Internet sleuths of STW – impress me….

Righto….
Despite having involved the 5-0, they don’t seem to be getting anywhere as I suspect I’m not a priority, and the ability to trace numbers is limited..

My family’s been getting nuisance phone calls from a mobile number – they are gaining in frequency and are calling my home number (now ex directory)..

I have a feeling it’s a disgruntled patient as they allude to reporting me to the GMC, stating I’m a terrible doctor etc etc.
This I don’t doubt…but…calling my family at home is wrong – we’ve a newborn and a toddler..

I can’t tally the number against anything on our practice records, and googling the number doesn’t come up with anything useful – it comes up with this site, which on further googling seems to be a weird random number/name generator, thus I know the person calling isn’t from Medway, Nor called Matilda Cook… 😉

Any other routes of finding a name attached to a number – basically we need it to remove the person from our list for inappropriate behaviour, but thus far they are remaining anonymous….

DrP

Isn’t this what the police is for?

If it’s a payg sim the only way to find them will be either associate it with a handset that’s also attached to a known address or work out which phone masts it’s being used from and try and work out an address from those.

Unfortunately, both options aren’t really available to mere mortals.

I think you can buy home handsets that auto block calls from certain numbers. If they go ‘anon’ you can block those too. Might be the easiest solution?

Not a pleasant thing to be happening to you DrP – hope you find a solution.

I would hope so. But they have told me they can’t really help as they can’t tally the number against anyone on their records.

Had we the number on file at work, we could pass a name onto the police.
I think of this as a ‘broader search’.
All I’m looking for is a name to pass on.

DrP

It’s a criminal offence. Lean on the police until they get their finger out.

Also,

http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/phone/tackling-nuisance-calls-and-messages/abusive-and-threatening-calls/

DrP – that’s horrible. 🙁 Congratulations on your new arrival though and hope all are well. 😀

It’s a criminal offence. Lean on the police until they get their finger out.

This +1

Also report it to your own phone provider who can block it.

That’s really not on. How do you reckon they got hold of your landline?

TBH, the only thing to do is to get your telecoms provider for advice on blocking that particular number – I know BT can do this.

I wonder if you can find out what network the mobile number is on – if you ring it, does it ring through to o2 voicemail etc, and contact them for assistance in shutting it down – it would be in breach of the customer t&cs.

http://old.digizen.org/cyberbullying/overview/contact.aspx

Next time they call blow a whistle down the phone. The next person in your waiting room with hearing problems in one ear is your caller.

Edit if you get the phone no sign it up to every dating site going.

It might not get you justice but I’d suggest asking your provider to give you a new number and make sure it’s ex-directory of course.

The only worry is that without the avenue to vent they might move onto something else.

Social engineering will almost certainly be the fastest route if its a payg.

The Emergency Services have access to software that allows them to ‘find’ the phone via Cell Tower triangulation. So they should be able to pin point the user if the want to.

Various other businesses also have access to this software but it requires the permssion of the phone owner to use it.

Bare in mind if it is a PAYG number specifically for annoying you with then blocking the number will be no solution as they will just get another.

there are several avenues you can take in the absence of being able to identify the caller.

One is block the number or get your telecoms provider to place an obstacle between them and you. A friend of mine was getting nuisance calls from an ex boyfriend who was having a breakdown. Her phone co placed a recorded message on her line saying ‘The person you are calling does not wish to speak to you’. It sounds pretty fruitless but the sense that someone else is involved and that theres an audience for the harassment can be a deterrant.

If there aren’t a lot of users of your landline of if most of your friends would also have your mobile no – just change your number.

What I’d also be doing is recording the calls. Don’t say that you are, but until another avenue is available at least have a log of the frequency and content of the calls so that if action can be taken in future it can be done so in a way thats conclusive.

Tracing a payg is very difficult, you can try and associate it to a handset but you then have the problem that there may be no way to trace the handset to a user. Cell siting will not necessarily give you a good enough lock on, eg it may vome back to a block of flats, especially if the phone is not used for any other purpose or if it does not move with the caller. You could ask the police if they have done any research on the phone, billing analysis who else it is ringing etc how the top up is being paid, etc but as you say it may come down to the perceived risk, if that escalates they may be able to do more.
Have you recorded the calls and played them back to those at your work who man the phones and may recognise it? I would suggest you escalate this with the force if you are not happy and at least get their reasoning for no further action

Why not just post the number on here and let the STW angry mob loose?

