What does pranker mean? What is a prank song? Technical equipment of pranksters

Many cultural figures and famous politicians have already fallen victim to their sparkling pranks.

They use the telephone as their weapon, and can practically influence the currents of world politics. What kind of people are these? Meet! Pranksters!

Who is this?

The word "pranker" has English roots. On English"prank" sounds like "prank". Prankers were born along with such an outstanding invention as the telephone. The peak of popularity of pranksters came in the seventies of the twentieth century, when it became possible to record conversations on miniature audio cassettes.

Pranksters love to prank famous politicians and actors, as well as other people who are constantly in the public eye. There are also pranksters who love to play pranks on ordinary people on the streets, which brings a lot of fun to those around them. Pranksters are allowed divide into several groups. These include:

• Pranksters who play pranks famous personalities for a certain fee. The services of these pranksters are mainly in demand in any political battles, or to discredit any media personality. In their work, pranksters often encounter sharp rebuff from the “victim”;
• The second group of prankers includes people who do this for what is called a “fan.” For pranksters in this group, pranks are a real pleasure. Also, their activities appeal to the mass public;
• The third group of pranksters includes people whose goal is to expose unscrupulous politicians and other people in power. The pranksters of this group obtain information hidden from everyone and put it on public display.

Who provides phone numbers to pranksters?

This aspect is the most difficult in the activities of pranksters. Getting a victim's phone number is sometimes a very difficult task.

Basically, pranksters transform into sincere fans, or journalists from popular agencies. In most cases, various kinds of tricks give positive results, and the pranker still manages to get the victim’s coveted phone number.

There are also multiple online resources, where pranksters exchange useful information related to a particular public figure, and also provide each other with phone numbers of famous people.

Prankers abroad life is much easier. In developed countries there are quite a lot of very detailed online directories in which you can find a lot of useful information for organizing pranks.

There are many companies that can provide a prankster with all the necessary information for money. These companies are professionally engaged in obtaining information, and even have a license for their activities. These include private investigation agencies, which have a fairly extensive database of famous people in their arsenal.

Prankers also include people who just like to play pranks on the street, thereby amusing passers-by and other onlookers. The pranks of street pranksters are quite harmless, but they also require certain prank skills. Street “pranks” are fun for everyone, including the “victims.”

Technical equipment of pranksters

Often pranksters need very powerful technical and technological support. So for this activity, arrogance and self-confidence are not enough.

In the old days, pranksters were very fond of playing pranks on their victims. using pay phones, but at the beginning of the 21st century such machines practically disappeared from city streets. It was difficult to trace a call from a pay phone, which made the prankster practically invulnerable.

At the end of the last century, they began to come into fashion caller IDs, which also made life difficult for pranksters. Telephone companies provided a “hidden number” service for a fee, but potential victims were reluctant to talk to an “unidentified” subscriber. With the advent of the Internet, an era of prosperity began for pranksters.

Nowadays, life is much easier for them, as new means of communication are being introduced, on new data transfer protocols. IP telephony is becoming very popular now. Today, it is also not easy to track a prankster's call, since it goes through many nodes and servers that are scattered around the world.

Conclusion

The activities of pranksters, although is not particularly encouraged by the Legislation, but is not strictly prohibited. They play on those people whose reputation is slightly tarnished. The activities of pranksters sometimes make it possible to solve some pressing problems, and also bring a lot of pleasure to the audience.

High-quality pranks cause a lot of laughter, and laughter is known to prolong life. Laugh for your health!

Famous show business stars, Russian and foreign politicians fall under their attack. Their weapon is the phone, but with just that, they are literally changing the world. Meet the prankers. This is who, to their regret, Petro Poroshenko, Vladimir Churov, Recep Erdogan and many other famous people have already found out.

Who are pranksters and what do they do?

Telephone pranks (or prank - “prank”, translated from English) appeared along with the invention of the telephone. However, real popularity came to them after technological means of recording conversations on audio cassette appeared - in the late 1970s.

As a rule, public figures become victims. Although it is not so rare that ordinary, unsuspecting people are the object of ridicule.

Initiators of pranks (prankers) pursue the following goals:

1. Justforfun. They do it because they absolutely love it - just as millions of people love it when someone is made to look stupid. Especially if a famous media personality comes under attack;
2. For money. Discrediting a famous person can be organized, for example, by political opponents. During a conversation with a bully, the victim often breaks down and starts using obscene language;
3. Bringing dishonest individuals to clean water. Thus, pranksters Vovan and Lexus, known throughout the country, often call the governors of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, exposing all the skeletons hidden in their closets.

