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Comment by dTal | Hacker News Reader

Um. I don't often swear on HN, but what the fuck.

It should go without saying that it is not normal in a civilized society for the police to harass and intimidate random people over the telephone into giving them money - let alone automating it.

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There is no mention above about people being harassed and intimidated.

Yes there is. Phoning someone and saying "This is the police", followed by a pause, is calculated to raise people's heart rate and stress them out. They know that because they follow it up with "don't worry" - people shouldn't be worried in the first place. It deliberately plays on people's fear, and that's despicable.

Then there's the fact that some people fear repercussions for not donating. How did they get that impression? An honest misunderstanding, no doubt...

Then there's the repeated robocalling. That would certainly harass me.

or if it's actually the police and not a scam

The police always intimidate. It's how they try to gain control of every situation they are in. If there's no mention, it should be assumed, and should be assumed unless there's specific evidence to the contrary.

> I've been getting calls for years at home where the caller would say "Mr XXX, this is the police" and then a pause and then "don't worry, we're just calling to talk to you about <some charity event>".

This is harassment and intimidation.

If only there was someone that could go arrest them…

First time it happened my heart jumped into my throat. I was fucking pissed off.

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