T-Mobile would rather let you die than help you
My mother received a death threat last night. A real, bonafide death threat. Someone called her on her cellphone and left a clear, unequivocal death threat. Her phone didn’t list the number. It simply said “Unknown Caller”. She didn’t recognize the voice of the caller, and she didn’t know what to do.
She forwarded the voicemail to me, and I recorded it to a WMA file. You can download it below. The person who left it says the following:
“I know where you live [...] and I’m gonna be coming for you on… Friday… next Friday, at 1 o’clock at night [...] better watch out, ‘cuz I’m gonna drive by your house and shoot you… bitch!”
Death threat to my mother (WMA file, 329KB)
My mother called me this morning to tell me about it. She went to the police department in Hollywood, FL, where she lives, and started a case. They contacted T-Mobile and asked them to reveal the number, but T-Mobile refused. Can you believe that?! Someone threatened to kill my mother, and they refused to help!
Then the police told her they can’t do anything, because they can’t determine who called without T-Mobile’s cooperation. They also told her that any other mobile phone company (AT&T, Verizon, etc.) would have cooperated with them, but T-Mobile has steadfastly refused to do so in past cases.
T-Mobile says my mother needs to get a court order in order to obtain the phone number of the lunatic that called her. So my mother has to pay a lawyer $400/hr and go to court in order to obtain something that rightfully belongs to her and to law enforcement, which is the phone number of someone that made a clear promise to kill her on Friday night. Isn’t that insane?
I told her that it’s possible the person mis-dialed. But that introduces another scary possibility, that of the lunatic murdering someone else on Friday night. Either way, this needs to be treated seriously, and I can’t help but deduce from their behavior that T-Mobile would rather let people die than help them in these cases.
T-Mobile, you had better watch out. If anything happens to my mother, I will exact legal punishment for your actions. You hold in your hands the identity of someone that could try to kill my mother in a few days, and if you don’t do something about it, I will.
In light of their behavior, I think their logo is off the mark — unless perhaps they’re referring to criminals…
Updated 7/1/08: I told my mother of the advice given to me so far, and she has pressed on with the police. Officers have now also visited her at home to fill out a supplement to the police report, and apparently a detective will be assigned to the case shortly. I told her not to let up, and to speak with the detective, and if need be, the police prosecutor. The identity of the person who left that voicemail must be found out, either to save a human life, or, what I hope is the more likely choice, to teach an incredibly stupid prankster a real life lesson about what is and isn’t acceptable behavior.
Updated 7/2/08: My mother finally got to speak with a detective. The police still haven’t generated a case, apparently it’ll take up to 5 business days. Great… The detective told her there’s nothing he can do, because if someone would want to kill her, they’d simply come and do it, not call and promise to get there at a certain time. While there’s some logic to that, this is also typical police behavior. They’re not interested in tracking down this prankster/potential killer, even if he’s bent on doing something this Friday. They’d rather deal with it after the fact — although I sincerely hope there won’t be any of that, for anyone. I took a look at the HPD Mission page, and maybe it’s just me, but it doesn’t sound like they’re living up to it on this case. At the very least, they should get the phone number from T-Mobile, right?
Updated 7/6/08: Friday night came and went without incident (for my mother at least). Although she spoke with the Hollywood Police Department several times, and insisted they find out who the caller was, they were not interested and were willing to let it slip by unnoticed. At this point there are two possibilities: (1) the call was misdialed, which means something bad could have happened to someone else on Friday night, although there’s no way to tell unless the local news are watched for mention of a murder somewhere, and (2) the call was a nasty prank, and it’s entirely possible it will be played on someone else at some point. I don’t know about you, but these sorts of pranks just aren’t funny to me. You don’t joke about killing someone. That’s just not a joking matter. I would have loved to see whoever made the call brought in for questioning, and possibly held for a few days or more, so he’d get a healthy dose of common sense injected into him.
(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
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That is some horrible crap man. I think T-mobile should give the number out but the law is on their side. Corporations have way too much power nowadays.
Will be praying for y’all.
Comment — July 1, 2008 @ 1:55 pm
That sucks alright. Hopefully you can expedite the process of getting a court order and get the police after this guy. In the meantime, stay safe.
Comment — July 1, 2008 @ 2:05 pm
If this story was completely true… Not saying either way cause I don’t know. but they would give the number because the police would get a warrant. It is not t-mobile you should be upset with if this story is true it is the police for not following through and getting a warrant.
