How to bring to justice for telephone hooliganism?

Very often, 112 service employees receive so-called hooligan calls.

Anonymous callers call and report, for example, that a bomb has been planted in a certain building, or that there has been a fire or a gas leak on a specific street. Specialists send a team to respond to the call, but it turns out that it is false.

What, in this case, could threaten the unfortunate subscriber? What article is provided in the Criminal Code of Russia (hereinafter referred to as the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) for telephone hooliganism?

What is telephone hooliganism?

Constant threats, vulgarities, indiscreet questions that pester the subscriber - all this refers to telephone hooliganism. That is, these are actions carried out using a telephone, aimed at violating a person’s privacy, rights to rest, as well as words that insult him.

Telephone hooligans can maliciously play a prank on a person, threaten him with one goal - to cause fear or anger in him.

Telephone hooliganism includes calls that have the following characteristics::

• regularity . If someone constantly calls a person and threatens him or has a conversation on the same topic, and the person receiving the call begins to worry and get nervous, then this can be attributed to telephone hooliganism;
• providing false information . For example, a caller reports some kind of misfortune, imitates a voice, introduces himself as a different person, reports a bomb threat, etc.;
• the desire to bring a person into dialogue, as well as to provoke a reaction in him.

Telephone harassment does not include calls that do not have a negative connotation and cannot in any way cause harm to the victim.

For example, if they call and prank a person, then the caller will not be held accountable for this.

Features of the crime

Telephone hooliganism began to be practiced since the introduction of telephony among the general public. If earlier jokes could be completely harmless and immediately forgotten, today everything is much more serious.

Modern jokers have special equipment and devices with which they can process voices, edit recordings, and then post them on the World Wide Web for general fun or to receive money.

Today, telephone hooliganism is mainly practiced for several purposes:

1. Used to provoke anger and obscene language in the victim.
2. Used to make a nice joke with the victim, to bring him into a frank conversation.
3. To find out from the victim any information that cannot be obtained in any other way, it is usually practiced on famous personalities.

Each type of telephone hooliganism should not go unpunished; it is possible and necessary to fight them.

Categories of calls recognized as telephone hooliganism

All false calls are divided into 3 categories:

1. Unreasonable calls . For example, it seems to the caller that a stream of steam rising from the ground is the source of a fire.
2. Hooligan dialers . For example, a student was tired of sitting in class and decided to have fun: he called 112 and reported a fire, and then watched with pleasure the emergency evacuation of all students and school staff.
3. Telephone terrorism . This type of false call includes a person reporting an explosive device planted in a building.

Filing a complaint to Roskomnadzor

If you did not consent to receive advertising calls or refused to receive them and did not consent to the processing of your personal data, then such calls are twice illegal, because violate the requirements:

• Article 18 of the Law “On Advertising” (compliance with which is monitored by the FAS)
• Article 15 of Law No. 152-FZ “On Personal Data” (compliance with which is monitored by Roskomnadzor),

Therefore, you have the right to file a complaint with:

• Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia, which supervises and controls compliance with advertising legislation

and/or

• Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Communications, Information Technologies and Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor), because it is this state. The authority exercises control and supervision over compliance with legislation in the field of personal data protection.

A complaint can be sent through the Roskomnadzor website (maximum number of characters is 2,000).

The following materials will help you file a complaint:

• general advice on how to file any complaint;
• sample complaint to the FAS (about SMS spam)

If Roskomnadzor establishes a violation, it will be able to prosecute the guilty person under Article 13.11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses for violating the legally established procedure for collecting, storing, using or distributing information about citizens (personal data).

Is a telephone number personal data of the subscriber?

One of the frequently asked questions is the question of whether a telephone number is personal data?

The answer to this question is given by Article 3 of Law No. 152-FZ, according to which personal data is any information relating to an individual identified or determined on the basis of such information. Therefore, the telephone number data is personal, because... Based on the phone number, you can identify a specific individual.

