Threatening texts via Google Voice

billwill

Hey all,

My girlfriend is getting threatening texts via a Google Voice number. Well we actually just got two, and then we asked them to stop and they did and apologized and all that and said it was a joke (they were pretending to be her friend and trying to blackmail her), but my GF is mad and wants to call the cops on them.

My question is:

+Will the cops do anything?

+Can they find out who the person is?

Thanks.

Shorn Scrotum Man

Google would probably be able to tell the cops who it was, if the cops asked.

I guess it would depend on exactly how threatening the texts were. If this is a 'I'm gonna call the cops because they annoyed me' kind of deal then I doubt they will do anything beyond taking down your GF's information.

Lewisham

Two threatening texts is not a pattern of abuse, especially after you also got an apology. Even if the cops did get involved, all that will happen is they'll say "knock if off" to the person, and your gf will get a reputation of being a basketcase.

I would let it be unless it gets worse.

Robman

If they threatened blackmail then the police will absolutely get involved, they generally take that sort of shit extremely seriously. Your girlfriend wasn't the first person this dograpist tried to extort.

Perpetual

^^^

What he said.

If they did it to your girlfriend for the purpose of blackmailing her (for money?) then they may be doing it to other people as well.

Eat it You Nasty Pig.

The cops won't do anything. What are you going to do, call them and tell them your friend jokingly threatened you and it was annoying (and when you asked, they stopped?)

You might be able to talk google into canceling their service (or at least blocking you from it), but that doesn't really seem like the solution you are looking for.

Perpetual

Dyscord wrote: »

The cops won't do anything. What are you going to do, call them and tell them your friend jokingly threatened you and it was annoying (and when you asked, they stopped?)

You must have missed the part where he said they were a couple of strangers pretending to be her friend for the purpose of blackmailing her.

billwill

It wasn't for money.

They didn't actually get a chance to say what they wanted, they just said that if they don't get it than they will send embarrassing info or something to all of her friends. Then they apologized and said they were just a friend pranking her (which would make sense, no other way they would know all her info).

I think it's stupid that she is calling.

Perpetual

So they were actually her friend then?

billwill

Perpetual wrote: »

So they were actually her friend then?

They never said which friend, just a friend.

Eat it You Nasty Pig.

Perpetual wrote: »

Dyscord wrote: »

The cops won't do anything. What are you going to do, call them and tell them your friend jokingly threatened you and it was annoying (and when you asked, they stopped?)

You must have missed the part where he said they were a couple of strangers pretending to be her friend for the purpose of blackmailing her.

My understanding based on the OP is that this is someone the GF knows pretending to be a different person she knows, and stopped the communication/blackmail and apologized after one request. That isn't something that the police can really help with (assuming they actually stop.)

Alternatively if it's some kind of anonymous phishing scam or something that's worth reporting to google and the police.

billwill

Dyscord wrote: »

Perpetual wrote: »

Dyscord wrote: »

The cops won't do anything. What are you going to do, call them and tell them your friend jokingly threatened you and it was annoying (and when you asked, they stopped?)

You must have missed the part where he said they were a couple of strangers pretending to be her friend for the purpose of blackmailing her.

My understanding based on the OP is that this is someone the GF knows pretending to be a different person she knows, and stopped the communication/blackmail and apologized after one request. That isn't something that the police can really help with (assuming they actually stop.)

Alternatively if it's some kind of anonymous phishing scam or something that's worth reporting to google and the police.

You are right in your understanding.

I don't feel like getting her involved with this, especially if it'll just waste her time. If she does call the cops, what are they going to say to her? "We can't help, sorry, move along"?

RubberAC

Yeah.
They can't do anything.

fightinfilipino

it may be a good thing for her to report this if only for the sole purpose of documenting it happened. in the event this becomes a larger problem, having an initial police report is always a helpful thing, even if the police won't or are unable to do anything about the first incident.

Bionic Monkey

Since she requested that they stop, I'd let it go until it starts up again. She asked them to stop, it didn't, which will make it harassment. Add in the threat of blackmail, joking or not, and she has a very legitimate reason to take it to the police. If they won't do anything, then bug the shit out of them until they do.

Szechuanosaurus

I'd report it to google in any case. a) google doesn't like people fucking around with their shit - claiming to be someone you're not is against their t&c's as is using their services for extortion and fraud. b) they might be doing this, more successfully, to other people, google can tear through their logs and bring to bear a far more painful police intervention than you're likely to ellicit from local PD.