Anyone used Show me the number to unmask No caller ID calls?

[HairyPotter]

My gut reaction says it probably won’t work but it’s only £6 a month so thought I’d give it ago to try and find out who the arsehole that keeps calling me. 3 calls last night between 11 and 1 am and he’s definitely the same person that called me on Boxing Day (for a wank) I did the absolutely stupid thing of trying to shame him instead of hanging up and now he keeps calling. Obviously I only say hello then hang up as soon as I realise it’s him.

Phone company and police can’t do anything and changing my number is a last resort so thought I’d give this a go.

Unfortunately I can’t put phone on silent or not answer so am becoming very frustrated. Any other ideas?
Thanks for any suggestions.

[Peachered]

What phone do you have? If it's an iphone just turn on the setting to not accept calls from unknown numbers over night for a couple of weeks - he will soon get bored and calls from anyone in your address book will still come through to you.

[MacbookHoHoHo]

Yes, as above. And make sure you change your answerphone message to a computer one, not your voice, so they can’t get a “fix” of you by listening to the message.

[HairyPotter]

Thanks for reply, I have an iPhone XR (I think) unfortunately I can’t change settings as I am on the transplant waiting list and out of hours calls from them come up as no caller id as well. That’s why it’s so frustrating, I see ‘no caller id’ when it wakes me up and get my hopes up for a minute only to hear this arsehole. Last night was the final straw.

[Peachered]

@HairyPotter OK understand - in that case I would get a transplant phone with a new sim, and update them with that as an emergency phone and just turn yours off over night.

What a fucking wank stain this person doing this is. Police can get his phone records though and see him phoning your number - if this is happening often is could possibly fall in the realms of harassment.

I hope your transplant goes ahead shortly, and goes smoothly.

[HairyPotter]

Thanks. I think that might need to be an option as well. I’m angry that I need to do that and honestly can’t believe in this techno age, a simple withheld number defeats both phone company and police.
I might try Show me the caller then possibly get another phone if (when) that doesn’t work. Annoyingly I’d need to carry both around/charge them all the time.
Appreciate the good wishes, I know I’ll probably wait years but can’t help feeling a split second of hope every time it rings.

[Peachered]

If you have a fair idea of who it is, and it is happening this much, the police can investigate the numbers they are calling - so your number will come up on his phone records / phone recent list etc.

It really must suck, I am sorry you are having to deal with this on top of everything else.

[Blowingagale]

Didn’t know this was a thing. It worries me for my work. Now WFH almost always call clients/get calls using a phone system. Our own mobile but show as a different number. Occasionally that system fails and if we are mid call call them back through my personal phone withheld number. I would try to wait till system is back but would call withheld if client vulnerable. I’m not sure I will do that any more after reading this.

[HairyPotter]

No idea who is. He sounds like he’s from England (I’m in Scotland) I don’t recognise his voice and think he’s just dialled random numbers and I was stupid enough to tell him he was a pathetic arsehole the first time he spoke. I’m an idiot! So now he’s had a reaction he keeps calling. Hopefully he’ll get fed up when I don’t engage.

[poshredrose]

Get a whistle? No idea if that would actually work

[squeezeapplesmakejuice]

Can you shout/ scream down the phone at him? Or just play boring music into the phone?

[Peachered]

Whistle is a great idea.

Also, if you can pre-record an auto-toneish message saying this number is no longer in use somewhere else then play it when you know it's him without communicating it may help.

Or just let him hang there for a while - don't hang up - he may get fed up of using his minutes / money if you don't react.

[ShalomToYouJackie]

Is your phone dual SIM? Can you block unknown numbers on your current SIM and get a second pay as you go SIM and give that number to the hospital?

[HairyPotter]

I answer then don’t say anything else and let him get bored and hang up. Whistle is a good idea and I’ll look into a dual sim (didn’t know there was such a thing)
I like recording an out of service message as well but I do need to actually answer and say hello (just in case) so not sure how I’d work that.
Really appreciate all the advice, thanks so much. I’ve got a few options to try now.

[Soutiner]

No idea how to do it but I think you can have an app on your phone that changes your voice so that you can sound like a man.

Then you can answer in a male voice, don’t be rude, just say hello, hello, hello a few time and then hang up. He may get fed up quicker if he thinks a man is now on the other end.

[SadderThanEeyore]

Leave it a few rings and then pretend to be a recorded answerphone msg. "Hi, can't get to the phone right now. Please leave your name and number after the tone" if it's him he should hang up and quickly get bored

[HairyPotter]

Quick update, so I signed up for Show me the number this morning and it works!!! Just withheld my number from my house phone and it sent me it once I rejected the call. Annoyingly I need to reject it first but transplant centre do have my house number so I’ll risk it.
Here’s hoping he calls back so I can hopefully pass his number to police (and hope it’s not an unregistered burner phone)
Really appreciate all suggestions, thanks everyone.

[bigbluebus]

Chances are he's doing it on a PAYG rather than contract phone though. Do you have to give details to buy one of those now? I know you didn't originally but had a idea they were going to change the rules because of things like this.

[Soutiner]

When you get the number please pass it to me as I can have some fun with him!

[HairyPotter]

I’m hoping he’s too dumb to have gone to the effort of doing that.
Soutiner an excellent idea!

[Rainbowberry]

Did he ring back? Did you catch him? I’m having trouble with someone calling both my mobile & home number but it comes up as a private number calling. I don’t/haven’t give out either of my numbers (only to family & friends) so it’s making me feel uneasy. Just wondering if it’s worth paying for the show me the number service x