Hardware and technological support for telephone hooliganism

In order to start remotely terrorizing strangers, self-confidence and arrogance are not enough. Special software and hardware are required:

1. Since the 1990s, the service of auto-determination of incoming call numbers has been gaining popularity, which has made pranks quite difficult to implement. Although most phone companies allowed subscribers to hide their identifying information, potential victims were reluctant to answer calls from an ID number;
2. Another common method - calls from payphones - became virtually unavailable in the 2000s. Street devices have become absolutely unnecessary in conditions of general “mobilization”;
3. Now pranksters all over the world use the VoIP protocol: calls made using it are extremely difficult to track because they go through servers located in many countries;
4. Telephone hooligans also often use the Ventrilo program, which combines the capabilities of IP telephony with group chat;
5. There are many sites on the Internet that allow you to create real-time pranks (for example, “Usrtream” or “Stickam”).

Pranksters Vovan and Lexus: who is it?

Although the idea of ​​practical jokes originally originated in the West, it has become extremely popular in our country. YouTube videos featuring famous people receive millions of views, and the “hooligans” themselves are invited to appear on television. This, for example, happened to the most famous masters of the genre under the pseudonyms Vovan and Lexus:

• Vovan, or Vladimir Kuznetsov, began doing pranks in 2007. A lawyer by training and a journalist by profession, he quickly became one of the “telephone jokers.” Vladimir Churov, Valeria Novodvorskaya and even Alexey Panin became his victims;
• Alexey Stolyarov, who pranked the top officials of the USA, Turkey and Ukraine, took the Lexus car brand as his pseudonym. Received economic and legal education. He gained wide popularity on the RuNet in the 2000s when he took on the task of exposing deceitful politicians;
• Since mid-2010, the joint work of the two largest Russian-speaking prankers began. The victims of this team were Igor Kolomoisky, Elton John, and the New York Times. Together they led projects on the Komsomolskaya Pravda radio station and NTV.

Pranking in popular culture

The image of a telephone hooligan is quite typical for many works of modern mass culture:

• The composition of the American parody singer Weird Al Yankovic entitled “Phony Calls” is dedicated to this burning topic;
• In the TV series Pee-wee (1986-1991), one of the characters, Randy, makes a prank call to a police officer. The officer warns the mischievous man that his action could lead to imprisonment;
• In the 1978 thriller Halloween, the character Michael Myers poses as the boyfriend of one of the characters, Linda, which subsequently leads to her death;
• One of the episodes of the series “Regular Cartoon” is called “The Tricks of Subscribers.” It tells how ordinary Americans Mordecai and Rigby, inspired by the success of pranksters, try to achieve success in this field themselves;
• With the help of a prank, the hero of the famous animated series "The Simpsons" Homer decided to get his friend Moe. He makes calls on behalf of people with strange and even vulgar names;
• The phenomenon plays an important role in some television programs. Among them are “Crank Yankers” and “Fonejacker”.

How do pranksters find out phone numbers?

Prank masters have to resort to all sorts of tricks to obtain confidential information about their future victims:

• The most difficult thing is to get the phone number of a politician or a star. Here elegant acting transformations come into play: the prankster introduces himself either as a journalist eager for an interview, or as an employee of the PR service. No matter how strict security measures are, they can always give way under the influence of human error;
• Professional prank forums are an invaluable treasure trove of information about public figures. True, it is extremely difficult for a beginner to get there;
• In the case of ordinary people, the situation may be much simpler. Some individuals who are not particularly concerned about their privacy display their contacts and personal information on social networks;
• In some developed countries, telephone directories are available online. However, there are numbers only of those people who voluntarily opened their contacts. And there are few of them;
• If the required number is not available in open databases, you should seek the help of professionals. Thus, the Intellius company guarantees to provide the necessary information for a very modest fee.

There are not only telephone pranksters. This is the name given to people who like to play pranks on relatives, friends, or just passers-by on the streets. There are many videos on this topic on YouTube.

Seeing a celebrity in an awkward position is a cherished dream for millions ordinary people. One of the ways to achieve this is through telephone pranks, the masters of which are pranksters. “Who is this?” asks the unsuspecting victim in response to a sudden anonymous call. And then an interesting performance begins, often ending nervous breakdown and seven-story mats.

Video about a famous prankster of Russian origin in America

In this video, the famous prankster from Murmansk Vitaly Zdorovetsky (VitalyzdTv) will prank unsuspecting fellow travelers in the elevator, playing the role of a Russian killer:

A prank is a pleasant joke that is discovered at the last moment, and there are people who make good money from it. Who are these pranksters that people talk about a lot on the streets and write about on the Internet? People who like to laugh at everyone around them and even at themselves. By exposing this to the public, they become successful bloggers and promote themselves online.

Who are pranksters?

Everyone is familiar with the situation when pranks occur using the telephone, that is, by calling a friend or stranger. It would seem that such jokes are a thing of the past, but no, this is already a whole direction, which is called prank. Prankers are people who make calls to their so-called victims, often on someone else’s behalf, and through their actions achieve a violent and not always positive reaction from them.

