Table of Contents
This article was imported from the 2011 Insurgency Wiki backup, and sits here in its original crude format. It is in dire need of modernization and cleanup.
Prank Calls
Prank calls are a timeless classic. Since the dawn of the telegraph, people would pick up to hear “CLICK CLICK CLIIIICK” and a sudden hangup. I assume. But now, our enemies are more sophisticated, and so are we. They never stop finding ways to advance their power- and neither do we.
Recording & Sound
We recommend the Freecorder Toolbar for recording your prank calls. Prank call recorders have to be able to capture your incoming AND outgoing sounds, and Freecorder does it well. It seems spyware free too. You will need a mic to make your noise. If you don't have a mic, google for a text-to-speech program and do as you do in [Prank_calls.html#Soundboards soundboard use] or just use a soundboard/play.
Music is great for voicemail flooding too.
VoIP Services
VoIP is Voice over IP, aka computer calls. With nary but a microphone (or even without one, through soundboards) an /i/nsurgent can drive an enemy up the wall from the comfort of their own home, and fairly untraceable.
Skype
Ah, Skype, a $$$ name synonymous with prank calls and VoIP. A well established program, Skype is based in Luxembourg, and they don't give IPs and account names of callers to anyone. The numbers appear on caller ID as a random string.
Common Sense PROTIP: If you threaten the White House, they will probably give your IP; if you threaten the whity, no one cares. Call targets, not presidents (except the president of Nigeria, I did that once it was hilarious he's a cool guy, eh is black and eh doesn't afraid of anything.)
Skype has the best quality internet calls one can get for a good price; the largest downside is that you must pay to call landlines and cellphones EXCEPT for a free 10 minutes of calling they give you as a demo. You can use this 10 minutes to call and do as you please, and make a new account when the trial runs out. You can buy SkypePro online or pick up an $8 card from Wal-Mart that gives you 3 months of SkypePro. SykpePro is unlimited calls to the US and Canada and like 15 bucks of international credit.
- Skype Pro - 3 dollars a month for unlimited calls
Another great feature about Skype is the ability to hold conference calls, and make multiple outbound connections at once. (Up to 9 people in one conference) Even if you do not have Skype Out you should still have Skype to join these calls. Skype also allows free outgoing calls to toll free numbers in USA, Britain, France, Poland. You can use tools such as 1(800)GOOG411 or 1(800)FREE411 to connect to businesses and residences. A trick in Britain which allows you to call the same 0800 number twice at the same time is you enter the number like this +440800… then you add the same number but starting with +44800. This is good when calling call centres as you can have the same business talking to themselves.
Recording
Use iFree Skype recorder. Its free and works perfectly.
Earthcaller
Epic. Earthcaller is a recently discovered winrar browser based caller, a VoIP that needs no downloading; it has great call quality and gives a random US number on caller IDs. However, you must run it in Internet Explorer (or IE Tab, if you're using FF) and install the ActiveX control; also, you must go to the full URL, with the www. included.
PROTIP: For major lulz, call people and make long prank calls, earthcaller counts as long distance.
iCall
iCall is just like Skype, but free; the call quality can be sub-par at times, though, but it is a good alternative for the budget saver.it currently has a beta version where you can place calls from their website itself, maximum call duration is only for three minutes though. For money you can get better call quality, but don't bother, it's ok without it or you could pay for Skype.
Betamax VoIP clones (VoIPBuster, Freecall)
It's one program with like 14 names, all pretending to be different while identical in every respect. VoIPBuster/VoIPStunt/VoIPCheap is a VoIP service that claims to have a free trial period. It CLAIMS this period is about one minute or three minutes per call, but many people go as long as 10 minutes a call without it disconnecting. Why is this? Blame shitty European program, bank error in your favor. It all seems like a fairly shady company, but the programs work fine and are good calling quality. Eventually though, it will say your account has run out of time, so uninstall and redownload, or create a new account (using a fake email address). Some report this does not work as it check agains your ip, and try doing it over a proxy or changing their MAC address. Eh, who can tell, just move onto the next identical program or buy some credit, they're cheaper than skype for international calls and some give 300 free min per week to landlines for 3 months per every top-up.
- voipcheap.co.uk (Calls appear to come from UK)
TIP: used via a hacked wifi connection and you'll be bullet-proof.
Indirect Methods
IP-Relay
Free computer based phone service intended for use of the deaf, but is free for anyone to use. The company also will not give out IP numbers unless you're calling the white house or issuing bomb threats.
The service is slightly slow because there is a middle man - the operator. Their job is to call the target for you and reading what you type. The person on the other end is talking to the operator and the operator will type out what they are saying. The operator for the call cannot hang up on you and is required to say everything you type to them, no matter how ridiculous. Google for an IP relay and do what the site says to get started. Wait for a bit and the operator will call the number you specify. Type whenever you want to say something, then type “ga” (“go ahead”) to let the operator know you're done talking. If the target hangs up, you can request the operator to redial. A hang up button is at the bottom middle of the window if you want to hang up at any time.