This conclusion confirms:

• judicial practice, justifying this by the fact that personal data means any information relating to a directly or indirectly identified or identifiable individual, including a mobile phone number, if this information allows for personal identification (Appeal ruling of the Altai Regional Court dated September 29, 2015 to case No. 33-9241/2015);
• Roskomnadzor, which in its Letter No. 08AP-6054 dated January 20, 2017, emphasized: the principle of identifying an individual by last name, first name, patronymic from the entire array of information is not the only possible criterion for classifying processed information as personal data;
• The Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications of Russia, which in its Letter No. P11-15054-OG dated 07/07/2017 explained that:

  a subscriber number or email address may be considered personal data in the event that such information relates to a directly or indirectly identified or identifiable individual. For example, a subscriber number belonging to a legal entity cannot be considered personal data;

• information about subscribers includes the last name, first name, patronymic or pseudonym of a citizen subscriber, name (company name) of a subscriber - a legal entity, last name, first name, patronymic of the director and employees of this legal entity, as well as the address of the subscriber or the address of installation of terminal equipment, subscriber numbers and other data that allows you to identify the subscriber or his terminal equipment, information from databases of payment systems for communication services provided, including connections, traffic and subscriber payments.

The article was written and posted on February 27, 2015. Added - 05/06/2017, 07/26/2017, 03/02/2018, 12/27/2019, 12/17/2020, 03/12/2021

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Author: lawyer and tax consultant Alexander Shmelev © 2001 — 2021

How to deal with telephone bullying in 2022?

There are several ways to deal with a telephone bully:

1. Ignoring the call . If you already know the phone number of the caller and you know that the person will pester you and pester you, then you simply do not need to pick up the phone. You can also blacklist an unwanted phone number or set an answering machine to this number. You can also pick up the phone, but not talk to the bully, but simply give him the opportunity to speak out (if he wants it). Sooner or later he will hang up on his own.
2. Contacting the police . You need to contact law enforcement agencies if the telephone abuser greatly harasses or even blackmails the subscriber or uses his personal data. In order to write a statement to the police, you must have evidence. A recording of a conversation with a hooligan, which must be attached to the application, may serve as evidence.
3. Contacting the prosecutor's office . You need to go to this authority only after the police refuse to accept the applicant’s application or do not consider his complaint or do anything to identify and punish the hooligan.

Under no circumstances should you call back the annoying number. After all, a forwarding function can be installed on it, due to which the subscriber can be transferred to a paid service.

Where to go in case of telephone hooliganism?

If a person does not know the identity of the caller, then he needs to contact the police.

If the phone hooligan is someone you know, then you can skip going to the police and go straight to court.

Drawing up an application and its sample

Despite the difficulty of proving the offense, you should not give up and you can try to write a statement to the relevant authorities.

It must contain an introductory part listing the details, that is, the name of the body, position and full name of the addressee, address and full name, cell phone number of the applicant.

What follows is a description of the hooliganism, the time it occurred, its frequency, what events it entailed, and what it included (for example, threats, rudeness, obscene language).

Then a request is made to identify and punish the hooligan. Applications are added (for example, audio recording of a telephone conversation). At the very end, the filing number and signature are placed.

A statement about telephone hooliganism may look something like this:

What kind of telephone hooliganism will happen?

Telephone hooliganism can be both an administrative and a criminal offense. It all depends on the nature of the incoming calls.

Administrative liability for telephone hooliganism occurs if the caller is annoying with his calls, calls at night or regularly for several days. At the same time, he threatens the subscriber with violence, pesters him, intimidates him, etc.

Such acts will be classified as administrative offenses that infringe on public order.

In Art. 20.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation provides for the following liability for petty hooliganism, which includes annoying calls:

• fine from 500 to 1000 rubles;
• administrative arrest for up to 15 days.

If the caller reports that there is a bomb planted in the building, the building has been set on fire, etc., then he faces criminal liability under Art. 207 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Knowingly false report about an act of terrorism.”

For such an offense the perpetrator may be punished as follows:

• fine 200-500 thousand rubles;
• restriction of freedom for up to 3 years;
• forced labor for a period of 1 to 3 years.

If a telephone message is received about an explosion, arson or other action that creates a danger to people, committed in relation to a social infrastructure facility (house, enterprise, kindergarten, school, etc.), and as a result of the actions of the relevant authorities to prevent dangerous consequences of major damage (over 1 million rubles), then the culprit faces the following punishment:

• monetary penalty in the amount of 500-700 thousand rubles;
• imprisonment for a period of 3-5 years.

How to act if necessary to report to the Police

Initially, the victim will need to collect evidence. To do this you will need:

• determine the number from which the call is made;
• record a dialogue with a bully;
• contact law enforcement officers by filing a statement and attaching evidence.

If the person’s goal is to initiate a criminal case, which in some situations is the only way out, then the presence of a statement and evidence of telephone conversations is mandatory.

