Pregnant Kate: Radio Station Faces Backlash
Sky News
December 8, 2012

The CEO of the radio station behind the Duchess of Cambridge hoax call says his DJs are “shattered” by the death of a nurse.11:09am UK, Saturday 08 December 2012

Video: Prank Radio Station Faces Backlash

Two DJs are being offered counselling after the nurse duped by their prank call to the Duchess of Cambridge’s hospital died in a suspected suicide.

Nurse Jacintha Saldanha was found dead days after taking the hoax call and putting it through to a nurse on Kate’s ward, who divulged private information about her treatment.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge led tributes to the 46-year-old mother of two, saying they were “deeply saddened” by news of her death.

Flowers have also been left outside the hospital’s nurses’ block, just around the corner from the building where Kate was treated for acute morning sickness.

Major advertisers have dumped 2Day FM and presenters Mel Greig and Michael Christian have been taken off air as the station faces a backlash over the disastrous stunt.
(more…)

From “Big Penis” Jon:

Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur of Current TV’s “Young Turks” show discuss C-SPAN’s prank calls about Mitt Romney’s penis size:

CNN anchor interviews prank caller live
by ninemsn staff
news.ninemsn.com.au
November 29, 2011

A red-faced CNN anchor was fooled on live television by a prank caller impersonating a US student who had been arrested in Cairo.

The prankster phoned the studio on November 27 pretending to be Gregory Porter, a real 19-year-old student from Philadelphia who was arrested while participating in protests in Cairo’s Tahrir Square and then released.

Anchor Fredricka Whitfield appeared completely fooled by the caller, who sounded legitimate at first.

He said returning to the US was like “an early Christmas present”.

But the exchange came to a bizarre end when Ms Whitfield asked the caller what he had been doing the night he was arrested.

The man claimed he was “just down there looking” at the protest when the group was “grabbed by police”.

He then thanked his lawyer, his mother, the US embassy in Cairo, the North shore Animal League and Baba Booey’s monkey nuts. (more…)

Submitted by Gerant Johnston: I video myself talking to telemarketers. I do it for laughs and I do it to keep them occupied so they have less time to bother other people. I have this joke where I try to see how many times I can consecutively say ‘YES’… and yesterday I beat my record of 27 with a whopping 35. I’m quite proud.

Proud art of prank calling still worth mastering
by Adrian Lahola-Chomiak
The Gateway
March 28, 2011

These days, with the invention of caller ID and text messaging, it seems that prank calls have more or less fallen by the wayside. But I’m not ready to surrender this classic joke just yet; too many hours in my life have been spent trying to decide who to call and which prank to pull. So for all you wide-eyed, greenhorn, wannabe pranksters out there, here are a few tips on how to transform yourself from a refrigerator runner to a master.

First, let’s review the tools of the trade. There’s the phone, and, well, that’s pretty much it — but you do have to worry about how you use it. You’ll want to mask your voice with a modulator app, like Funny Call from iOKi. This will make you sound like anything from Rebecca Black to a chipmunk. Now that your voice is anonymous — and hilarious — you’ll need to know three simple rules before you call. (more…)

Wisconsin legislature pushing for prank call ban
by Laura Donovan
The Daily Caller
March 2, 2011

A week after Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker received a prank call from blogger Ian Murphy, who posed as conservative billionaire David Koch, two Wisconsin legislators introduced a bill Monday that would ban prank calls, reports the Badger Herald.

Republican state Sen. Mary Lazich and Republican state Rep. Mark Honadel said their measure would forbid deceiving the call’s recipient into believing the caller is someone he or she is not.

“While use of spoofing is said to have some legitimate uses, it can also be used to frighten, harass and potentially defraud,” Lazich and Honadel told the Badger Herald. (more…)

Update from Huffington Post 2:28pm: Buffalo Beast Website Goes Down Following Walker, Koch Prank Call. But you can listen to the prank call here or watch the 2 part video below.

