One in five Americans lost money to scam calls last year. Don’t be the next victim. Send all unknown calls to voicemail — here’s why.
Tech trick: How to tell who's calling when you don't recognize the phone number
Ever received a text message from a number you don’t recognize? I get a lot of texts from numbers that I have no idea who that person is. Instead of replying with “Ahem, who dis?” there’s a hack you’re going to use time and time again.
If you get a text from an unknown number, mobile payment apps like Venmo, CashApp, Zelle or PayPal can help you put a name to that number.
Copy and paste the number into the app and the mystery sender’s name might just be unveiled.
I tested this on a phone number belonging to someone I knew had a Venmo account. Their name popped right up.
FYI, this hack only works if you have an account with one of those mobile payment apps. The sender also has to use their real name and number in the app. But hey, it’s better than shooting in the dark.
There’s the flip side: Be sure to disable your mobile payment app from sharing your name and phone number with other people. The steps vary per app. In Venmo, open Settings, Friends and Social and toggle off Phone contacts.
What about blocked numbers?
Dialing *67 conceals your number from someone you call. There are similar numbers you can dial to respond to mystery callers.
The first is *69, which traces the number of the last person who called you. It works even for anonymous or hidden calls, so you can get the phone number and exact time they called. Once you have that number, you can block it on your phone so they can’t call you anymore.
There are more codes and secrets you can use to hunt down who called. Tap or click here to check them out.
💀 My favorite way to answer spam calls? “Maricopa County morgue, you kill ’em, we chill ’em.” I’m terrible ….
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