How I dealt with a Cell Phone Harasser

When my sister was in her college a few years ago, she used to receive messages from an unknown number. The messages were really dirty and cheap.

At first she thought, some college mate who hated her was doing this. But it kept on coming. She asked who it was and what he/she wanted with her. Apparently the reply came claiming that he is ‘Pradeep’ and is an unemployed graduate of mechanical Engineering.

The messages had stopped for a while. Then as time passed on, sister finished college and started going to work. Suddenly, the messages started to sprout up again as dirty as ever. My father messaged back asking him to stop being a rogue or he will take serious action. He replied something like- ‘Wow! It is a pleasure knowing you Uncle, let us be great friends.’ We called up customer care and asked them to block that number. But, they told that was not possible and they won’t do that. So, my sister was left with only one option ignore and delete. It was getting on her nerves

A month passed like this. I thought of taking up the initiative. I spoke to him from my sister’s cell, saying that I bought this sim card recently and that I received certain wrong messages from him. I hoped to persuade him to believe.

He said sorry and added that he knew the previous owner of the number very well. I was surprised, but then I asked him to stop messaging. He told he wanted to be friends with me!! I thought about it and said that I am going to give this number to my father, so asked him to contact me through my so and so number. After all it was a chance I could get to know the rogue and bust him. Also, in my cell there was the option of blocking numbers in case of excessive messages.

After a week, he messaged the same dirty messages to my sister’s number as if nothing had happened. I attempted to call him but he never attended. As my sisters phone number was her official contact number, she had no possibility of changing the number. After some time it again stopped.

Suddenly, around a month back from this day, the message came again. I was totally angry, although there was little I could do about it. We thought that going to police might just be too harsh and for all we knew, it would only mean more time waste. Sister told she would rather delete the message than walking to and fro between home and police station. I had to agree with her.

And 3 days before this day, I thought of calling up a recently acquired friend of mine working at Vodafone. I did and I asked him whether he can help. He was very kind and willing. He gave me the details. The guy’s name was actually ‘Samson Pradeep Raj’. I had his full address and his two landline numbers.

I called up my sister and asked whether I can take this to the police now that we had done everything in our hand. She being soft at heart said no. I asked her at least whether I could warn him. She permitted me to go ahead.

I called him and he attended the call. I kept my voice stern, angry and menacing. I told him I am Varun and a friend of the person whom he used to send his dirty messages to.

He replied with a soft yes that was like 'what is the big deal about it?'. I told him that I have his full contact details and mentioned to him his full name and stated his address. In a flash, his voice took a pleading tone. He said thanks for calling him up before going to the police. He said sorry, and said his actions were because he was mentally affected because of some family problems of his. I told, I don’t care about it and I don’t think the police would either.

He came to the verge of tears. If I didn’t know better, tears would have been rolling off his cheek, considering the way his voice wavered. When I asked him whether he knew what his punishment was, he said he knew that he would be sentenced to jail for 7 years if he is caught (Man, he knew the exact years. All this time he thought he couldn’t be traced). I asked him to stop this nonsense hereafter and if I get one more stupid message, he is going to the jail and I meant this from my heart with a menacing tone. He got it and was definitely very scared. He pleaded sorry. I asked him to call up my sister and beg for forgiveness. He agreed to it.

And so he did, I informed my sister that she would get a call from that rogue and he will be pleading for mercy. I asked her to use the record call feature in her phone. He called up and that conversation was recorded. She was too soft on him, all she said was ok, I told her that she could have scolded him badly for the mental trouble he had caused her for such a long period.

I wish I had recorded the conversation between me and him. But all I have is what happened between my sister and him. You can listen to the conversation here-