There’s a new technology that some of you may have heard of by now, called “compact discs,” which you can now purchase to listen to a tiny portion of our prank phone calls. We’re pretty sure these are the next big thing, so get ready to start re-purchasing all that music you’ve been buying as mp3 files these past few years. Anyway, a brand new PLA CD, titled “Can I Help You?” is now available for you to buy. This CD features calls by murd0c, Carlito from Madhouse, RBCP and The Spessas. You’ll get to hear about 73 minutes of our customer service calls from the past 10 years.
Yes, these calls are all available already on our website and from the PLA Media Pack torrent. You won’t be getting anything new or unavailable by buying this CD, aside from a cool CD with original artwork on it. If you want to download the full album for free, click here. If people like the CD and buy enough of them, that will motivate me to put together a few more of them soon. I’m mainly making these for the same reason I made the newer PLA ‘zine archive book – because some people will think this sort of thing is neat to have.
Click on the PayPal button above to buy this CD directly from me for $5.00, or click here to buy it from our supplier with PayPal or click here to buy it from our supplier with a credit card. The supplier charges too much for shipping, but at least I don’t get your address and your CD isn’t all sticky with my DNA.
Thanks, whoever made that Futurama photo. I think it was Trevor, but I’m probably wrong. Speaking of Trevor, though, he uploaded Tabachi’s billions of edited prank calls from our 24-hour prank call marathon to YouTube a few days ago, denying my request to leave out the one where I made a girl cry. Click here to join the 2012 Marathon Facebook page, which I assume will eventually contain information about next year’s 24-hour prank call marathon. (Click here to watch my video of Trevor’s videos.)
One last thing – because I’m incapable of making a post without mentioning Rappy McRapperson these days, I should mention that he visited my house last week and he accidentally left a bunch of his stuff behind so I created a blog called Comics From Space where I will display scans of the pile of drawings I have here, before throwing them in the trash. Starting next week, I will begin selling articles of his clothing on eBay. Also, me and him put together a pretty good music video for a song from his new album, called Punch The Wall. I’ve embedded it below.
Dear Arby,
i got in touch with you a while ago about becoming a affiliate with the PLA site because im in the first steps of starting my own show/site. im new to phone pranking really and im still trying to find my bearings with everything. but one of the things that has become an issue for me and my cohort for the site is the legality of prank calling. ive read a lot on the site and in your book and i know you have had some troubles from calling people. so im wondering what pointers you can share that generally keeps the law off your ass. i know in california it becomes harassment if the calls exceeds 4 calls in a 2 week span, but really i need helpful advice from someone who has been at it for long enough to know whats what. also, how do you record calls without problems? oh and i remember you referencing a kind of code of ethics that the PLA stands behind, i would like to follow that so a rundown would be very helpful in these first times with getting content for the site.
also, i have a fiend who runs an embroidery company out of her home and i was wondering if you would be interested in making some sew on PLA patches. you have buttons, shirts, hats and books so something else that can have the PLA logo would be awesome! it would also bring some well needed incoming orders for my friend. im thinking about having her make one and send you a picture of it if it would help.
Love,
Chris
Hi Chris! I’m far from being a lawyer or a cop, so keep that in mind when listening to my legal advice. A few months ago, I wrote an article on how to keep prank calls legal, which should answer most of your legal questions about prank calling. Basically, it says that you should never prank locally, you shouldn’t make threats, you shouldn’t impersonate government employees and you shouldn’t prank someone more than a couple of times. I really need to add that article to the sidebar of this site so that people can easily find it.
I’ve also written an article on how to record phone calls, which mostly deals with cellular phones and land lines. I need to update that page to include Skype recording, because Skype is about the only thing I ever use anymore for prank calling. I don’t even know how to begin to explain how I have things set up in the Cacti Radio studio, but it involves broadcasting software, a mixer and 2 sound cards hooked together in a loop that should explode the universe, but doesn’t. When I’m not on the air, though, I use mp3 Skype Recorder, which is a free program that automatically records all of your Skype calls. It sucks and it has issues and I will replace it one of these days when I feel like testing out other options, but for now it does the job. Sort of.
