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An old trick I've heard is to have someone call the house's landline while you are robbing it. As long as the phone is ringing, you can be reasonably sure that
by captainmuon 12y ago
An old trick I've heard is to have someone call the house's landline while you are robbing it. As long as the phone is ringing, you can be reasonably sure that no one is home.
- Kiro 12y agoWhy not do it yourself before?
- TallGuyShort 12y agoI guess the idea is to have the person calling be watching the house, and hang up if anyone approaches. Phone stops ringing? Swift exit out the back.
- meowface 12y agoA lot of families, including my own, will not answer the phone if they're asleep or busy. Or more commonly, if the caller is not recognized on caller ID they'll just let it ring.
- judk 12y agoYou'd let it ring for an hour?
- TheCraiggers 12y agoIf you call the same number 10 times in a row, or let it ring for minutes, you can be reasonably sure nobody is home. Most people would at least get pissed and pick the phone up, if only to slam it back down.
- dragonwriter 12y ago> If you call the same number 10 times in a row, or let it ring for minutes, you can be reasonably sure nobody is home. If it has an automatic answering system, you can't "let it ring for minutes", and if it has the ringer turned off (and there are lots of people who, with an answering, do this by default) then it won't even ring at all (though you'll think it is ringing.)
- Houshalter 12y agoWell now your phone is linked to the robbery. One call might be explainable but 10 is pretty suspicious, especially if you do it at multiple crimes.
- billmalarky 12y agoI'm sure it's not too hard to anonymously get a phone number. Google voice perhaps?
- john_b 12y agoThat would only be anonymous to the recipient. Google still has a map from your actual account and phone number to your Google voice number.
- praxulus 12y agoPayphones.
- xanderstrike 12y agoFar too low-tech for HN.
- MichaelGG 12y agoIt's easy. Tor + anonymous BTC purchase of VoIP. Getting BTC is the harder problem.
- Zaephyr 12y agoToo late, the telemarketers already (effectively) doing this. VoIP# -> unpublished home line (+ Mobile) Home line 'protected' from autodialers by old fax machine, 4 rings then silence. Only political calls seem undeterred.
- aerique 12y agoMany houses do not have a landline anymore (at least for the people I know in the Netherlands). It will only get less anyway.
- TheCraiggers 12y agoI'm not sure about over there, but here in the US I feel most of the remaining landlines are used by the elderly, which just so happen to be the desired targets of many robbers.