insight :: the evolution of broadcast media
Stalking, Blocked/Restricted Calls, eHarrasment
Stalking, Blocked/Restricted Calls, eHarrasment is more than just annoying, it is menacing and scary – you must act quickly to end it or the situation will escalate. Take action with me as we seek to make criminal the use of call restriction and blocking, if YOU need to block your number when you call someone, then you already know you shouldn’t be calling them.
ANOTHER ONLINE HUSTLE :: WATCH OUT FOR THE GRIFT IN YOUR INBOX:: GEEK FREAKS!
May 24th
They are NOT your friends!
Hey, not much time here because I am so busy these days, just wanted to point out how insidious the scam artists of the webernet can be, take a look at this fake “Hallmark” invite? First off, Hallmark.org is a dead giveaway, but as I showed you guys in previous posts – if you just “mouse over” the link you can see that it is actually asking you to “click here” to an evil I.P address that willkick off what we call an “executable file” (a.k.a. “*.exe”). I am not going to be your guinea pig here, but I bet it does something pretty awful when you click on it!!
I highlighted the evil in red in the screenshot to the LEFT – Please children? Warn your mothers?
Don’t click on anything… Make your parents watch “Mars Attacks” repeatedly until they get it… NO, MOM! They are NOT your friends!
STALK TALK WIN!! :: CALLER ID SPOOFING SOON TO BE OUTLAWED :: The Truth in Caller ID Act of 2010
Apr 15th
First of all you should all have registered here: https://www.donotcall.gov/default.aspx at the National Do Not Call Registry. So, avid readers, as you are all aware, I have been very much against the use of caller ID blocking be it for Telemarketing purposes or for any associated harassment that would result from the use of caller id blocking, especially frustrated with spoofing and VoIp anonymity.
This week the House of Representatives passed a new bill, an amendment to the 1934 Communications Act to prohibit manipulation of caller identification information, this will outlaw [fingers crossed] the use of *67 , spoof cards and all that other crap I hate. The proposed bill is only 8 pages long, but every word reassures me of the impact it will have on all of us into the future.
DSLreports writes:
Argh!
Congress has passed a law that bans all spoofing of caller ID identification, be it via traditional phone service or VoIP. The Truth in Caller ID Act of 2010 (pdf copy here) was passed in the House of Representatives this week, and was primarily aimed at scammers who use spoofed phone numbers when pitching bogus wares (you’re probably familiar with the extended auto warranty scams by now.) The language of the bill:
It shall be unlawful for any person within the United States, in connection with any real time voice communications service, regard- less of the technology or network utilized, to cause any caller ID service to transmit misleading or inaccurate caller ID information, with the intent to defraud or deceive.
The bill of course contains an exemption for police or federal agencies should they be using the tactic in law enforcement.
I breath a sigh of relief today. Thank you HOR, now on to Congress!!
STALK TALK :: PHONE HARASSMENT :: SO MANY QUESTIONS!! I AM ONLY ONE PERSON
Mar 30th
I have received such a huge response to these stalker posts, and so many personal stories and questions from readers, regarding calls from blocked numbers and restricted calling. Look, when you see “Blocked Number” come up on your phone, it is because who ever is on the other end does not want to be identified, which usually indicates something is not right. They went out of their way to use *67 to block their number or they choose to set their Mobile phone to not share their caller I.D.
Regardless of whether you are being harassed by a stalker, ex-employee, psycho from no where or a telemarketer, who ever it is is not someone calling with your best interest in mind, am I correct? Of course I am. More >
I STILL H8 CRAIG'S LIST :: IT'S FULL OF GRIFTERS :: A.K.A. ANYONE NEED AN AIRUSH 14 FOR KITE BOARDING?
Mar 30th
So, my honey says he has a Kite for Kite Boarding and can I please post it for sale on “Greg’s List” [sic] – of course I get that sinking feeling in my gut because I watch “Help Me Howard” and he always does stories on Craig’s List scams. So I say, sure… here it is. Shortly there after I receive a highly suspect email that inquires “Is the item still available ?: – to which I think, “Of course it is! I just posted it with a crappy picture and not much of a description and if I were a buyer I wouldn’t even respond to such a shoddy post.
Anyway, I respond kindly and say “Yes, still available”
I get a second response which reads as follows:
Hello, Thanks for getting back to me,I am satisfy with the price and I am really in need of this item, and i want you to take the ads of Craiglist,I will give you an additional $50 for taking it off, so I will need your full name and address so my secretary can issue a check to you hopefully tomorrow morning,and it will be cashed instantly without any delay, My mover will come for the pickup as soon as you got it cashed, Kindly get back to me asap so we can finalize this transaction in a timely manner. XXXX
To which I respond, (*getting annoyed since the typos tell me this is a scam… )
“Do you even know what I am selling? This is a scam and I am reporting you.”
