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SMS & Cyber Bullying
Bullies are now using text technology to harass their victims. Text harassment
is a crime and it should always be reported to the police. This article
is about what to do if you are being bullied or harassed.
How to stop SMS bullying
If you are receiving threatening or malicious messages by SMS then the first thing to do is go to the police with all of the messages you have received. If you have the ability to record calls on your handset (this feature is built into most Motorola and some Erickson and Nokia phones) then take the recording too. They will then work with the networks to stop the problem you are having.
If the calls are merely annoying, then you should seek assistance from a parent or a teacher, as well as this there are technical methods available to help you stop getting these calls.
Stopping receiving SMS
If you are receiving SMS that you don’t want, you can easily stop receiving SMS on your handset for a while. Just turning off incoming SMS for a couple of days might stop the person who is texting you, as they may think that you have changed phone numbers. All you have to do to turn off incoming messages is type the code *35*1111*15# into your handset. A couple of days later type the code #35*1111*15# to turn messages back on, and hopefully the person will have gone away. Note that this will stop all incoming text messages, it is not possible to block just one number.
If the harassment is more extreme, for example you are getting threatening or malicious phone calls you can change your telephone number. Networks such as Orange will let you change without cost to a new number, and then will place your old number in quarantine for 6 months so that you can change back when the problem has been resolved if you wish. This service may not be available to all pre-pay customers.
Internet related problems
It is very important not to give out your mobile phone number over the Internet, as it can be used to get information about you. There are telephone directories which can reveal information about customers when their phone number is put in, and it also gives a method of contact that you may be reluctant to change.
In my own experience I once gave my mobile telephone number to a person I met over the internet, as we had been friends for a long while and I believed that I could trust this person. I was lucky enough that I was never threatened, but to this day I still get occasional messages which can be annoying.
Once you hand someone your number it is very difficult to take back, because of the inconvenience of having to change your number and inform everyone who you do want to tell of the change. If you do need to contact someone via SMS that you met over the internet, or even someone who don’t really want to give your telephone number then you may want to take advantage of a service like ICQ web SMS, which allows you to send and receive text messages to a number which you can change easily, and can have none of your real details attached.
Useful contact numbers
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Orange Contract Customer Service 0800 801080 (opt. 2,2,3,2) or 150 from the handset, free call
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Orange PAYG Customer Service 0800 801080 (opt. 2,2,3,1) free call, or 150 from the handset, charged call
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Virgin Customer Service 0845 6000789 local rate call or 789 from the handset, 10p (not per minute, just 10p)
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Vodafone Customer Service 07836 191 191 national rate call or 191 from a handset, free
- One2One 121 from a 121 handset.
Cyberbullying information for Parents, Educators, Law Enforcement, Kids, Tweens and Teens