Malicious Calls

You should never feel that a problem such as this is yours alone to solve. Contact your service provider and police telephone liaison officer at your District Police Office. 

Here is some general advice to help you:

• Try to keep calm, after all most callers seem to get pleasure from the distress that they are causing you, so by keeping calm you may put them off calling again.
• When you answer the phone, just say, "Hello." Never give out your name or telephone number to anyone who isn't known to you. In fact, don't give any information about yourself unless you are sure you know the identity of the caller. This can deter anyone who has just picked your number at random or who has just dialled any number into their handset.
• Let the person calling identify themselves first and remember, a genuine caller won't have to ask who you are!
• If you have an answering machine, make sure that you do not include your name or telephone number in the answer message. Better still, get a friend to record the message for you and bear in mind that many callers are put off by a male voice answering.
• If a caller asks to confirm the number, ask them which number they wanted, and then tell them whether they are right or wrong. Remember to tell anyone who uses your mobile phone to do the same.
• Some callers just want to talk. They are often more of a nuisance than distressing, but repeated calls can soon become distressing. Don't do anything to encourage them, put the handset down calmly and leave it for a few minutes before ending the call. Such callers will often be deterred when they realise they are wasting their money.
• Callers are often hiding behind the privacy of their phone and would not dare to say the same things to you, face to face. Often they will say things to imply that they know you, but you should not respond and never give them details about yourself, true or false.