Finally, about your friend who makes embroidered stuff – tell her I would love for her to make a ton of PLA shit! Here’s the thing about PLA merchandise – I make barely any money at all from it. In fact, between all the time I spend packaging things up and driving to the post office and all the free stuff I include with orders and all the PLA stuff that I give away because I’m such a nice guy, I’m sure I lose money in the end. Luckily, phonelosers.org supports itself with the advertisements on this page, so I don’t really lose money at PLA.
Here’s what I’m getting at, though – I would like your friend to make any cool things she can think of that would be related to the PLA. She can use the PLA logo or PLA quotes or cacti or anything she wants. She can send me links to things she makes and I will help her sell them, using phonelosers.org and the PLA Facebook page. And here’s the best part – she can charge whatever she wants and keep all the profits for herself!
Samantha had this great idea a month or two ago – she wanted to knit things with PLA symbols on them, such as gloves or hats or whatever. I loved the idea and told her to go for it, but knowing how lazy Samantha is, I immediately set about creating a competitive market for her knitting by contacting random ETSY shop owners and suggesting to them that they make PLA things and sell them.
The image you see here is the first result of that. This is a cell phone cozy, made by MarikaHandKnits in Toronto. She makes custom party wristbands, fingerless gloves, iphone cases and more. Ideally, the etsy owner would put the item up for sale so that I could link people to it and they could easily buy it, but for whatever reason, this shop owner didn’t do that and didn’t tell me how much this cell phone cozy costs, so all I can do is tell readers to visit her shop and ask to buy the PLA cell phone cozy.
I would like for everyone to do this! If you know someone who makes things and sells it on sites like etsy.com, tell them to make PLA things! I want to see PLA hats, gloves, sweaters and underwear! I can’t guarantee that anyone will buy these things, but I will do my best to link to their PLA merchandise from this site. I’d like to even set up a section on the PLA Store page for things that other people make. Do this, people!
This morning I received the following email from a guy who ordered a PLA book and t-shirt from me earlier in the week:
Dear Brad,
I received my book (with an awesome note!) a t shirt and some other free stuff you piled on my purchase. Thank You.
I wanted to contribute to your web hosting since you give me hours of free entertainment week after week. I have sent $10 to your paypal for that purpose. Please accept it with my best wishes.
Saurabh
So besides making me feel all warm and fuzzy for the kind donation, this email has motivated me to finally enact a suggestion by John Sever (yes, the John Sever from the PLA book) – we need to donate PLA books to needy Christian schools! Imagine that you’re a child in a Christian school and there are no PLA books for the students! This is a reality for many Christian schools across the U.S.A. With the help of people like Saurabh and John and you we can provide PLA books to many students that can’t afford them.
Right now, the absolute cheapest I can send out hard copies of my book is $9.00. I’m going to use Saurabh’s $10 donation toward the first copy I send out to a Christian school, and then I’ll have $1.00 left over towards the next donation to go out. $9.00 pays for the book, the shipping box, and the post office’s shipping costs. I will track all money donated on this page and I will include the names of people who’ve donated and which schools and other organizations I’ve donated to.
If you’d like to donate right now, type in the amount of your donation (in U.S. dollars) below and click the PayPal button. Or you can send your donation directly to me at rbcp@phonelosers.org.
I’m confident that in time, we will be able to equip all needy Christian schools with PLA books. I’ve created a thread on the PLA Forums where we can discuss ideas on specific Christian schools to donate to. Thanks so much, Saurabh, and a huge thanks goes out to all future supporters of this cause!
