mskucher@watmath.waterloo.edu (Murray S. Kucherawy) (12/09/90)
Many of you may recall a posting from me earlier this year about a friend who was receiving harrassing phone calls, and asking for advice. Perhaps the editor has copies of my original posting and could re-post it? Well, anyway... A quick recap for those who missed the discussion: My friend and a friend of hers were receiving harrassing (and frankly, terrifying) phone calls from someone for a long period of time. They tried to nail the caller using taps and so forth, but he always seemed to know when the taps were on the line, because the calls would stop. Users around the continent sent in recommendations - answering machines, freon horns, changing the number, getting one of those phones that shows the caller's number, etc., but for one reason or another, they either didn't work or were not possible to implement in my friend's situation. Well, I just saw her last weekend, and she tells me that just a couple of weeks ago, a tap was implented again, but this time they managed to get successful traces on nearly 30 calls, all from the same number. The police are investigating, and will release the number and name of the caller when they lay a charge. The calls were originating from an exchange in her own neighbourhood. Many thanks to members of the Usenet community who offered their valuable advice. Best wishes. Murray S. Kucherawy University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada 2A Mathematics/Computer Science Internet: mskucherawy@<machine>.UWaterloo.ca UUCP: uunet!watmath!mskucherawy [Moderator's Note: Readers will recall that when this matter was first discussed here, there was some speculation that the reason the taps were not successful was because perhaps the calls were being made by someone at telco or the local police department; someone who would be in a position to know when the taps were put on / taken off the line. I hope we will get a follow-up on this when the culprit has been identified and prosecuted. PAT]