I've been playing with the most wonderful and devious service this morning. It's called Hoax Call, and it lets you prank call people right from your browser. If you're familiar with soundboards, the Flash-powered array of links that play small sound clips from popular movies, you'll feel right at home with Hoax Call. It offers three of these boards that can control, then use to connect you to any number in the U.S., Canada, or the U.K.
To play one of these lines you just click on it. The caller on the other end will hear it, and so will you.
(Credit: CNET Networks)Each soundboard scenario has a different theme. The site has launched with just three, one that fakes a radio call, a standard wrong number, and an "annoying eBay buyer" who is attempting to return a computer they got off the auction site. What's neat is that it combines your standard soundboard with VoIP calling, so you can hear your phone call through the computer speakers, then send over each audio clip in near real-time. You can also tweak specific details like your name and the person you're trying to reach so that it can be personalized, lessening the chances of the person hanging up.
All of this is something you were able to do before, although not without a fair bit of effort and some equipment. To do this you'd need a good VoIP application with some sort of proxy, as well as a pair of split headphones to be able to hear what was happening on the other side of the call. This service also provides complete anonymity--there is no special sign-up required; you just need to know the person's number.
To protect call recipients from getting blasted over and over, any number that's been used is barred from being used again for 21 days. These numbers are saved in a temporary database during that time, then cleared until used again. You can also add your number to the service's block list which will keep it from being used entirely.
Hoax Call is completely free, although the creators say they're adding a premium service later on that will add additional scenarios. If they're smart they'll add a recording tool that lets users share their calls, too.
[via Guardian.co.uk]
Cold calls from telemarketers and other companies that ignore the do-not-call list are one of the banes of modern day civilization.
A simple Google search for a mystery number you've received usually lets you know who's on the other end before you have to pick it up. The problem is that cell phones don't have the same quality of caller ID landlines get (numbers not names); so that call you're getting could be something important like an overdue library book, or a pushy desk jockey trying to sell you a heavily discounted hafnium-forged non-stick pan set.
In most cases the telemarketers don't leave messages and will simply call you back, resulting in an endless cycle of you not knowing who's calling and having to call back to find out--something you're unlikely to do. To avoid this, there's Caller Complaints, a crowd-sourced index of the phone numbers of law breaking companies that have called folks on the do-not-call list. Users come together to list these numbers, what was being pitched--and the frequency of the calls. If you find someone else has already listed the number and shared their negative experience, you can pile on and leave your experience, which votes it up.
The most popular (or in this case unpopular) companies rise to the top and are tracked on leaderboards. Users can also browse by area code and what type of call it was, from political phone spam to prank calls and debt collectors. The idea is that there will be enough resources to help you get to the bottom of who's calling to either leave a complaint with your carrier or simply blacklist the number from calling again.
So far the site has amassed nearly 200,000 number searches from curious call recipients. If you're adding a number to the database you also have the option to do a little quick research on ReversePhoneDetective, which will tell you where the call originated from and give you the option to pay for a full report.
Related:
Reverse Mobile helps track down mystery callers
SlyDial lets you call straight to voice mail
You can browse bad numbers by how many folks have complained about it, which area code it's from, or how often it's searched for.
(Credit: CNET Networks)
While caller ID is great for landlines, cell phones don't get such a luxury. Unless the contact is in your phonebook, all you've got is an incoming number to guess who's calling. I often simply type the number into Google to get the answer, but if that's coming up short, you can give Reverse Mobile a try.
The service lets you do a reverse lookup on any number free of charge. If you want some more advanced information such as the caller name, address, and phone carrier, it'll cost you a one-time fee of $30, or you can get an all-you-can eat annual subscription to look up as many numbers as you want for $10 more.
In addition to phone records, the same company does civil records and background checks, both of which aren't nearly as useful on a day-to-day basis.
- prev
- 1
- next
