keep a diary of the calls. If you change your childs number and the malicious calls "follow" immediately you can be almost sure that the person is close in social circles.

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

hickory

Three has the following software for protecting against this in the future http://www.three.ie/company/bulling-malicious-communications.htm . Think it only works with certain phones though

O2 site details of how to deal with it http://www.o2online.ie/wps/wcm/connect/O2/About+O2/Child+Protection/Prevent+bullying

Vodafone's advice http://www.vodafone.ie/aboutus/code/carepolicies/bullying/

Meteor http://www.meteor.ie/bbtg/payg/safe_surf/guide_to_internet_safety_for_young_people/cyberbullying/

smokie2008

Hey there,
My girlfriend was getting those type of calls and it went on for weeks, but they were not nasty like you describe it was more silent and dirty calls. What we had to do was go to the guards and sign a form to allow a trace to be put on my girlfriends phone and then write down the exact time of the calls or voice mails and bring them up to the station, they were then able to get the number even though the person was calling from a private number, they then traced the call to a cell in mountjoy prison, it was a mutual friends boyfrind who had gone to prison.
Hope this helps!!!

Head The Wall

Use this service, it should reveal the numbers. It will cost you though

http://www.privatenumbers.ie/

steph1

I had been getting nuisance calls on an 02 phone most of last year and it was always a private number that came up. I asked 02 what to do and they told me that they could not give me the number but if I went to the Gardai they could put a trace on it. The calls eventually stopped and now I just simply dont answer any private numbers.
Thats a terrible thing to do to a child. I hope you can get this sorted for peace of mind.

Our man in Havana

Head The Wall wrote: »

Use this service, it should reveal the numbers. It will cost you though

http://www.privatenumbers.ie/

Is it legal?

amen

i would be more interested in how it works
it was my understanding that the network blocks the calling number from going to called number so I don't know how this works

C.D.

Head The Wall wrote: »

Use this service, it should reveal the numbers. It will cost you though

http://www.privatenumbers.ie/

Interesting service, from inspecting the website, you reject a private number, it gets diverted and you receive an SMS later with the number. I know that when I am abroad and I answer a call from a private number, my bill will show the number and charge me accordingly. I'm sure this could be checked online (call history). I wonder if this is how that service works?

Typical Irish bureaucratic ineptitude that if it works it is much simpler to pay somebody to find a workaround than rely on what passes as legislation/data protection/law enforcement in this country.

muincav

smokie2008 wrote: »

Hey there,
My girlfriend was getting those type of calls and it went on for weeks, but they were not nasty like you describe it was more silent and dirty calls. What we had to do was go to the guards and sign a form to allow a trace to be put on my girlfriends phone and then write down the exact time of the calls or voice mails and bring them up to the station, they were then able to get the number even though the person was calling from a private number, they then traced the call to a cell in mountjoy prison, it was a mutual friends boyfrind who had gone to prison.
Hope this helps!!!

First of all thank you all for your help and replies.I have done what most would say is the sensible thing and handed the matter over to the Gardai with the form mentioned by smokie2008 above.The Garda has said it can be quite slow but that they take this so serious now that most larger stations have a Garda assigned to handle these cases.
I would just like to say thanks again and that I will let you all know if we get it sorted so I can post it here so it does not happen to anyone else.

Thanks again

BrianD

C.D. wrote: »

Interesting service, from inspecting the website, you reject a private number, it gets diverted and you receive an SMS later with the number. I know that when I am abroad and I answer a call from a private number, my bill will show the number and charge me accordingly. I'm sure this could be checked online (call history). I wonder if this is how that service works?

Having read the blurb and looked at the demo, I wonder does this service amount to anything more than a voicemail service that says "I don't accept calls from withheld numbers - please ring me with Caller ID displayed or enter your number"? It doesn't seem that they are able to determine the number without the caller revealing it to them. A malicious caller won;t reveal the number but will probably get fed up after a while.

