The era of personal phone calls has fizzled out. Nowadays, more and more people are sending texts and emails most of the time, only calling to quickly convey important information, or have a periodic catch-up that is probably planned in advance. It’s no wonder, then, that an unexpected phone call can startle you.
It can be especially alarming when your call screen says: no caller ID.
You might wonder if there’s any way to see who is behind this anonymous call. Fortunately, there are a few tactics you can try if you’re getting a lot of calls from “no caller ID” callers.
What Does “No Caller ID” Mean?
If you receive a call from someone that comes up as “no caller ID,” it usually indicates that they have intentionally hidden their phone number. They can do this by dialing *67 before calling or adjusting their outgoing call settings.
Masking their number might be for personal privacy reasons. For example, if someone is volunteering to make calls for a local organization, they may have to use their personal phone, but might not want members of the community to call them back directly. In cases like this, they will probably leave a message detailing why they are calling and which number to call back.
Often though, people hiding their number are doing so to get you to answer a call you might normally block or ignore. Telemarketers, scam callers, or even ex-partners may do this to get you to answer.
How to Find Out Who’s Calling
When you get a call from an unfamiliar phone number, there are a few things you can easily do to find out who is calling. One of the simplest ways to find out who a phone number is registered to is to use a reverse phone lookup engine, but first you need to find the number.
*69
You’ve probably heard of feature codes or star codes before. These are short number sequences you can punch in after hitting the star button on your phone’s dial pad that perform special actions.
The way to find a call back number is to dial *69. This code will retrieve the number that last called you and give you an automated recording that will tell you the number, the time and date the call was connected, and potentially the caller’s name if the number is registered in a public directory.
*57
If you answered the call and were harassed, or believe these calls to be malicious, you may want to take stronger action. In this case, you can use the code *57. *57 is a call tracing service that can report the call to local authorities and alert your phone service provider that the caller is potentially engaging in criminal activity.
Using feature codes may result in your service provider charging you an extra fee. *69 is usually free, but double check the terms of your contract. *57 will often cost extra on top of your regular phone bill.
Specialized Apps
Depending on your phone service or the way the caller blocked their number, you may not be able to trace it with a simple feature code. In that case, as long as you’re using a smartphone, there are apps that can be used to trace blocked numbers.
The availability of these apps vary between Apple and Android operating systems and most apps that provide this service aren’t usually free.
Contact Your Phone Service Provider
If you’re constantly receiving anonymous calls, you may want to reach out to your service provider. They might be able to find information about the source of the call and they may also be able to help you with increasing the security around your phone number.
Change Your Call Settings
While you can simply block your phone from accepting anonymous phone calls, both Apple and Androids also allow you to turn on an ID request setting. This setting will request a caller ID from any incoming calls and, depending on the caller’s carrier, can bypass their “no caller ID” setting. Instead of “no caller ID,” a number will appear.
Avoid Uncertainty From Unknown Calls
While none of the above techniques work in 100% of cases, you can try a few different options until you find the best one that resolves your “no caller ID” issue. Until you can confirm the number and the identity of the caller, you should avoid answering anonymous calls. This will help protect you from spam calls and potential harassment.