Telephone Harassment - Never Pays

Any unwanted telephone call that upsets a person is known as telephone harassment. This is intended to cause alarm and irritation. The harasser may know the victim, or it might even be the result of random dialing. These calls infringe on the privacy of an individual. This harassment via the telephone is done to abuse the victim. Whatever may be the type of telephone harassment, it should be stopped immediately.

Telephone harassment is a form of bullying. Generally, bullies are cowards. They feel that calling someone is better than confronting them face to face. They make threatening calls without revealing their number, which they find very tempting. The caller remains anonymous in this case, though the victim might be known to him. However, a distinction should be made between a harassment call and an unwanted call.

Telephone harassment is different from an unwanted phone call. Unwanted calls can be akin to a call to a wrong number. When a person is harassed over the phone, he often gets to hear obscene language, or heavy breathing or even just silence. These harassments are against the law in the United States. But action is not taken until the calls are frequent or they threaten to harm them bodily.

The best way to avoid these calls can be through not replying to the caller or simply by hanging up. This does not give such harassers, the attention desired by them, and hence they may stop calling.

One should not engage in a long conversation with the person. Every detail must be recorded of the unwanted call. Personal details should not be revealed by anyone in the family. Telephone numbers should be kept as personal as possible. Even the directory should only contain the initials and not the full name.

A telephone harassment complaint should be lodged as soon as possible, either with the phone provider or the police. The calls can be either recorded in an answering machine or caller identification may be used to identify and then stop unwanted calls.

Phone service providers also offer phone blocking facilities. There are also certain caller identification facilities that help keep track of numbers that are the source of the calls. Harassers mostly call from booths or private numbers. This method will make caller think twice before calling.

When all efforts to stop calls fail, the matter should be placed in the hands of the police. The police should make enquiries based on the evidence provided by the victim.

Abusive calls are considered criminal offences under the UK Telecommunications Act, 1984. Besides this, phone service providers can help tracing the unwanted calls. Telephone harassment or any other forms of harassment that causes continuous discomfort comes under The US Protection from Harassment Act of 1997 and the victim can be protected.

Telephone harassment is a culpable offence and such harassers cannot escape due punishment, although the process to convict them for their offence may take some time. So, people should desist from such frivolous activities.