SWMBO's being harassed on her phone..

Don't know why (except for the knowledge that she's a pretty young woman, and there's a lot of worthless men out there), but my girl's recieving a bunch of texts/calls from some horny idiot that can't find any other way to talk to a woman. She didn't tell me about this guy on his previous attempts, seemingly because the guy has only done this E36 M3 during the daylight. His new tactic is to fire it up while she's trying to sleep.

Please, folks..no lectures about how she woulda/shoulda/coulda kept her phone number private, I think the only reason she brought the situation to me was because she's finally learned that lesson. We were lucky tonight, and actually found his cellphone number. All of the "backwards tracing" websites I could find gives me the town he lives in (Covington, GA), but won't give me the street adress without giving up my credit card number.

That's probably a good thing..I'm non-violent by choice, not by nature.

Anyhoo..anybody have some advice?

You start answering the phone. If he's getting his jollies calling a woman, you may not quite be his type. You don't have to abusive, you just have to not be any fun.

Does he block his number? If he doesn't, when he calls make sure you're the one to pick it up. Hell, even if he blocks his number, there aren't going to be that many blocked numbers trying to call her. And don't be hostile, just tell him that you just got this number and you've been getting calls looking for this "whoever" and obviously you're not her, so peace out. A time or two of that and he'll give up. I had to do this for my wife years and years ago.

Aren't you able to call your cell provider or operator or something and tell them to permanently block a particular number from getting through to you? It might be just that simple to never have to deal with him again.

Report it.
Here in Ohio, a local man got Felony charges over similar..
http://www.sanduskyregister.com/news/2011/jan/19/mysteryman011911azxml
http://www.sanduskyregister.com/news/2011/jan/24/text-predator-pleads-not-guilty

Mmmhmm. Report it to the cops, so it's all nice and formal. Contact the cell provider and have them block is number.

I agree with report it. Definitely.

I have a primitive cell phone, but it's still sophisticated enough to display the caller's number when my phone rings. If it's someone I don't recognize or someone I don't wish to talk to, I don't answer the phone. Pretty simple, really. And when I go to bed (actually an hour or two before) my phone (and my wife's) is OFF.

Report it.

BTW, you say he Texted; what was the content of the message? Print a copy when you visit the cops.

There is absolutely no reason to go through life looking over your shoulder.

Dan

Salanis wrote: Aren't you able to call your cell provider or operator or something and tell them to permanently block a particular number from getting through to you? It might be just that simple to never have to deal with him again.

Do they do that now? I remember in ~2005 as I was finishing up college a certain girl I was no longer dating decided she was going to continuously call and hang up.

On the order of 20-30 times a day. I called the cell company and they wouldn't do anything.

Only way I got relief was to change my cell number.

Yep-texting is getting all sorts of people in trouble. I know someone who got angry at his soon to be ex wife in a text argument and said some innapropriate things and ended up in jail. A UF football player was arrested for a similar confrontation via text with his girlfriend. All that angry screaming and yelling people used to do over the phone can get you arrested if you write it down (text).

Several years ago, when we lived in Tampa, we had a similar problem, except with explicit threats. Calls would come in to the house phone and wifey's cell. Fortunately, I had a friend that was a Major in the Tampa PD. The calls were coming in from a cell phone, but he traced it out in 10 minutes, had a domestic abuse investigator make a couple of calls to the caller, problem solved. It's nice to have friends.

Thanks, everyone. I picked it up when she was still asleep and made several threats (both legal and illegal) to the idiot. Tonight, he seems to have gone away. We still have his number, will probably do the legal stuff if he does this again.

Verbal or Text threats?

Tread lightly .....

Agreed. Not good to engage a nutbar, best notify the authorities.

Lesley remembers also that we are engaged nutbars, but you got the point.

Different kind of nutbar. I think every female has experienced unwanted attention from weirdos.

I think most males have also experienced unwanted attention from weirdos.

Thanks for the advice, y'all. For the moment, things are quiet. If it flares up again, we'll go full tilt legal. Neither of us want to put some shy kid "into the system" for a small indiscretion. As Lesley said, it seems that every female gets this time of stuff from time to time. That's why we tried to solve it ourselves, instead of getting the authorities involved. Yeah, if this guy turns out to be a serious nut, rather than the socially challenged kid he seems to be, we'll start calling cops. Her dad's actually a county cop, and has recently been promoted to an investigator's rank over there. I'm sure if we tell him about it, he'll be ready to help.

Verizon's website gives you spam and parental tools which allow you to block all calls and messages from a specific number. My wife and I had to use it on a family member (long story) and it worked very well.

SVreX wrote: I think most males have also experienced unwanted attention from weirdos.

It's true, for a while in the late 90's Sally Struthers wouldn't stop sending me letters.

^^ That's because you wouldn't stop eating her donuts.

Set the phone to full silent mode before going to bed. Most phones can block numbers. Call the phone company and have them block the number. The next time he calls, answer yourself and chat his ear off about your gun collection, including all those full-auto assault weapons you own. All good fixes.

You could try asking him if he's found Jesus...

Nobody berkeleys with The Jesus!

Lesley wrote: You could try asking him if he's found Jesus...

..and asking if he'd like to meet him right now? Not quite sure of the protocol with that. I haven't been a Christian since I was a kid, but my dim childhood memories make me think that (in my parents' denomination, at least) after you died, you had to get by St. Peter at the "Golden Gate" before you got to party w/JC..

He still hasn't called back. Like I said, don't want to get the authorities involved unless he's a real freak, and not just some horny kid.