Blogger Pranks Wisconsin Gov
Daily Beast
February 23, 2011

Wisconsin’s public workers are still deadlocked in a fierce battle with Gov. Scott Walker, but one blogger has his number—literally and figuratively. Ian Murphy, a writer for the Buffalo Beast, says he posed as businessman David Koch, a major funder of conservative and libertarian causes, and managed to get through to Walker, engaging him in-and recording-a somewhat embarrassing conversation. The ersatz Koch offers favors, draws Walker into an objectifying remark about MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski, and gets him to tip his hand on a procedural trick to draw Democratic senators back to the state after fleeing to Illinois. Walker’s office confirmed the recordings are genuine on Wednesday. Read it at Buffalo Beast.

Here’s video in two parts of the phone call:

Koch Whore: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, part 1

Koch Whore: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, part 2

image: dailynews-update.net

Additional links:

From Be Nice Art Friends, because prank calls are still funny:

Bart Simpson, Crank Yankers, your Mom, everyone loves a good prank call, but I feel like no one does it better than Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim. The geniuses behind classic American comedy shows* such as, Tom Goes to the Mayor, Steven and Stephen, and of course, the ever beloved Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job, have done plenty of pranks in their time, but personally, I’m loving the following:

*They WILL be.

From CMT Comedy Stage – Tom Mape in “Mape in America”

Click here to watch a video of a Tom Mape phone prank called Cell Phone Eavesdropping

thanks Linda

Check out more prank calls from Tom Mabe here and here.

Incognit-O phone prank
by Lukas I. Alpert
New York Post
December 23, 2009

Move over, Vinny from Queens. There’s a new radio call-in king — and he’s dialing from the White House.

President Obama played a prank on his friend, outgoing Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, phoning Kaine’s radio show as “Barry from DC” to gripe about traffic.

The ruse didn’t last long, as Obama quickly said, “Well, Governor Kaine, this is actually the president of the United States calling. I have some questions about traffic in northern Virginia. But rather than go there, I’d just like to say how proud we are of your service.”

A stunned Kaine said his happiest moment as governor came when Obama was elected president with Virginia’s help.

photo: dailymail.co.uk

Submitted by W.J. Elvin III:

FBI probes PrankNET over thousands of dollars in damage caused to hotels and restaurants
by Tom Leonard
Telegraph.co.uk
15 July 2009

The FBI is investigating an anonymous prank-calling internet group which has reportedly duped people into causing thousands of dollars of damage to hotels and restaurants.

Some former fans of PrankNET have expressed misgivings about the increasingly violent nature of the pranks

PrankNET posts its “greatest hits” on YouTube and streams its calls live on internet radio.

Investigators say its creators are difficult to identify due to the diffficulty of tracing prank calls placed online.

Dex, the pseudonym for the group’s purported leader, has claimed credit for various expensive scare calls, although others have been attributed to “copycats”. (more…)

Prank call gone HORRIBLY wrong!!

Phone prank from KTU War of the Roses with hosts Goumba Johnny and Hollywood Hamilton.

War Of The Roses 3

via Will Art for Food – Weekend News

Submitted by W.J. Elvin III, as found on The Smoking Gun, June 9, 2009:

Now…Go Break The Windows

Crank caller wreaks havoc on Arkansas hotel, duping employees, guests

A telephone prankster posing as a sprinkler company employee caused havoc Saturday morning at an Arkansas Holiday Inn when he convinced an employee to set off the hotel’s fire alarm, smash windows, shut down electricity, and break a sprinkler head that flooded the building lobby. The bizarre incident is detailed in a report prepared by the Conway Police Department, which, as seen below, photographed the aftermath of the June 6 incident. According to police, Holiday Inn employee Christina Bergmann was at the front desk early Saturday when a male caller “identified himself as an employee of Grennel Fire Sprinkler service.” The man told Bergmann that there was a problem with the hotel’s fire sprinklers and that she “needed to pull the fire alarm to reset them,” cops reported. “Bergmann proceeded to pull the fire alarm at this point, causing the audible alarm.” Bergmann, aided by a hotel guest, would subsequently follow a series of directions from the caller that would result in about $50,000 in damages to the hotel’s windows, carpets and electrical system. (more…)

Submitted by Brad Carter of phonelosers.com:

I spent my Black Friday hanging out at Wal-Mart, picking up phones in the store to talk to customers calling in. I managed to get a lot of them to yell at me for poor customer service. Thought your readers might enjoy it.