I went to the “Greg’s List” complaint form and filled it out, and here is a lovely video made available by the kind souls over at the Federal Trade Commission for those of you who are gullible enough to move beyond the ridiculous first email correspondence:
How to File a Complaint with the Federal Trade Commision
ANOTHER UPDATE :: STALK TALK :: GEEK FREAKS III
Feb 24th
Today was the big day I met with the mediator at Criminal Court and it looks like this whole mess is going Federal – since all the “suspects” actually reside out of state and had contacted me across state lines via phone, email, snail mail, etc. The next step is to take this to the Federal Bureau of Investigations and hand over all the information, etc. this is not something I look forward to doing, but I have no guarantees that these individuals are finished with the harassment.
It is interesting to note that all of the individuals listed in the first blog I posted on the subject either directly or indirectly contacted me in some way or another, either via this blog or by mail, or both which is in itself an admission of guilt.
Of course, when YOU find yourself being harassed via email, comments on your blog and/or are getting aggravating or menacing phone calls/texts/hang ups the FIRST thing you do is take action to protect yourself, I am a good natured person and allowed this situation to go on too long, thinking it was just a big mistake but now I know better and I regret not taking it more seriously much sooner, could have saved myself a lot of grief.
In my case, I am lucky to have a family here in NYC that seeks to protect me, tell me the real truth and look after me from others out there who are just after possibly money – or just to get even. Beware.
*** UPDATE: MARCH 1, 2010 — The situation has not resolved and I continue to receive bizarre, incoherent communications from one of the suspects I listed on the original post. This is exactly why harassment must be STOPPED as soon as it starts. Now I have no choice… I have to take more time out of my busy, beautiful life to deal with this. I am seriously going to speak with friends over at the FCC regarding criminalization of this kind of privacy infringement and seek to OUTLAW use of blocked/restricted calling and the like. Gee whiz! I have better things to do with my time!
STALKER UPDATE :: NEW ADVOCATE AGENCIES & PRIVATE COMPANIES TAKE THE LEAD
Feb 19th
I have recently found out that the police were called during Christmas and new year’s eve, exact time/day is not yet known but my neighbors reported that there were 2 incidents during that holiday week, on my property, and that is unacceptable. The court will have to issue a request for the police records during that time in addition to the call traces (using *57 on my land-line via Verizon and TAP service) to add some weight of urgency to this case.
Since my original post, many concerned citizens have forwarded very valuable information regarding harassment enabled by the use of blocked/restricted calls and of course stalking – there is a much deeper psychology that plays into the reasons why any of this may occur, there is a very fine line between stalking and harassment in the eyes of the law and reparations will happen differently depending on how the judge or court hears the claim – I have provided some links to useful information that could help you to keep these types of situations from escalating.
For New York State: http://www.safehorizon.org/page.php?page=stalking_nylaw
Most statutes define stalking as the willful, malicious and repeated following and harassing of another person. In addition to a pattern of conduct, many state laws mandate that an imminent, credible threat of violence be made against the victim for the activity to be considered stalking. But thirty-two states also consider the stalker’s intent to instill fear as illegal, with all but six states defining criminal stalking as any activity that would instill fear in a reasonable person.
Why do I take this so seriously, here is a report from last week, of a 23-year-old woman killed outside her Orlando office by a stalker had asked for a protective order but was denied. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,585535,00.html
Resources:
- For Blackberry users, a new service that will be offering more options as they develop and expand their product line, thanks Roseann for reaching out to me! http://www.privacystar.com/Default.aspx
- Very valuable information regarding recent rulings, i.e. California Penal Code 646.9, www.leginfo.ca.gov –> http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs14-stk.htm
- http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs3-hrs2.htm#2
- http://news.cnet.com/FAQ-The-new-annoy-law-explained/2100-1028_3-6025396.html
- http://www.stalkingvictims.com/home.htm
- A very informative site: http://www.safehorizon.org/page.php?page=stalking_nylaw
- http://trac.syr.edu/laws/47/47USC00223.html
- http://www.wiredsafety.org/cyberstalking_harassment/stalker.html
Of course, it is very difficult to get a restraining order or order of protection, BUT if you can prove reasonable damages in Civil Court, there are ways to effect change. Preliminary Hearing is next week and hopefully, with an Advocate on Privacy Policy and support from the Telco’s , maybe we can effect some change.
Why do I care so much?
I lived over a year with fear and helplessness every time my phone rang from a blocked number over and over again, late at night, early in the morning – it effected my ability to work, to sleep and to simply answer my phone – I missed a great deal of work because of the harassment! Since I began writing about it has stopped, but that does not make it “ok“.
