A prank call, also known as a crank call or hoax call, is a form of practical joke committed over the telephone. As with all practical jokes, there is a thin line between humor and harassment, and the only person likely to find a prank call funny is the person who instigates it.

Prank calls range from annoying hang-ups to false calls to emergency services or bomb threats. Prank calls that waste the time of emergency services are a criminal offense in most countries, and in the United States of America, the Telecommunications Act makes any prank call a misdemeanor with penalties of up to a year in prison and a fine of $10,000 (depending on severity).

Some performers such as the Jerky Boys have produced albums of prank calls. The television show Crank Yankers is a series of real-life prank calls acted-out by puppets. The group Prank Machine (http://www.prankmachine.com) has nearly 200 calls available entirely free to the public on their site.

One example of a recent hoax call occurred in Perth, Australia, on New Years Eve, 2002, when a drunken teenager called the new anti-terrorist hotline to report a bomb threat against the New Years Eve Fireworks celebration. The threat was taken seriously, and the celebrations were about to be canceled, when police discovered that no such threat existed. The teen was arrested for deliberate false reporting.

Even very prominent people have fallen victim to prank callers, as for example Queen Elizabeth II who was fooled by a Canadian DJ posing as Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, asking her to record a speech in support of Canadian unity ahead of the 1995 Quebec referendum.

Two other particularly famous examples of prank calls were made by the Miami-based radio station Radio El Zoi. In one they telephoned Cuban President Fidel Castro and spoke to him, pretending to be Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. They later repeated the prank, except that they called Chávez pretending to be Castro. They were fined by the FCC.

Some examples of well-known prank calls are:

Caller: Do you have Prince Albert in a Can?

Receiver: Yes, I do.

Caller: Then you'd better let him out!!

Caller: Hello! Is your refrigerator running?

Receiver: Yes, it is.

Caller: Then you'd better go catch it!

(This last one was parodied on the Simpsons, with the response being "as a matter of fact, my refrigerator wasn't running! Your timely phone call saved me from a great deal of unnecessary spoilage! Thank you, anonymous young man!")

It is possible that Caller ID will bring an end to the prank call.

See also:

• Obscene telephone calls
• Celebrity prank calls
• The Simpsons (specifically, Moe's Tavern)