A few years ago, a man who was dubbed the “Foot Fetish Creep” began calling female REALTORS® in our area and acting as though he was an interested buyer in one of their listings. While the calls started off innocently enough, they would quickly turn into some bizarre questions about what kind of shoes the REALTOR® was wearing or what kind of shoes she would wear to show him a house.
One large brokerage firm in the Bay Area had agents who were among the recipients of his calls. One of them purchased a service that would allow you to unblock the phone number of anyone calling from a Blocked number on your cell phone. That agent then turned the phone number over to the local police in that area, who tracked down the man and arrested him. Unfortunately, the police explained that the harassing calls were essentially only one step above the offense of receiving a speeding ticket. But the calls stopped…for a while. He, or someone else acting in a very similar manner, returned to making the calls on and off since then. Now, we have been receiving a huge number of calls from firms all over the area who are receiving the calls.
We obviously want everyone to stay safe and also want to try to help catch the person who is making these troubling calls. We have arranged to partner with a service called TrapCall, which will unmask blocked calls made to any cell phone through most major cell phone carriers. As TrapCall’s website says, “TrapCall unmasks the Caller ID of blocked and restricted numbers, blacklists harassing callers, and can even record your incoming calls. There is no software to install, and it works on any mobile phone.” This service will work with any blocked calls and not just those from the “Foot Fetish Creep.” Never again have to make that split-second decision whether to answer the call or not.
There are several subscription options available, ranging in price from $4.95 to $24.95 per month (less per month if you subscribe for the full year), depending on what capabilities you would like to have. Wanting to help however we could, HAR has arranged for a 50 percent discount on the first month of service for using the promotional code “realtors” when you register. You must register for the service from your desktop computer (NOT a mobile device) to receive the discount.
For more information about the service and to learn how to register for it, please visit www.trapcall.com from your desktop computer (no mobile devices for the registration process). Please note that we are merely providing the information about the service and the promotional code so that our members may receive a discount if they choose to utilize it. We do not provide technical support for this service, so any questions should be directed to TrapCall.
Above all else, please stay safe.