In practice, it is noted that police officers do not act when receiving such reports of hooliganism. In this case, citizens can also protect their own interests. To do this, you will need to contact either the Prosecutor's Office with a complaint or a judicial authority.

Watch the video. Telephone hooliganism:

Answers on questions

Question : “I’m fed up with calls from one online store where I previously purchased goods. Calls are coming in daily. Does auto-dialing fall into the category of telephone hooliganism and can an online store be punished for this?”

Answer : If we are talking about automatic dialers, then you cannot punish. The perpetrators can only be held accountable if the callers make threats or are rude.

Question : “What punishment for telephone hooliganism awaits the culprit?”

Answer : It all depends on the specific case. If the caller says there is a bomb in the building, then he faces criminal penalties. If the caller simply interferes with sleep or swears, then such an offense will be considered petty hooliganism, for which the guilty person can be brought to administrative responsibility.

Question : “What calls can be considered petty hooliganism?”

Answer : These are those calls in which the caller threatens the health, life of the subscriber or violates public order.

Question : “Do threatening SMS messages belong to the concept of telephone hooliganism?”

Answer : Yes, if they are systematic.

Question : “What is the maximum fine for telephone hooliganism?”

Answer : If we are talking about petty hooliganism, then the amount of the fine is limited to 1,500 rubles. If we are talking about telephone terrorism, then the maximum fine is 2 million rubles (if actions aimed at preventing an impending explosion or arson resulted in the death of a person).

Question : “How to prove that the caller turned out to be a telephone hooligan?”

Answer : It is necessary to record the conversation with the hooligan and provide the recording to law enforcement agencies. You can also make a printout of calls, which will indicate how often the caller made unwanted calls.

Not every subscriber who makes false telephone calls that have signs of telephone hooliganism is brought to criminal liability.

If the actions of a joker are associated with a violation of the privacy and peace of an individual, then the culprit may face administrative liability (Article 20.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation).

If the call is characterized as an act of terrorism or a violation of public safety, then the joker faces criminal liability under Art. 207 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

To suppress the fact of telephone hooliganism, you must file a complaint with the police, prosecutor's office or court, be sure to attach to the document a recording of telephone conversations with the hooligan.

Procedure

If you have become a victim of telephone hooligans, we recommend that you do the following:

• Behave with the bully extremely politely, correctly, and speak in a calm tone. In most cases, such a reaction is not interesting to the callers, and without waiting for screams, threats, or hysterics on your part, they will leave you alone;
• If calm behavior does not bring the expected effect, you should warn the hooligans that you intend to contact the police with a statement to bring the persons making the calls to justice. In the conversation, emphasis should be placed on the fact that such treatment is grounds for putting the phone on wiretapping, which means that hooligans will be quickly identified and punished;
• In a situation where the calls have not stopped, the next step is to contact law enforcement agencies. When an application is accepted, it must be immediately registered and a notification coupon issued to you. Upon request, an inspection is carried out, as a result of which a criminal case is initiated under Article 213 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation
  , or a decision is made to refuse to initiate a criminal case.
  In parallel with this, if it is refused to initiate a case against hooligans, an administrative protocol may be drawn up under Art.
  20.1 “petty hooliganism” .

The story of one statement

Surely each of us has encountered a situation when strange calls are received on your phone. Silence on the phone, sometimes sniffling, incomprehensible SMS messages, and sometimes even worse - calls in the middle of the night, threats and just a stream of obscene language from the speaker. What to do?

A similar story happened to me. Tired of simply not paying attention to this “trouble,” I decided to take all measures permitted by law. And this is what happened to me.

The very first option that came to my bright mind was the option to simply change my phone number. But imagining the size of my phone book and the possibility of losing at least one of these contacts, I had to discard this thought. And I got used to my number. So it disappears.

The second step was to try to find the “blacklist” function on your phone. It's something like when the phone numbers listed there simply cannot reach you.

To my regret, my phone did not support such a function, and the unexpected purchase of a new generation phone did not fit into my budget yet. A call to the mobile operator with a request to limit calls from certain numbers to my phone also did not produce results.

Our mobile operators do not have this service. And the girl operator reasonably noted, “What if your hooligans change their phone numbers?”

It seems I've just reached a dead end. Meanwhile, the calls to my phone did not stop.