Just post the number on lots of dodgy forums offering how can I say, certain services. That should keep them busy.

Just place an advert with the number in the ‘personal services’ section of your local free ad paper (or Craigslist). See how much they enjoy it.

if you use whatsapp on your phone, you can view their profile using their mobile number and can see their name/ profile picture?

Send a letter to all your patients saying “I know it’s you” and whoever’s ringing you should get the hint. Easy.

Quite the sleuth, mrjmt. [edit]+raveydavey

Doh!

It was only the few times, I’ll text next time. Soz.

As others have said your phone provider can block specific numbers. They may change number but that will provide extra data point to help the police pinpoint a suspect.

How many patients have you upset? I’d have thought the list wasn’t so long that this plus whatever the police can get via their enquiries of the phone company wouldn’t get very close to narrowing it down. Of course it may well not be a patient that is calling, but a relative, and the patient may be dead so removing the patient from your list isn’t really an option!

I think you have to be very careful, especially in your profession, to be seen to take the higher ground and internet stalking of a disgruntled patient / relative is probably not a good way to do that.

Just place an advert with the number in the ‘personal services’ section of your local free ad paper (or Craigslist). See how much they enjoy it.

“Puppy’s free to a good home” would guarantee their phone won’t stop ringing 😉

That is so getting called from a payphone tonight…

get someone to phone/text the number back and claim to be from the GMC following up on a complaint.

The Police have the powers to find out who any number is registered to and who and when they have been calling. Quote Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 at the Police and tell them to pull their fingers out as its a very simple thing for them to do.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulation_of_Investigatory_Powers_Act_2000

I’ve tried calling back the phone to discuss the issue, but it’s not got an answerphone, and just seems to get turned on to call me, then turned off again.

I think you have to be very careful, especially in your profession, to be seen to take the higher ground and internet stalking of a disgruntled patient / relative is probably not a good way to do that.
Whereas I agree from the offset, this has been going on for many months, and I’ve attempted to take action through the police and thus far not gotten anywhere. Each time they call, I’ve logged it with the officer in charge of the case, so the police ARE being ‘pressured’ by me, as each time the offence happens, I give 101 a call…
All I’m really asking is for advice as to any other routes I could go down to attach a number to a person…

DrP

DrP has posted the number in a round about way

All I’m really asking is for advice as to any other routes I could go down to attach a number to a person…

You wont be able to do it. You need powers under RIPA to be able to find out even the lowest level of information.

And it won’t take too long for this thread to start showing up in google searches for the number. This does not seem like a good thing for the OP IMO.

You do know hes on O2/EE though, so you could start a campaign against them, saying they are complicit in a criminal act???

http://www.area-codes.org.uk/07514-numbers.php

And it won’t take too long for this thread to start showing up in google searches for the number. This does not seem like a good thing for the OP IMO.

Hence why he’s posted in a roundabout way….

Don’t see he’s done anything wrong in asking. The only criminal offence has been committed by the person ringing his house.

I’ve messaged the mods asking for Dez’s post with the number to be tip-exxed…
I was just hoping someone would be able to suggest “do this, that, and see this website” type thing…

Not had much sleep with the newborn, older son’s ill and off school, and whereas I just normally ignore the calls, it kind of got to me this morning…

DrP

EDIT – thanks STW team…

DrP has posted the number in a round about way

I didn’t and it got removed 😆
Was only trying to help 😀

Sorry to be a damp blanket but If the phone is only being used for this it is difficult to trace. You can sometimes track a phone by its association to accounts, hp etc through services such as equifax and gbiq but disciplined use can frustrate this, so you may be left with options only available to the police, cell siting, call analysis, top up history, etc and as mentioned these are all expensive both in service cost and manpower, it’s not just ringing up getting vodka phone and getting an answer, the data provided needs various forms and processes to be carried out to get it in the first place and often needs analysis to get it into a workable state and I suspect these services will be assigned on a risk basis. I would suggest you try and escalate this with the police SIO and face to face rather than via 101.

If they stay on the line long enough, you could always tell them that the Police are taking the harassment seriously and are tracing calls placed on your line etc. etc…..??

I would suggest you try and escalate this with the police SIO and face to face rather than via 101.

It’s good that i’ve actually got an officer’s name assigned to my case…will keep chasing them up..

DrP

How about everyone sending an anonymous text message by one of the web-based free SMS sites like:

http://www.afreesms.com/freesms/

Then when it’s next switched on they’ll be bombarded with texts 🙂