*NOTE* On AIM add the buddy “My Ip Relay”, you can now make relay calls through AIM which is much more efficent then their URL. Simply Message “My Ip Relay” from fake screen name, and say Dial ###-###-####, from there it's standard Ip relay procedure.
PROTIP: Before you make a call, type this to the operator “please do not announce relay ga” The operator will not voice an FCC required script about how to use relay to your caller, allowing more time for the lulz.
This is a slow method, but an easy to do through a computer that ensures anonymity and you can make multiple calls through multiple windows to flood the target with relay calls. You'll get IP banned after a while, and if doing something stupid use a proxy, but it's easy and effortless.
IRL Phones
IRL calling is more traceable, especially when done from your own phone. But is is more portable, convenient, and can be lulz with friends if done right. Also note that recording is much harder, unless your phone has one built in or you use [Phreaking.html phreaking] techniques.
*67 or 141
Not much to say. Enter *67 before the number on a US phone and the caller ID shows up as Unknown or Anonymous. Note that the police and phone companies can easily trace this, and if the pranked uses *57 immediately afterwards it sends the number to the police (but no one knows that). *67 is great for just calling your local idiot or a friend.
Also, this does not work with certain phone setups (notably toll=free) but will work with your average residential/commercial/cell setup.
Same in the UK, but 141 is the prefix
In France, the prefix can be either #31# or 3651, depending on your area. Try calling yourself to check if it works before.
In Australia, it is 1831 <number>.
In Canada (British Columbia) You need to be reported with *57 twice in a month for the police to check.
Payphones
Some payphones have security cameras nearby, if it's a major prank call, IE bomb threats, so not a good option in that case. If you just wanna call a regular target, payphones are an ok way to do it, though costly, public, inconvenient, and traceable to the phone. But then, if you just pay with coins, they can't trace it to you (unless a local camera catches you AND someone cares enough to track you down). The number shown will be the payphone number, which can be called back. Most payphones are used when one is waiting in a airport or for a movie and is getting bored.
Prepaid Cell Phones
Prepaid are a readily available resource, though costly. When paid for in cash you get a cell phone untracable to you, just make sure to remove the battery when not in use so nobody can figure out your physical location. The phone itself costs about $30 US, which gets you 10 minutes of talk time. Half an hour of minutes can be purchased for $10 US. Note that it may be difficult or impossible to record calls done on such a phone. There is a cheaper one, it is the Net 10 Nokia 1600, the phone costs $30 and comes with 300 minutes free.
Another Option is that if you already have a phone just buy a SIM card to be placed within your phone that you can change easily for yourself. And is much cheaper than buying a new phone. “this applies to prepaid phones only” many phones on a plan do not have the option to remove the SIM card.
Phone Cards
Phone cards show a random bogus number. They can be bought at most Wal-Marts, drugstores and gas stations. If bought with a credit card, it will of course be traced to you, but bought with cash it makes a fine portable anonimizer. The infamous prank caller who tricked fast food workers into performing sexual acts used pre-paid phone cards, and was eventually caught when they found the date and time of the purchase of a card and watched a surveillance tape of him buying it; bear in mind the cards are well monitered in terms of activity, so if doing something v&able don't use your own credit card and don't use your own phone. For most other activities, a phone card is fine too.
Mall Kiosk/Store phone use
Many Mall Cell phone company kiosks, and stores, have cell phones that are already activated. This is similar to buying a prepaid cell phone, but cheaper. Verizon is especially good with their Text to Landline service, allowing you to send a text message and have it delivered and read to a landline recipient. Be careful of cameras and security guards, as well as nosy employess. One way to pull this off is when the store/kiosk, is really busy, that way they will be less likely to wonder what you are doing; You could also bring a friend to create a distraction.
Soundboards
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/8623/soundboardgs3.png
Vista Users: Volume control > Recording Devices > (right click) show disabled devices
Some soundboards to use
Legality
The legality of prank phone calls is surprisingly harsh. Adults can serve time in jail for what is known as “Annoying Phone Calls.” One /i/nsurgent, who had their info given to the police by a spai and called a Gamestop during that raid was visited by police over the issue; due to a /b/tard on the inside Gamestop dropped the charges, but phone calls are, to many, serious fucking business.
Beside that little known “Annoying Phone Call” which can be any prank call, the most common charge that Anonymous is threatened with is Harassment. Harassment, as pertains to phone calls, becomes harassment after the 3rd call received; during the Gamestop raid, 18 calls were randomly noted in a one hour period as soon as police were involved, though their calls reportedly hit in the hundreds before the phone system was shut down. Goddessmine had Officer Santana come to her house and start taking calls, probably recording and tracing. As stated in the VoIP section, Internet calls will probably not be traced, though it is extremely easy for them to trace your silly *67 calls, and phone companies will not wait till they have a warrant; most are compliant with the police to the extent that they will give your full [Dox.html doxs] to the cops upon a mere phone request. It is advisable a willing Anon experiment with social engineering in this manor to see if they too can obtain doxs easily by violating federal laws and impersonating a police officer.
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