Aren’t they beautiful? Don’t you want one more than you’ve ever wanted anything in your life? I’ve been wanting to have PLA keychains made for a long time, but never could find anything I really liked for a reasonable price. I’m really happy with these laser-etched dogtags, though, that are the perfect size for sticking on a ring of keys. Both sides have the “Phone Losers of America” with the PLA bell logo etched on it, with “Cactus?” on one side and “Cactus!” on the other.
Right now they’re $6.00 each, which includes shipping. When I get around to adding them to the PLA store, I’ll probably make them $7.00 just to punish those who weren’t fast enough about taking advantage of this amazing offer. Screw you, people who don’t watch this page every day! Use the form below to get your own.
Each dogtag includes a 24″ chain, perfect for wearing around your neck during Defcon this summer. If you hate the idea of contributing to my crack rock habit, or if you’d like to personalize your PLA keychain with your name instead of “Cactus?” then visit our supplier, Etch Plus, and have them make your own for a slightly cheaper price, just as I did in this video. You can use this PLA logo on their ordering page.
As long as I’m making a post here, I’m going to throw in a sound file to either annoy podcast subscribers or make them happy. It’s a weird phone song that you should all enjoy about a neurotic man who falls in love with a 411 telephone operator and spends the rest of his life calling 411, hoping to talk to her again. You can learn more about this song on my music page.
Believe it or not, the announcement of an upcoming book about the PLA actually wasn’t an elaborate April Fool’s Day prank. The book is now officially released and you can buy it right now from places like Amazon and CreateSpace!
The Phone Losers of America book is a collection of stories, based around the original issues of PLA, RBCP’s homepage and other things found on this website. It’s written by RBCP, with a foreword by Rob T Firefly. The PLA book covers important topics that are relevant today, such as red boxing! Oh wait, that doesn’t work so good anymore. Well, there’s cordless phone eavesdropping and answering machine hacking and…crap, forget relevant.
The PLA’s 310 page book is a collection of short stories which take you on a twenty year journey of high-tech humor, culture jamming, and criminal mischief. From remotely controlling the overhead paging system of a large supermarket, to confusing the phone company with various call forwarding stunts, this bizarre collection of pranks will not only make you laugh, but will make you question the security and sanity of common, everyday business procedures. The stories contained in this book are based on the writings from this website, some which have been featured in USA Today, the Boston Herald, 2600, on CNBC, CNN, TechTV, and countless other websites, books, magazines, radio shows and police reports.
All of the content has been rewritten for the book so you’ll only think you’re reading the same shit that you’ve been reading here for the past 16 years. You’ll get all the classics, like the Dino story, Fred Meyer, the Boulder News Frenzy, Curtis Lee Jones, and more. There’s also plenty of new material, based on PLA themes, along with illustrations by Rob T Firefly, RBCP, Napalmoliv, Sakerobot, and Aftershocks. For a somewhat complete chapter list, visit the PLA book page.
The retail price of the book is $15.00, but you can get yours for $12.00 by going to CreateSpace and entering the coupon code of DCMP29NN. The PLA book is also available on Amazon.com and can be ordered from all major book stores if you’re the type of person that still shops offline. And, of course, you can find the book in the PLA Store. If you read your books on a Kindle, you can get the PLA ebook for just $7.50.
So you are hereby commanded to drop whatever you’re doing right now and buy the PLA book! And don’t forget to buy several extra copies as Christmas gifts for each and every member of your family. And buy at least one copy to burn at your church’s Wednesday night youth service. And one to keep in your bathroom. And don’t forget to send a few copies to your favorite inmates in prison. Oh, and one for your coffee table. And one to balance that annoying uneven leg on your washing machine. And a couple to keep by the door to hand out to the pizza delivery guys as tips. Do it!
(To you people that preordered – thanks! If you haven’t received your book already, it should arrive any second now!)
Below is a video of El Gordo Uno unboxing the PLA books he preordered.
Our new April 1st video on YouTube will show you how to scam a pay phone by dialing a 32 digit code that technicians use to empty the coin box. You can be RICH! That is, if you consider the very small amount of quarters found inside pay phones these days to be a lot of money. Not since our toaster/CB Radio/drive-thru video from last year have we brought you such useful quality video.
