prank call

noun, verb — 2 senses

noun

A practical joke played by calling the unsuspecting victim on the telephone, usually pretending to be somebody else.

Until noon only 251 prank calls to the Bronx Zoo had been sifted out, compared with the day-long total of 3352 on April 1, 1960. The pranksters would call Wellington 3-1500 to talk with a "Mr. Fox" (or Lyon, Bear or Wolf).1961 April 2, “April Fool Phone Calls Decline Sharply in City”, in New York Times, page 87:

verb

To call (an unsuspecting person) on the telephone as a practical joke.

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.