Akademik

n.

A silent phone call received from a person who has inadvertently dialed or selected the number on their mobile phone. —v.

—ghost calling pp.

—ghost caller n.

One added problem for the emergency teams, particularly at this time of the year, is the inadvertent 'ghost' call made on mobile phones.

Supt Bell said: "With lots of people getting new mobiles for Christmas it is important they know how to lock their keypad. It's easy when unlocked phones are in handbags or pockets to knock them and unwittingly make '999' calls.

—"Don't be a 999 ninny during the New Year," Evening Gazette, December 30, 2008

I am a priest and a woman in my church group was used to calling her husband three or four times a day or more. She is extremely jealous and basically uses the cellphone to track his movements. A while back he must have sat on his phone or something because he "ghost-called" his wife when having drinks with another woman. He was supposed to be at work.

—David Eddie, " Is having a drink with a woman cheating?: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090306.wldamage06/BNStory/lifeFamily/," The Globe and Mail, March 6, 2009

The police are being deluged with "ghost" phone calls from careless mobile phone owners.

The problem was highlighted yesterday by Durham Constabulary who have received 800 silent 999 calls in the last six months.

On current projections the force will receive 1,600 ghost calls a year, costing £3,600.

—Ken Smith, "Police deluged with 'ghost' mobile calls," The Journal, August 10, 1999