

However, if you keep on getting prank calls, use a reverse phone lookup tool and collect as much information about the caller as you can. The moment you receive a prank call, it is advisable that you hang up as quickly as possible. What Should You Do If You Receive A Prank Call? And finally, if you harass or cause an offense to a person over the phone either by the things you say or the manner with which you do it could also be an offense. Furthermore, threatening that you have left or would leave an explosive device in a place with the intent to make them believe also applies. Also, threatening to kill a person over the phone can get you into serious trouble. For instance, threatening to cause harm to a person over the phone with the intent that they would believe what you are saying. There are certain types of prank calls that can get you into deep trouble. What Type Of Prank Calls Can Be Considered As An Offense? The teenager was then arrested for giving false information. The threat was taken seriously to the extent that the threat was about to be canceled, it took concerted efforts and investigations to find out that no such threat existed in the first place.

A drunken teenager placed a call to the anti-terrorism hotline to make a report about a bomb threat against the New Year’s Day celebration. An instance is a hoax call that occurred in the Western part of Australia on the eve of New Year back in 2002.

In America, for a prank call to breach the Telecommunications Act, the call must have been carried out with the intent to threaten abuse or harass.”Ĭriminal pranks may be a case of bomb threats to telephone harassment. However, others may be covered by freedom of expression. An example is a call that involves one calling emergency services. Some prank calls get criminalized in several jurisdictions. It, therefore, suffices to say that prank calling is illegal as long as it involves scaring, bullying, stalking and harassing an individual. There have however been some modifications in the law since then. This issue extended the procedural safeguards which are required in a juvenile court even further thus giving juveniles the rights that are similar to those of adults charged with a crime. Back in 1967, a fifteen-year-old named Gerald Gault was sentenced to a state reformatory for a period that could extend to his 21st birthday because he made an obscene phone call. But more often than not action is not taken in these situations. There are also several ways such a call may be traced as well. You could be arrested for engaging in it. We will explore this and other related matters in this piece today. This is one question begging for answers especially among people who have made it a habit to terrorize other people with prank calls and messages. It sometimes can be quite funny but at other times it can be annoying. Most of us have at one point or the other attempted to prank a friend or a colleague or family member.
