Very bizarre and slightly disturbing phone calls...

[Zadock]

I'd almost forgot about this incident that happened at the weekend so I thought I'd better get it down in writing before I forget all about it...

I was with my family on saturday, early afternoon. The phone rings and my dad answers, he doesn't say much to the person but looks very confused and says "what on earth are you on about?... ambulance?! bye!".

momments later the phone rings again, this time I answer...

"Hell-oo, J'ahn?" (John), a very indian/ pakistani sound voice on the other end. Lots of chatter like a call centre in the back ground.

I start pretending to be my Dad... so I say "yes, what do you want?"

Lunatic:"You must leave your service provider NOW! your land line is on fire!!... The russians"

Me: "...a conspiracy? what? second cold war is it? I mean, I know putin has been posturing lately but I don't think it warrent a second cold war?"

Lunatic: "I'm going to tell your neighbours that you kill pigs"

...errr

Me: "ummm... yeah thats right?! with a spear! well they are wild boar actually, nothing quite like hog roast in your back garden on a saturday evening".

Lunatic: "We are calling from the london mental hospital... the ambulance is coming for you"

Me (getting progressively more sarcastic by this point, with most of my family in stitches)" Fantastic! whats the ETA?"

Lunatic: "You really should stop biting people Jahn"

Me: "I know... its not my fault, the rabbies"

Lunatic hangs-up...

rings back and my sister answers.

Lunatic: "is Jahn there?"

My sister: "no, who is this?"

Lunatic "I know he is there, you have him in your pocket"

My sister "What the f**k?!"

Lunatic "Jahn should be studying, he has exams"

My sister "no he really doesn't. How do you know Jahn?"

Lunatic " we are his friends"

My sister "oh really?! what's his surname?" (my surname is Barlow)

Lunatic "Jahn... err smith"

My sister "Wrong! how old is he?"

Lunatic "16, he is doing exams"

My sister "thats interesting, he must have started having children before he was born... he has a 24 yr old daughter!".

hung up, didn't call back.

Very, very odd! Clearly from a call centre, because of the "we do not have the callers number to return the call" on a 1471. On the other hand if it wasn't and they had got the wrong number... I think if there was a 16 yr old receiving that kind of call they would be more than a little freaked out.

Anyone else had anything like that before?

[Mike Fishcake]

Sounds like a weird crank phone call from a bored call centre operative :-/

I'm not quite sure what I'd do if I received that!

[Zadock]

this is it, the kinds of things he was saying... it scare someone of a more nervous disposition! he called up 3 or four times hanging up for a couple of them.

[pollaxe]

All call centres (in the UK) must display a phone number now when they contact you, I think...?

Just a nutter, probably a Fonejacker wannabe without the wit or skill. Unless.. unless... unless you were Fonejacked...?

[MSIC]

That's kind of ****ty that it happened to you, as you say loads of other people could become genuinely afraid of something like that (i'm thinking of my grandma before she died).
I think you handled it well, but it's obviously frustrating that there is nothing that you can do about it.

[Zadock]

It hasn't happened again... but it is tempting to see if there is anything I could do to find out who it was. Not to get my own back, but if that person is in the habit of doing this what is to stop them from phoning up an old person who is all alone or someone who is of a nervous disposition. It could have serious repercussions; especially for people who have a tendancy for paranoia for example it could be quite bad.

[MadduckUK]

john has obviously upset some very important people, they are scouting him out.you will take it as a joke as trhe call seemed silly but thats the idea. they now know just a little bit more about him

[Zadock]

Originally Posted by MadduckUK

john has obviously upset some very important people, they are scouting him out.you will take it as a joke as trhe call seemed silly but thats the idea. they now know just a little bit more about him

Now that is disturbing...

All they found out about him was that he isn't 16, his surname isn't smith and he has a daughter.

I doubt my dad has upset anyone but he does have a very important job but its out of the public eye. I won't disclose what that job is.

So do you think it should be reported?

[nichomach]

Obviously it's just me wondering how Papa Lazarou got your phone number...

[CaseyV9]

I used to know someone who who work for a company selling stuff.
He would have to phone people up.

One a**hole that he worked with used to do prank calls.
One guy took ages to answer his phone. Turns out he was an old guy who wasn't happy he had to get up out of his chair to answer his phone to a sales person.

So the A**hole waits 15 minutes and and calls the old guy back just to tell him
"Sorry for making you get up out of your chair" An A**hole.

I know with my mobile I have had calls where I has answered to silence simply for them to hang up.
I called my operator, I think it was T-Mobile. I couldn't get the number that was calling me but I did have the option to block this number from calling me. How usefull that is I'm not sure.

[directhex]

you haven't criticized scientology in public, have you...?

[scruffy]

Someone called a mate of mine late the other night, the call went something like:

Mate: Hello

Caller: Yeah John, I'm outside his house with a shooter. What do you want me to do?

Mate: (Instant baiting) Yeah mate, course you are mate, nice mate.

Caller: Errr, wrong number. Beeeeep.

Shady if genuine!

[Zadock]

Originally Posted by directhex

you haven't criticized scientology in public, have you...?

Oops... there was the one time, hurling abuse at Tom Cruise.

Crap... now he has enlisted an entire call centre in Delhi to hound me!

Damn you Tom! Damn you to hell!

[Rosaline]

Originally Posted by directhex

you haven't criticized scientology in public, have you...?

Funny, I was wondering that too...

[chicken]

Sounds to me like it was more of a coincidence that the name matched someone in the house and it's someone trying to prank someone at school. It's not too hard to accidently get a house with a John/Jon in it, that accounts for 2/3rds of our house (and I'm a Dave!)

The number could be masked due to it being from a phone-booth (which would explain the chatter) or just by putting "141" in front of your number when they dialled it to mask theirs.

Just because you can't get it from 1471 doesn't mean that BT couldn't chase them up if they are being a pain, but I think you've scared them off now that they've realised that "Jahn" is a middle-aged guy and not who they thought it was.

[Oobie-]

Everytime I get a crank call, I start yelling down the phone like Eddie Murphy's - Mr Robinson