Phone Calls and Malicious Messages (Phone Harassment)

Verified 15 April 2024 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

Do you receive phone calls or malicious messages repeatedly? This is telephone harassment. These acts constitute a offense. If you are a victim of this type of harassment, you need to collect evidence. You can file a complaint against the perpetrator or against X. We present you with the information you need to know.

Phone harassment involves the repetition of phone calls or messages (SMS, MMS, private messages on a social network, emails) intended to disturb your tranquility.

For this offense to be retained, 2 conditions cumulative must be completed:

  • Calls or messages must be repeated. The harassment is retained from the 2nd call or the 2nd malicious message. The times and frequency of telephone interactions will be taken into account (e.g. night calls or repeated SMS messages within a very short interval).
  • These calls or messages are intended to harm your peace of mind. This is the case when they are disturbing, intimidating or interfere with the proper functioning of your day (for example, 20 calls made at any time of day or night, accompanied by threats and insults)

This offense shall be punished even if:

  • The perpetrator of the harassment is anonymous
  • No phone call took place. Indeed, this infringement may be retained even if the author has fallen on your voice box or answering machine
  • You have not been threatened or insulted (e.g. a person disrupts a doctor's office by making repeated phone calls without speaking)

Warning  

Phone harassment should not be confused with abusive telephone solicitation and the cyberharassment. These offenses are punished differently.

To demonstrate harassment, you need to collect evidence that will be considered by the court.

Any form of proof shall be permitted:

  • Recorded calls even without the author's knowledge
  • Recordings of messages left on your voicemail
  • SMS or MMS screenshots
  • Printing emails exchanged with the harasser

You must enter the times and dates when these various calls and messages occurred.

If you filed a handrail You can also pass it on to the police or the gendarmerie.

In addition, you can demonstrate that these calls or messages have caused you harm by providing a medical certificate, a certificate from the occupational physician, etc.

Finally, you have the possibility to call on a commissioner of justice (former bailiff and judicial auctioneer) to find out about the harassment.

Please note

The findings made by a justice commissioner incur costs.

If you receive repeated phone calls or malicious messages, you can lodge a complaint against the perpetrator. If you don't know the identity of the person harassing you, you can file a complaint against X.

The complaint can be filed within 6 years from the 2nd malicious call or message.

If you file a complaint, an investigation will be conducted. If the perpetrator is identified, he may be prosecuted and convicted by the correctional court.

On the spot

You can go to a police station or a gendarme brigade of your choice.

Who shall I contact

The police or gendarmerie refer the complaint to the public prosecutor.

If the police or gendarmerie refuse to take your domestic violence complaint, you can alert the competent control authorities.

Submit online to the Inspectorate General of the National Police

Contact the Inspectorate General of the National Gendarmerie online

By mail

You can file a complaint with the public prosecutor.

To do this, you must send an email to the court of law of the place of the offense or of the domicile of the offender.

Who shall I contact

Your mail should include the following:

  • Your marital status and full contact information (address and telephone number)
  • Detailed account of the facts, date and place of the offense
  • Name of the alleged perpetrator if known (otherwise, the complaint will be filed against X)
  • Name and address of any witnesses to the offense
  • Description and provisional or definitive estimate of the damage
  • Your proof documents: medical certificates, work stoppages, photographs, videos, miscellaneous invoices, findings, etc.

You can use the following mail template:

File a complaint with the public prosecutor

You can send your complaint by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt, by simple letter or by letter followed.

You can also file your complaint directly at the courthouse.

In any case, a receipt is given to you as soon as the Public Prosecutor's Office has registered your complaint.

The presence of a lawyer is not mandatory for the lodging of a complaint and throughout the procedure until the trial before the correctional court. However, you can get legal assistance if you wish.

Who shall I contact

FYI  

If the complaint is filed without further action or if you have not heard from the police, gendarmerie or the public prosecutor for more than 3 months after your complaint, you can file a civil party claim.

The perpetrator of the telephone harassment risks a sentence of:

  • 1 year in prison
  • And €15,000 of fine.

Where the offense has been committed by the spouse, common-law partner or Civil partnership partner, the penalty shall be increased to:

  • 3 years in prison
  • And €45,000 of fine.

Please note

The author of the telephone harassment also incurs additional penalties (e.g. prohibition on working or holding a public office, prohibition on carrying a weapon, suspension of driving license).

Who can help me?

Find who can answer your questions in your region

  • To know your rights as a victim of telephone harassment

    House of Justice and the Law

  • If you are a woman who has been subjected to telephone harassment

    Violence Women Info - 3919

    Listen, inform and refer women victims of violence, and witnesses to such violence.

    Addresses physical, verbal, or psychological abuse, at home or at work, and abuse of any kind (including sexual harassment, assault, and rape).

    Does not deal with emergencies (it is not a police or gendarmerie service).

    For other types of violence, 3919 provides a first-level response and directs or transfers to a useful number.

    By telephone

    39,19 (free call from a landline or mobile phone in metropolitan and DOM)

    Open 24/7

    Anonymous call

    Call not on phone bills

  • If you wish to obtain the assistance of a lawyer

    Lawyer

FAQ