This video is for informational purposes only! Do not actually attempt to use this code to empty out coin boxes. Now that this information is in the public eye again, we hope the phone companies will use a little common sense and change the codes again like they did in 1995. But I wouldn’t count on it.
Also this week, I replenished the supply of black PLA t-shirts since they we running low. And while I was at it, I threw a few extra colors in there too. Purple, because I know you hacker types love wearing purple because it makes you look so fabulous. Some kind of reddish color called “cedar” and a hippie-looking green color named Olive. Here’s a picture:
Those 3 new colors are in very limited supply and only available in Large and Extra Large. Black shirts are available in all sizes. Visit the PLA Store to order a shirt. Be sure to put a note on the PayPal order form that you want one of the other colors, otherwise you’ll receive a black shirt.
After a year of selling those horrid, old orange stickers and finally dumping them all off on a table at Defcon, the PLA is at it again with their latest money-making get-rich-quick scheme. This time we’ve got some shiny new full-color vinyl stickers for you. These vinyl stickers are 3.25 inches in diameter, giving them a circumference of 10.210176124166829 inches! For a mere $5.00 you’ll get 10 of these stickers, which will look great on all of your personal belongings. Click on the “add to cart” button below to order these stickers. If you’d like to see more pictures of this sticker, then visit the PLA Store.
CLICK HERE TO BUY ONE STICKER FOR $1.00:
CLICK HERE TO BUY 10 STICKERS FOR $5.00:
And speaking of stickers, the United Phone Losers have been selling out with a few stickers of their own. Take a look at www.phonelosers.net to see linear’s CACTUS IS NOT A CRIME sticker, which is available in the UPL Store.
This episode of PLA Radio covers a few updates, a crazy Craigslist prank, voicemails set to the love theme in Flashdance, and answering machine and voicemail hacking.
Your coffee will taste 170% better when it’s sipped from our new official PLA coffee mugs! You need to buy one of these for every member of your immediate family! Use them as a water bowl for your dog. Plant flowers in them. Keep your pens and pencils in them. Use them as a chamber pot. Do anything you want with them, just buy them from us! There is an imprint on each side of the mug – the PLA logo on one side and “Phone Losers of America” on the other. All cups are white with black print. Assuming you have PayPal, you can click on the button below to order several dozen of them. They are $5.00 each, plus $5.00 shipping no matter how many you buy.
If coffee mugs aren’t your thing, you could always visit the PLA Store and buy some PLA t-shirts or caps.
If you’ve been dying to get a PLA t-shirt, but black and grey just wasn’t colorful enough for you, then today’s your lucky day! A very limited supply of the new PLA t-shirts are now available in dark green, dark orange, brown and white. Sorry, the pink is already sold out!
I only ordered 2 of each of these different colors – 1 in Large and the other in X-Large. Also available, but not in the picture, are 2 large shirts in the color maroon. If you must have these shirts immediately, then PayPal $19 to rbcp AT phonelosers.org. Or visit the PLA Store if you’d like to order a black or grey shirt.
Also, you should visit PLA’s page of photos to see your favorite celebrity superstars wearing PLA shirts! Once you’ve ordered a shirt, send in a picture of yourself wearing it and, chances are, it’ll end up on that page.
Thanks for your support! Without the proceeds from these t-shirts, RBCP wouldn’t be snorting nearly as much cocaine!
The text links and other ads below help pay for our hosting and crack cocaine bills. They are probably not affiliated with PLA in any way. If you'd like your own link to appear somewhere on this page, then visit our advertising page.
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The image you see here is the first result of that. This is a cell phone cozy, made by 
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The Phone Losers of America book is a collection of stories, based around the 
This episode of PLA Radio covers a few updates, a crazy Craigslist prank, voicemails set to the love theme in Flashdance, and answering machine and voicemail hacking.