Prankers are a subculture

If you delve a little deeper into history, you will notice that the development of this direction began simultaneously with the advent of the telephone. This subculture is not very widespread, since there are not so many fans of telephone scams, and it is worth noting that this is not done with the aim of causing aggression, each prank respects his business and knows that the main thing is a funny conversation.

At first glance, it may seem that the life of a prank is absolutely safe and fun with such entertainment, but this is not always the case. In the era of modern technology, you can easily track where the call is coming from and identify the prankster. For some, blocking the number will be enough, others may sue for disclosure of personal information or for causing moral harm.

How do pranksters find out phone numbers?

Before calling anyone, the prankster must find out the number of a specific person in order to know what questions to ask him, what he can react to, and so on. The surprising thing is that there is no limit for them; they can even call the president, and if they want, they can quickly find the number. People who receive calls from such a prankster wonder where pranksters get phone numbers from? The main search methods are:

• social media;
• dialing a number at random;
• number search programs;
• assistance from mobile operators (illegal).

The method of dialing a number at random is practically no longer used, or it is used by inexperienced or novice prankers. Nowadays, many programmers collaborate with pranksters and develop programs for them that hack customer databases in various companies and even get brief information about their lives. Knowing who these pranksters are, a person understands that it is better not to mess with them.

How to become a pranker?

Fans of various kinds of jokes and entertainment try to become pranksters, at least for themselves, because for them it is something new and interesting, but not everyone can become one. For them, excellent command of the language and masterful improvisation and boundless language are a prerequisite; without this, the conversation can turn into aggressive swearing.

Skilled and born prankers calmly conduct a conversation on any topic, interest their victim. The main thing is that the person does not hang up or block the number; the fun begins only after irritation and interest on the part of the client. The most convenient thing is that you can develop these skills yourself, sitting at home.

The best pranker in the world

Surprisingly, there are even individuals who, thanks to pranking, have become famous, and quite impressive ones at that. The number of their fans sometimes exceeds several million. There was no nomination for “best prank” on a global scale; each country boasts of its mobile pranksters. In Russia, for example, according to many, the most famous pranker is Vladimir Kuznetsov- pranker Vovan. He was especially popular due to the pranks of such people as Elton John, Alexander Lukashenko, Anastasia Volochkova, Vitali Klitschko.

Famous prankers

A whole section has already appeared on the Internet, which is specifically dedicated to pranksters. There you can find the most popular people, engaged in mobile jokes, and you can observe the activities of less popular people. Their main channel is Youtube. Who is more popular is decided by the viewer of the blogs. Today, the following personalities are considered the brightest on the Internet, who rightfully bear the status of the best prankers:

Recently, this type of entertainment has become increasingly popular. Many consider this stupidity, many call it cruelty and the result of idleness, and for some it is just fun and nothing “personal”.
Prank (literally translated from English) means “prank”. The most common definition in our time is this: a prank is a prank (more and more often a telephone prank), when the pranker (the person who organized the prank) impersonates another person or acts as an anonymous person and interacts with the “victim”. The goal of a pranker is to confuse the victim, to infuriate him, and to provoke him to the most unexpected reactions and actions. In the West, prank is often called a “practical joke”. This means that the "joker" performs a specific physical action, as opposed to spoken and written jokes. For example, a prankster can hang a bucket of water over a doorway and wait until the victim enters the room, that is, he puts humor (sometimes very unpleasant) into practice.

There are many types of prank:

• “Hardprank” is a type of telephone prank during which the victim must reach a hysterical state. There is always obscene language, and the victim who exposed the pranksters always threatens to kill them.
• “Light prank” - the purpose of such a prank is to involve the victim in a prank game: just to laugh together, discuss crazy ideas and chat.
• “Radio prank” is a very hard type of prank, as in the first case. Pranksters call radio stations and conduct absurd dialogues with the hosts live, throwing them off balance.
• “Technoprank” is a type of prank when the pranker makes an “audio cut” from the phrases and answers of the previous victim and “plays” the recording into the telephone receiver to other victims. When done correctly, the victim gets the impression that she is conducting a dialogue with a living person on the other end of the line.
• “Prank journalism” is created for the purpose of obtaining information that is not available to others. Such provocative recordings are always published in the media.

An important point in telephone pranking is that the conversation should always be recorded.

So, do you still think your college roommate's prank was pretty clever?
How do you like these pranks?

Massachusetts Institute of Technology students turned the 88-meter Green Building on their campus into a real Tetris! Four years of planning, 2 months of sleepless nights - all in order to make the impossible possible. Using a sophisticated wireless communication system and controlled LED lights, talented engineers transformed the building's 153 windows into falling blocks of color.

