Extreme Phone Pranks

Prank phone calls- 'Is your refrigerator running?' 'Better go catch it!' or 'Do you have Prince Albert in a can?' 'Better go let him out!'. Most kids make a few harmless, if annoying to the receiver, calls at some point. Not a big deal right? Well it's becoming a big deal to hotels across the country. Pranksters are calling guests, and in some cases employees, with outrageous requests in the name of emergencies. In Orlando, Florida a vacationing police officer did $5,000 worth of damage to a room because a caller claiming to be the front desk clerk told his wife there was a gas leak. The man had thrown a mattress out the window and the couple and their three children were instructed to jump to 'safety'. Fortunately the Hotel Manager showed up, on a noise complaint, in time to stop them. No charges were filed, nor was the couple made to pay the damages as they believed it was a real emergency. In Arkansas hotel employees were convinced to test the emergency alarms by a caller claiming to work for the sprinkler system company. They subsequently caused $50,000 worth of damage. A Comfort Suites in Alabama was damaged to the tune of $10,000 by sprinklers being set off. This time by a guest who callers had fooled into thinking there was a fire in the hotel. Then we have the Nebraska debacle. Employees were instructed to pull the fire alarm. Next they were told to break the front window to stop the alarm. The employees asked a truck driver to drive into the front of the building to break the widow, and he obliged them. Wow, phone pranks have come a long way since the days of 'Could you page Richard Hurtz, oh he goes by Dick.' http://www.orl.com/news/local/breakingnews/orl-bk-hotel-prank-070809,0,5685745.story

Update: My apologies for the bad link. Here's a different one with the same story- http://www.cleveland.com/nation/index.ssf/2009/07/unsuspecting_guests_employees.html