It is interesting what you say about roaming. Are you sure that the number is always displayed on the bill (I thought they had some generic text to cover these private numbers on your bill while roaming)? If it is, it is a good way to identify these callers ... send the SIM card on a holiday to a relative in Northern Ireland or abroad!

Typical Irish bureaucratic ineptitude that if it works it is much simpler to pay somebody to find a workaround than rely on what passes as legislation/data protection/law enforcement in this country.

Well there is a process that you can follow that allows the caller to be revealed. Caller ID is something that we have all got used to as a convenient facility. It wasn;t always available and there's no requirement for anybody to use it. The operators are right to withold it. There are plenty of perfectly good reason why you might want to 'hide' your number that are not malicious or illegal.

C.D.

BrianD wrote: »

It is interesting what you say about roaming. Are you sure that the number is always displayed on the bill (I thought they had some generic text to cover these private numbers on your bill while roaming)? If it is, it is a good way to identify these callers ... send the SIM card on a holiday to a relative in Northern Ireland or abroad!



Well there is a process that you can follow that allows the caller to be revealed. Caller ID is something that we have all got used to as a convenient facility. It wasn;t always available and there's no requirement for anybody to use it. The operators are right to withold it. There are plenty of perfectly good reason why you might want to 'hide' your number that are not malicious or illegal.

It has been a few years, but when I was over in London I remember getting my bill and seeing my Dad's number on it (he called me to check in etc) and he always, always uses private number.

I have no doubt that the operators are right not to hand it out here, there and everywhere, but my experience (underage sister) of trying to get it when a child is clearly being harassed is crazy. Even when the networks have call logs and voicemails showing harassment, they can do nothing. Shuffling around paperwork as usual in this country to get something done.

the_syco

Bond-007 wrote: »

Is it legal?

I doubt it. Pretty sure there's a law against it. Saying that, I wish I had it last year. Would have been useful...

BrianD wrote: »

Having read the blurb and looked at the demo, I wonder does this service amount to anything more than a voicemail service that says "I don't accept calls from withheld numbers - please ring me with Caller ID displayed or enter your number"? It doesn't seem that they are able to determine the number without the caller revealing it to them. A malicious caller won;t reveal the number but will probably get fed up after a while.

In the US, the call gets transferred to a free-phone number, and the "private number" becomes an actual number. Also, in the US, it would then go back to your phone, and you could then answer it. There was also an option for every call after a few rings, that this would automatically happen: the caller would just hear ringing. Extra options were for the call to be recorded, and even transcribed for you.

It was only a matter of time before the service was offered here, but as the law here will protect the privacy of the caller, even they are being malicious, means that the service is most likely illegal.

kandykain

Muincav - I am very sorry to hear of what your daughter is going though. I know it is a very distressing experience and I hope that it gets resolved quickly.

Quote:
My girlfriend was getting those type of calls and it went on for weeks, but they were not nasty like you describe it was more silent and dirty calls. What we had to do was go to the guards and sign a form to allow a trace to be put on my girlfriends phone and then write down the exact time of the calls or voice mails and bring them up to the station, they were then able to get the number

Smokie 2008 - I wonder if you know how long the trace was on your girlfriends phone before the situation was resolved? I have a similar situation that has been going on for almost a year now and the guardai have been logging my phone for 7 months. Im still no closer to finding out who is calling! Its VERY frustrating

globemaster1986

C.D. wrote: »

It has been a few years, but when I was over in London I remember getting my bill and seeing my Dad's number on it (he called me to check in etc) and he always, always uses private number.

I have no doubt that the operators are right not to hand it out here, there and everywhere, but my experience (underage sister) of trying to get it when a child is clearly being harassed is crazy. Even when the networks have call logs and voicemails showing harassment, they can do nothing. Shuffling around paperwork as usual in this country to get something done.

Its not because the networks are being awkward or beaureaucratic as you say. Due to Data Protection Legislation they cannot give out this infor if the caller has witheld their number!

smokie2008

Hey,
As far as I remember it only took about maybe 4-5 weeks tops.