

Ask HN: Is there any way to trace a private call? - crix

My fiance has received some harassing private calls on her cell and I was wondering if there was anyway to trace the calls. From what I've read, the phone company may not be much help and I don't want to have to resort to the police.<p>I've been reading HN for a while and I'm not really sure where else to turn for help, but I figure some on here may be able to point me in the right direction. Sorry if this isn't the place for this (please delete if so).
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jderick
You probably do need to get the police involved to some degree. My nephew had
a similar problem a while back and the phone company would only release the
phone number to the police.

Here is a pretty good link:

<http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs2a-cellcalls.htm>

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crix
Thanks for the link. If things persist we'll have to do something more
"official". After doing some more searching on my own, it seems apparently
there is no tech-based solution to this.

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ryanmahoski
[http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=2008041719053...](http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080417190534AAYTlGF)

According to one entry in that thread it is possible to expose anonymous
callerIDs by forwarding to an 800# and then gathering the number from there.

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nickb
Mitnick showed a way but it's pretty complex:
[http://voipsa.org/blog/2008/07/23/asterisk-hack-to-show-
bloc...](http://voipsa.org/blog/2008/07/23/asterisk-hack-to-show-blocked-
caller-id-points-to-larger-trust-issues-with-sip/)

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vaksel
why don't you want to involve the cops? the whole harassing thing really isn't
that big of a deal, the dude will just get a stern talking to, and at least
the cops will have the complaint on file in case you need to get a restraining
order etc.

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sh1mmer
Talking to the police early is important for a number of reasons, one of the
primary ones being you can say that you did if the worst happens and it
becomes a full blown stalking.

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run4yourlives
Why don't you just block the number?

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crix
The number just appears as "private." She didn't answer, but the guy left a
pretty insulting voice mail. It didn't sound like some kid doing a prank call
either. It could just be someone with a wrong number, but I wanted to know
just for peace of mind.

~~~
run4yourlives
You can still block the number I believe. The phone company can do it without
you needing to know the number. Especially if she phones.

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andr
Quick, call CSI!