Comment — July 1, 2008 @ 2:18 pm
Cody, not sure what other proof you’d need. Perhaps you’d like to see crime scene photos after Friday night??? Unbelievable…
Comment — July 1, 2008 @ 3:16 pm
Having family members who were robbed and had phones stolen, I know they went through the same thing, but it went further. The people who stole the phones were using the phone, verified by the phone company when they called to report the theft. They asked the phone company (VZ) if they could have access to the numbers that were being called, from THEIR phone, on THEIR contract, and VZ told them the same thing…”not without a court order”. There is a fine line between “right to privacy” and “common sense” when it comes to laws and rules like this, and apparently, the phone co’s don’t have any exceptions to their rules, even when one is warranted. They follow the plan that their attorneys set in stone for them, the CYA plan. Anything outside of that doesn’t matter to them.
Hopefully this will turn out to be nothing, and a dialing error by the jerk that placed the call in the first place. It still doesn’t excuse his actions, nor T-Mobile’s lack of support in the situation. If she didn’t already, I would consider visiting the Police station and speaking with someone who might be a bit more knowledgeable in the process and could help out (a detective perhaps?). Sometimes the right person with the right information might be able to get a bit further in cases like this.
Either way, good luck.
Comment — July 1, 2008 @ 3:19 pm
First things first: I sincerely hope that that the call was a mistake or hoax, and that no harm comes to your family.
Now, having worked in this particular field for some time, I might offer a few nuggets:
- It is indeed the responsibility of the police to obtain a warrant. Given a warrant, T-Mobile will immediately provide the information that the police want and need.
- In order for the police the obtain a warrant, your mother would need to file a formal complaint (which can be done in minutes, over the phone if need be).
- Assuming that your mother has a complaint number, she should pressure the police to follow through and ensure that a warrant is obtained and that the information they need is handed over in a timely fashion.
- Your mother should not need to hire a lawyer.
T-Mobile has a legal responsibility to their customers and, ludicrous as it seems, they’re probably doing the right thing.
SCENARIO: You call to sell me magazines. I call T-Mobile unauthenticated (they have no way of concretely identifying callers are law enforcement–a court order, on the other hand, can be authenticated), tell them I’m the police, and obtain your address. I fill your car with old magazines and set it on fire.
This type of scenario presents a problem for both the provider (T-Mobile) and the customer (you). And if the provider’s disclosure resulted in your car being burned, your house being broken into, or you being assaulted, you’d likely take a different tone on the matter.
When you’re on the receiving end of something like this, emotions run high. Just keep in mind that the police are there to protect you, and that you are within your rights to immediately escalate your issue within the department if you’re not being served.
Again, hope that all is well now and in the future.
Comment — July 1, 2008 @ 4:56 pm
Years ago I’d received death threats as well, very similar sounding situation. Filed with the police, set up a trap on my phone (to record incoming numbers of future calls, this is in the days prior to caller-id) and of course, nothing happened on the expected date.
But really, this seems to be a breakdown on the police side more than the T-Mobile side. T-Mobile is doing their part to protect themselves, as well as their customers by not releasing privileged information to anyone who calls up with an interesting story and asks for it. We know your story about the death threat is true… but how would they know that?
Their request is simple, they need a court order… police get court orders every day as a part of their normal investigations. Why should this case be any different for them?
A court order gives T-Mobile the document they need that this is a true legal request and the will work in cooperation with law enforcement.
For example… what if the person who made the death threat called up T-Mobile, told them a story that your mom threatened them, and that they wanted her home address so they could give it to the police. What if T-Mobile turned over that information to them without a court order? Not good… obviously. No difference here… just work with the police and make them make it happen.
Best of luck with it, I’d just keep pushing the police with the question, “How do I get a court order?” and request their protection on Friday all day.
–Dan Dawson
Comment — July 1, 2008 @ 5:01 pm
Keith, that’s the most sensible advice I’ve received so far, thanks! I’ll forward your comment to my mother right now.
Comment — July 1, 2008 @ 5:02 pm
I just did a google search for private detectives in your Mom’s town.
There seem to be a lot in the area.
Do you think they might be able to offer any insight on how to resolve this before Friday?
Comment — July 2, 2008 @ 7:43 am
Glad that I could be of service, Raoul. And, again, I hope that all remains well.
Comment — July 2, 2008 @ 4:15 pm