26th April 2019
Malicious Telephone Calls
Malicious calls can be offensive, threatening or annoying. According to the Ofcom website "Malicious, abusive or threatening calls, whether from people you know or from strangers, are a criminal offence."
Some malicious callers may have dialled your number at random, others may know you. It doesn't matter why they have called you just remember you are in control. You can take these few simple steps whenever you answer the phone.
Keep calm
Try and keep calm and don't show any emotion. Most malicious callers enjoy getting an emotional response from the person they are calling.
Don't give out your number
Never give any personal information about yourself unless of course you know the caller. This will help prevent random callers from calling again.
Tips:
- When you answer your phone just say "hello" don't give your name or number.
- If you have an answerphone don't put your name and number in the opening message.
- If a caller asks "What number is this?" respond by saying "What number were you calling?" and then confirm if its the correct number or not.
- If a caller asks "Who am i speaking too?" respond by saying "Who were you calling?" and then confirm if they have the correct number for that person or if you have never heard of them.
Don't talk to malicious callers
- If, after following the above steps the phone rings again, don't say anything when you answer it. A genuine caller will speak first. A malicious caller will likely hang up.
- A malicious caller may want nothing more than to have a conversation, so calmly just put the phone handset down and walk away for a few minutes before returning and then replacing the handset/hang up the call.
- You could also unplug your phone/switch it off for a while.
Remember: Malicious callers use the phone to hide behind, because they would mostly be too afraid to say these things to your face.
General answerphone message advice
- Your answerphone message should never say that you our out, on holiday or away on business - just simply "I can't take your call at the moment, please leave a message and I will get back to you".
What should I do if the person makes a threat?
- If the person makes a direct threat to you or your family and you believe that threat is real and you are in immediate danger you should contact the police immediately on 999.
- If you think that you are not in immediate danger from the threat you should contact your local police station by calling 101 from your mobile or landline.
How can I stop malicious phone calls?
- Report it.
- Talk to your phone company.
- Consider call blocking services .