Remember, when you sign up for your mobile phone, you are agreeing NOT to abuse the use of said device.
Thank you to all those who reached out to me and shared their stories, I hear you loud and clear!
TO CATCH A STALKER :: THE DIGITAL TRAIL BEHIND US :: GEEK FREAKS!!
Jan 25th
This is really going to freak everyone out! I have not one, but multiple stalkers… And I am not just talking “cyber” I mean show up at my door and build a shrine kind of stalker(s). I am not sure exactly how many there are, but I do know that one-by-one they are being tracked down and will be met with a restraining order and anything else I can do to prevent this from continuing for another year.
**UPDATE: As of today 01/27/2010 T-Mobile and SPRINT have agreed to go back into their systems to track the individual(s) who had been calling with “Number Restricted” and “Blocked Number” to my mobile number over the last year in order to comply with a Court Order. The information will be released and I will publish the identity of the individual(s) as the information is made available. Thanks to all for your support and understanding in the matter and a big “Thank you” to both mobile carrier companies for pursuing this matter and assisting in the end of my torment for the last year.
It all started about a year ago, in December of 2008 to be precise. It began with anonymous flowers sent to my home on my Birthday. Around the same time I started getting strange calls from restricted numbers and lots and lots of calls from a “fax” number. I am so naive sometimes, I didn’t realize that some cell phones can make fax calls. I also started getting these “spoofed” calls – where on my caller id someone’s number I know shows up but it’s not that person actually calling me… or… I would get connected to another call and hear the phone ringing on the other end and someone picks up whom I did not call.
Anyway, the calls were intermittent over the last year, but when they would come in there would be tens of them, one after the other… and this drives me nuts, I am already a bit paranoid about telemarketers and scams that use cell phones and VoIP to terrorize and steal from people at random.
Anyway, the year goes by and I find out that there are 3+ possible suspects some of who are not total strangers:
A. Is a girl I have not seen in 12 years who had the delusion we were in a relationship of some kind in a past life – oh, boy!! – and
B. The other possible stalker turned out to be some psycho girl who thought she was in a relationship with my boy friend at the time, just a crazy girl who eventually called me but was totally delusional and made up a whole bunch of crazy stories that were totally ridiculous and unsubstantiated, that was scary !
Yes, I know! I am the quintessential freak magnet
C. Third suspect, another dangerously delusional creature who also was operating with a lose screw.
D. Someone I went to high school with who I had recently run into at a mutual friend’s house who I always thought was kind of a freak.
Anyhow, lots of suspects… that is not the key point to my story, the key is that I was going crazy getting all these calls to my cell phone and according to T-Mobile (and then SPRINT), none of these calls could be traced because they either had their phones set to “blocked” (please don’t have your phone set to blocked, it is so annoying!), or they were using *67 and/or some VoIP dialer that couldn’t be traced “that easily”. You really have to become a detective to hunt down various methods for snaring these stalkers and scammers.
I also got strange text messages and a lot of people calling from the wrong number who were speaking in foreign languages.
However, the lines were crossed when my mother’s home phone started getting random calls from private, restricted and blocked numbers BUT this phone that belongs to my mother is actually a land line which offers the option of dialing *57 after a call from a restricted number is received – this will trace the call and can actually be prosecuted as a Federal Crime.
I have several calls that I was able to trace from this landline and that, along with a restraining order, will get me my stalker(s)!
Now, here is something that will freak you all out even more! One of these stalkers actually showed up at my house and built me a little shrine, so here today for your viewing pleasure is a “shrine” of flowers and wax that totally freaked me out!!
Today I got another call from a private number on my home phone line and I am relieved to say it was the last call received and therefor, after dialing *57 was successfully traced. *sigh*
And along with all the woes in Haiti someone(s) out there has nothing better to do then slam my phone and torture me for no good reason. On a bright note, they all will be stopped… on a somber note… It is so random and bizarre and scary that there are people out there who will go to such lengths to torment people. It’s very O.C.D. and there are a lot of people out there who need some therapy and possibly an intervention!!
Share your thoughts and experiences with cyber stalking and more! I am very interested to hear from anyone who was able to find an APP that could “un-Block” a restricted number!!
***UPDATE: PLEASE EXCUSE MY COMMENTS BELOW, OBVIOUSLY I RECEIVED SOME UNSAVORY FEEDBACK WHICH I FELT WAS NOT APPROPRIATE TO “APPROVE” YET HAD TO RESPOND TO REGARDLESS OF THE DESPICABLE NATURE OF THE COMMENTS MADE **