prank call

7/29/2019 Prank Call

1/6

Prank Call


2/6

THE CASE:

You're sound asleep on a weekend night and

enjoying your first chance in days to get a good

night's sleep, then the shrill ringing of the phone

wakes you up in a panic. Still shaken, you put thereceiver to your ear, only to discover the call was a

prank. Angrily, you slam down the phone and try to

go back to sleep while you tell yourself that you'll

find a way to stop prank callers from harassing youagain.


3/6

A prank call, also known as a crankcall, is a form ofpractical joke committed over

the telephone. As with all practical jokes,

prank calls are generally done for humorous

effect. Prank phone calls began to gain an

America-wide following over a period of many

years, as they gradually became a staple of

the obscure and amusing cassette tapestraded amongst musicians, soundengineers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Practical_jokehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephonehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassette_tapehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musicianhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soundhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soundhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musicianhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassette_tapehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassette_tapehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassette_tapehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephonehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Practical_jokehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Practical_jokehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Practical_joke


4/6

Legality

Prank calls range from annoying hang-ups to false

calls to emergency services orbomb threats. Prank callsthat waste the time of emergency services are a criminal

offense in most countries and is considered telephone

harassment in the US. In the United States, the

Telecommunications Act of 1996 makes some prankcalls a felony with penalties of up to two years in prison,

and possible fines (depending on severity). However,

such penalties are rarely carried out. Moreover, to make

a prank call that falls afoul of the Telecommunications

Act, 47 U.S.C. the call must be done with the intent to

"annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass". If the intent of the

call is to amuse, confuse, or simply to engage the call's

recipient, it would be possible to argue there is no

violation of the Telecommunications Act
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_serviceshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bomb_threathttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_offensehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_offensehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Stateshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_Act_of_1996http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felonyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_47_of_the_United_States_Codehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_47_of_the_United_States_Codehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_47_of_the_United_States_Codehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_47_of_the_United_States_Codehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_47_of_the_United_States_Codehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_47_of_the_United_States_Codehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_47_of_the_United_States_Codehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_47_of_the_United_States_Codehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_47_of_the_United_States_Codehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felonyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_Act_of_1996http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_Act_of_1996http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_Act_of_1996http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_Act_of_1996http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_Act_of_1996http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_Act_of_1996http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_Act_of_1996http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Stateshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Stateshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Stateshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_offensehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_offensehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_offensehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bomb_threathttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bomb_threathttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bomb_threathttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_serviceshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_serviceshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_services


5/6

How to stop prank callers has been an ongoing battle

in telecommunications for quit some time. Now that cell

phone have become so predominant it can also come in theform of text and media messages too expanding the ways

those annoying hoodlums and unscrupulous marketers can

harass you at 4AM in the morning when you just want to

sleep! There are some things you should know about prank

callers that you should know however that might give you

the edge against them.


6/6

1. Prank Calls are not Legal!

It may be that a few idiot teenagers with nothing better to do with their timeare not worth getting angry about but all the same what they are doing is illegal!

If this prank calling becomes more than just idiocy and borders on harassment

and even threats then you are well within your rights to contact the law to bring

and end to it and even press charges against them as these actions are morally

and legally WRONG!

2. You can Track Prank Callers

There is a catch involving the law in these matters however. You usually must

have some evidence and names for the police to contact and investigate but

going through the phone companies to get the details of who called you last canbe tedious and sometimes they may even refuse to release those details!

Finding out how to stop prank callers might end here except that there is another

option open to you that has helped many people get their peace and quiet back

and this is to use a reverse phone lookup.

prank call

Documents