Someone keeps calling our number, how do I make them stop?

Call the phone company and report it AS harassment. For all you know, it IS. Explain the situation to the phone company – maybe they’ve heard of the problem before. Let the phone company figure out why the other party thinks you’re calling them. In the meantime, officially COVER YOURSELF.

Could there be anyone at your house who is actually pranking this number? Maybe it’s a toddler or even an older child. Have you ruled out all possibility that this person is correct?

Do you have caller ID? If so, don’t answer their calls. Call your service provider and ask them to check it out for you. If they have no record of any calls from your number to the unknown person’s, tell them you are being harrassed and ask them to trace the calls so you prosecute. Then, the next time you get a call from this person let them know that they are mistaken, and if the calls don’t stop you will bring charges against them.

@bodyhead—It’s at work and I know neither the person who uses the office nor I have called this person more than once. At first we assumed we’d mis-dialed a number, but they’ve called more than once saying we keep calling. It could be someone on the maintenance staff, we have no way of knowing.

@scamp—the caller ID might work now that I’ve written down their number.

If it’s someone on the maintenance staff, or ANY employee, your BOSS is responsible for finding out and doing something about it. So then it just MIGHT be the other party getting harassed? Sometimes people “telephone harass” FROM work for a friend or relative thinking that doing it that way will never get found out. I would put it in the boss’s lap.

It’s too bad you’re at work when this is happening. If this was a home number… there are all sorts of creative things you can do.

about 7 years ago, I got a new cell phone. From day one, I started getting calls from a very old man speaking Hindi. I’m talking 20–30 times a day. He was always saying the same thing, and he obviously understood not a single word of English because no matter how many times I said “WRONG NUMBER! STOP CALLING!” As soon as I hung up, he’d call back. Finally one day when he called, I picked the phone up and just screamed as loud as I possibly could. I did this for the next three calls. He never called me again.

Why do I think it was NOT an old man but a crank caller pretending to BE an old man?

@Mr_M: I thought that at first. But nobody had my number yet, it started so early after I bought it. Whoever they were pranking, it would’ve been the last person who had my number. Also, this prankster must’ve had a lot of time on his hands, because I never got any less than 20 phone calls every single day without fail for well over a month. I find it hard to swallow that a prank caller would use that kind of energy and time on just one person. Also, the voice on the other end never laughed, never chuckled, never cracked from trying not to laugh… and there was never any background noise. When I would call the number back, I dialed *67 first to block my number from caller ID and the person who answered used the same voice and was speaking what I assumed to also be Hindi. And I always called the number hours after the last call was received, so if it was a prank, they wouldn’t suspect it was me trying to call back.

You can press *69 and it will tell you the number of the last caller. Then call the police and give them the number.

Or simply tap the line. Put a recording device on the line that will record whenever it is activated. I believe you can buy them at radio shack. If someone is pranking from your work line, then you will catch them.