I tried to communicate with the telephone hooligans as much as possible, trying to convince them to leave me alone with reasonable human arguments. I tried to ignore the calls, but then an avalanche of text messages hit me.

Like any curious woman, before deleting them, I still read them. I still received the right amount of negativity - the hooligans seemed to have the upper hand.

After another sleepless night with signs of beginning paranoia towards my phone, I decided to go to the nearest police station. Let them deal with my offenders there.

But not everything turned out to be so simple. Here I am on the threshold of a not entirely hospitable “institution”. The stern captain begins to accept my application right in the corridor. No one reacts to my timid requests “maybe we should go into the office.”

And then another telephone trill is heard, this time at this time and in this place I was very happy about this call. Handing my ringing phone to the lawman, I suggest that he be convinced of the reality of my problem.

The captain picks up the phone, and at another point the telephone hooligan, glad that he finally got through, without waiting for my greeting, begins his obscene monologue. I am moving from the category of a nervous, suspicious person to the category of a victim.

I am allowed into the office and I finally write my statement, indicating the phone numbers from which I receive calls. They promise to consider my question within 10 days, and then report the result. Inspired and a little calmed down, I go home.

The calls didn't stop. 10 days have passed. Without waiting for the long-awaited answer or at least an explanation, I go to the police. The stern-looking head of the office gives me a written answer. “In initiating a criminal case under Art..

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129 (threat of murder) and art. 296 (hooliganism) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine to refuse.”

Since there was no gross violation of public order, no real actions causing harm to my life and health were found, I again moved from the category of victims to the category of a nervous, suspicious person.

Frustrated and simply not knowing what to do next, I re-read my “answer” again. And here the theater of the absurd begins. My telephone hooligan was not even called to the police department. During the telephone conversation, he explained that he does not call me or threaten me, and it is I who “harass” him with my phone calls. This conversation was enough.

What about the log of incoming calls on my phone? What about these nasty text messages? What about the police captain who became an unwitting witness to yet another telephone terror? Where is the objectivity - in the form of a request to the mobile operator, who calls whom, when and how many times? Is it really not enough to endure attacks from an inadequate person over the phone for more than a month to be a victim? We should probably wait for physical violence...

I look at the dates on such an official document. The application was submitted on Friday evening, and the response and refusal to initiate the case was ready on Monday, after 2 days off. It’s just that suddenly all the words disappear somewhere.

I still changed my phone number. I strictly observe all confidentiality in relation to my person. Against telephone hooliganism, as well as against scrap, there is no method yet...

Yana

A story very close to my heart. I sympathize and am happy for you that you found a way out. And I still have to suffer. I am being pestered via phone with SMS messages from former builders who did renovations to my apartment. They made a crooked hand. They also got drunk and abandoned the object. Just in case, their names are Roman, Tolik, Lyudmila. If you live in Murmansk, then bypass them by road 10.

I found others who undertook to finish their work, although not everyone would agree - no one wants to be responsible for other people’s mistakes. But the guys were responsible, they fixed what they could if possible and handed me the rooms on a turnkey basis. We moved safely.

But during the finishing of the apartment, bad details appeared - the wall was not laid out, the floor was going in the wrong direction, etc. And these unfortunate workers took the money as expected without problems or delays. They were not heard for a long time. And then they activated and were bombarded with calls. I didn’t answer, but they switched to SMS. There was one thing in the texts - I have to give them some kind of instrument.

My demands in response are to give me money for having the work redone for you. They are theirs, I am theirs. Then they began to press for pity: children and all that. Well, at the end - an SMS with a hint that you supposedly have only one car - aren’t you afraid? Then there were threats that they would go to the police and report that I had stolen the instrument from them. Well, everything like that. They cause me moral harm every day.

Keeps you in suspense. I save the SMS, but I haven’t decided to go to the police yet. Although you can’t rely on their common sense.

Irina

For several days in a row, my phone has been ringing incessantly at regular intervals of 5 minutes, day and night! Detected as an unknown number. I have a Megafon operator. I had to go into my personal account and make a request for statistics.

In the printout, the phone number with a thousand incoming calls was clearly identified. An unknown telephone hooligan called from the number 89527729729. When you call this number, they either hang up or it is busy.

I had to blacklist him, and that was the only way to solve the problem. Just a nightmare! Telephone terrorism!

Source: https://www.mrwolf.ru/obshestvo/istorii_iz_gizni/10677