Crime reduction 

What to do if you receive a malicious call

• Keep calm. Try not to sound anxious or distressed. Sadly, most malicious callers enjoy the feeling of causing distress to their victims – if you deny them that feeling then they are less likely to continue.
• Do not enter into a conversation with the malicious caller or respond to them emotionally.
• If they are silent, do not try to persuade them to speak.
• Take control. If the phone rings again, wait for any callers to identify themselves before you speak. Genuine callers will speak fist. If it is the malicious caller, put the handset down calmly and ignore it for a few minutes before hanging up.
• If you can, unplug your phone (and any extension phones) for a short while afterwards.
• Keep a record of times and dates that you receive the calls. Keep pen and paper next to the telephone to note what was said, and any other features that you notice about the calls – background noise, for example.
• If you receive a malicious call to your mobile phone, keep a record (as above) and keep all caller numbers or IDs – don’t delete them.
• Don’t delete any malicious message that you receive on your answering machine/voicemail. If your service provider only saves voicemail messages for a limited time, find out what these time limits are.