In 1962, the April Fool's holiday broadcast of the Swedish Television Network was remembered by viewers for a long time. The presenters announced that today everyone can watch the usual black and white broadcast in color. All you need to do is pull a pair of nylon stockings over the screen!
“Technical expert” Kjell Stensson explained to the audience in great scientific detail that in order for the result to be even better, it is necessary to turn your head from side to side when viewing. Needless to say, the thousands of viewers who believed it looked a little stupid, just a little.

Or let’s remember the prankster antics of the famous hippie billionaire, founder of the Virgin Group corporation, Richard Branson. Firstly, he once imitated a robbery in the apartment of one of his friends, leaving the apartment trashed, fingerprints and a broken door. Secondly, he designed a flying saucer, in which he flew over London. However, that evening the streets were windless and quiet, which is why the plate hovered in the air. When a crowd of onlookers and bewildered police gathered at the scene, and the plate sank to the ground, a real alien came out of it! As it turned out later, Branson took a humanoid suit with him, just in case, which came in handy for him.

If you have good feeling humor, inventiveness and confidence that your friends will understand everything - feel free to embody your stupidest ideas and don’t spare anyone! However, do not go too far, otherwise you can end up with serious revenge or crime.

A native of Krasnodar was born on November 11, 1986. His type of activity is called telephone hooliganism. However, Russian pranker Vladimir Kuznetsov (Vovan) was recognized as the best in his field for three years until 2014. And in 2015, his name was on the list of promising Russians under 33 years old.

During his school years, the young man was not particularly interested in anything. But at some point, a predisposition to copying and imitating voices was discovered in the boy. After graduating from high school, Vladimir Kuznetsov entered the university at the Faculty of Law. Having received his diploma, he writes articles about famous people for Moscow newspapers.

The beginning of the journey

Vladimir made his first phone pranks back in 2007. Then he was just beginning to approach major stars; his phone book contained names such as Ksenia Sobchak, Elena Hanga, Boris Moiseev and others. Those pranks did not contain topical humor and wit. It was more for my own fun, one might say, a test of the pen. Soon he himself became bored with these petty pranks and wanted something more.

Big draws

His full-time activity begins in 2011, when he moves to Moscow. For his pranks, prankster Vovan used the information he received while compiling articles.

Vladimir posted all his conversations on YouTube. The first telephone prank that was popularly appreciated was a call to Vitaly Mutko after the Russian team lost at the European Championship. Pranker Vovan called him on behalf of the national team captain, who was terribly upset by the defeat. The Minister of Sports did not have the slightest doubt, and from the first seconds he tried to cheer up the football player. According to Vladimir, the video received more than half a million views, and all media started talking about it. After a series of political conversations, Vladimir received praise from his former victim Ksenia Sobchak, she said that the direction had been chosen in the right direction.

When Vladimir Kuznetsov reached Lukashenko in 2014, the parodist’s popularity indicators instantly soared. The prankster Vovan dialed the number of the President of the Republic of Belarus on behalf of Yanukovych’s son. The dialogue took place for 20 minutes, in which Yanukovych’s son asked for a visit and promised to present the president with a loaf made of gold. Lukashenko never realized that he had been played and was expecting guests.

This was followed by a call from Anastasia Volochkova on behalf of the representative of the city mayor somewhere on Far East with a proposal to visit their region on tour. Pranker Vovan drew attention to the ballerina’s love for the Russian bathhouse and suggested that after the tour she and the mayor retire in the sauna, to which Anastasia easily agrees and asks for the advice of several more mayors, apparently so that she can go straight on tour.

Since 2015, the prank of Sir Elton John has been added to the biography of the pranker Vovan. Having learned from the media that Elton wanted to talk with the President of the Russian Federation about the problems of sexual minorities in Russia, Vladimir and his assistant immediately called the recording studio with which Elton worked. From there, they found out the number of the singer's main assistant and then contacted him personally. Delighted with such a sweet conversation, the artist announced it to his fans on his Instagram account.

Soon the information spread throughout all foreign media. However, the Kremlin did not give confirmation. Thanks to the activities of pranksters, Elton's dream came true. Having learned about such a precedent, Putin personally apologized to Elton for the joke and promised to meet with him. True, this took quite a long time, because the musician’s wary representatives did not believe for a long time that real representatives of the Russian government were trying to contact them.

Accusations

Most of the victims of the pranker Vovan take the fact that they were pranked calmly. However, there are and have been people for whom this is an unbearable blow to their reputation. So, for example, Volochkova threatened the guy that she would turn off his phone, but the matter did not progress beyond messages. Most often, people concerned about the prank stated that they would go to court.

He is also accused of collaborating with the FSB. However, prankster Vovan categorically denies this and claims that he chooses all his interlocutors himself.

Relationship

Personal life The prankster Vovan, according to him, does not have one. He says that he has absolutely no time for entertainment and relationships - work comes first.