How to reveal BLOCKED numbers?

[Vanish3d]

Any idea how I can reveal a blocked / unknown number?
someone keeps calling me a couple of times a day then hangs up as soon as I pick up. The screen shows UNKNOWN number.
This is getting annoying. How can I view the number?

There used to be TrapCall but that is no longer available in Canada. Any other ideas?

[spikerS]

You can't.

If a caller wishes to block their number when calling you, it is their right to privacy. You trying to circumvent that breaks privacy laws.

It is up to you to choose to answer a blocked call or not.

if they are harassing in nature, contact your local authorities and file a complaint. They will the consider the merits behind it, and if they feel it warrants it, they can go to a judge and get a warrant to serve the phone company for the records, and THEN they can see the number that called you.

[Tomaz]

What Spikers said.

And as for a restricted number, good luck ever getting that number reveild. Those are usually blocked by a court order and sealed.

[lilmira]

[Boosted131]

On the topic anyone know of any iPhone apps to block certain numbers?

+18778178766
+1 (877) 817-8766

Keeps calling me

[D. Dub]

It's a telemarketer. Ignore it?

[sillysod]

Saturday night phone ringing at 10pm....

me: hmmm customer must be having problems, wonder who it is.

Answer phone

caller: "cruise ship horn sound".... CONGRATULATIONS you...


This is a weekly thing for me now. Any hours of the day or night for past year, my own personal nightmare.

[Myrrinda]

I'm not 100% positive on this, but I think if you record the dates and times that the calls are occurring, and it's excessive, you can report it to the police as harassment? The police can get the number, though they may not tell you who it is. I remember my parents dealing with an issue like this when I was younger, before the days of caller ID.

Usually telemarketers won't regularly call and hang up. They're calling because they want to talk to you.

EDIT: I missed Spikers' last paragraph. my bad. What he says.

[Swank]

To make matters worse, it seems that a couple of companies are now manipulating their caller ID to be the same area code and prefix as the number they are calling so it will look to be a lot more legit than +100002345 or some odd ball numbers.

Does anybody actually get these calls and end up signing up for what ever the call is about

[spike98]

I use a call blocker on my cell. I block all unknown/blocked numbers and have a blacklist of numbers that i add as i figure out they are telemarketers.

It was $0.99 and the best investment i have ever made.

[jibber]

I know my in-laws have their phone set up to disallow someone with a blocked number to phone them. I tried to phone them once from a new cell phone I got, and I had no idea my Caller ID was blocked. Before it rang, an automated voice told me to press 1 to reveal my identity or else this call would not be accepted.

They are with Telus and I have no idea if it's just something that only Telus offers or not.


EDIT: Removed redundant sentence.

[Kolbatron]

I have gotten multiple calls from local numbers that end up being nothing. One time, I got a call on my cell phone from a person saying they had just gotten a call from my cell phone number, but I had made no such call and even had my phone charging in another room. I think somehow companies are "stealing" or "using" people's actual telephone numbers to make cold calls. I don't know how this would work but I have even received calls in much the same manner that the person said they received a call from my number

[FiveFreshFish]

Originally posted by Boosted131
On the topic anyone know of any iPhone apps to block certain numbers?

+18778178766
+1 (877) 817-8766

Keeps calling me

Android has a black list. I would think iPhone would have the same.

[ipeefreely]

Originally posted by Kolbatron
.... I think somehow companies are "stealing" or "using" people's actual telephone numbers to make cold calls. ...

They're spoofing the number... we've been getting calls for the past three weeks that start with the first three number of our organization!

Call looks legit then you pickup and "You've won a free trip!!!!!" FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

I don't even answer the phone any more!

[Tej.S]

My parents dealt with a problem like this in the past. Someone kept calling our house using the *69 method and they would either hang up when we answered or they would just start yelling random shit. My dad contacted our local service provider and they actually ended up tracing the number to find out who it was. However, I don't think it was as easy as just giving them a call. I'm pretty sure he had to file a police complaint and call the non-emergency number to validate everything.

[whydontchathen]

Originally posted by Swank
To make matters worse, it seems that a couple of companies are now manipulating their caller ID to be the same area code and prefix as the number they are calling so it will look to be a lot more legit than +100002345 or some odd ball numbers.

this.

[whydontchathen]

Originally posted by Kolbatron
....I think somehow companies are "stealing" or "using" people's actual telephone numbers to make cold calls. I don't know how this would work but I have even received calls in much the same manner that the person said they received a call from my number

this.

[Zero102]

The number of these calls I have been receiving has really picked up the last week. Typically I would get 1 a month or so, I've gotten 10-12 in the last week. Since I figure they must know this number is actually picked up by a person, and me impersonating fax machine noises doesn't seem to have convinced them otherwise I've now adopted the strategy of wasting as much of their time as possible. I push the right buttons to get through to a person then I pretend to be older, talk really slowly, repeat their questions back to them and always ask for extra time: Oh, you want my last name? Hold on just a second....

These calls come from outside of Canada and they spoof the numbers before they even reach the local phone systems. Since there are no policies in place to hold other telecom companies accountable for spoofed caller ID information there is really there is no way even for the authorities to determine who they are unless the issue gets big enough that they go after the other telecom company to get THEIR records. Usually these guys operate from other countries where record keeping is not the same as it is here and they never get caught.

For this reason I think it's only fair that I try to hurt them by wasting as much of their time as possible. If enough people do this it is my hope that it will become economically infeasible for them to continue conducting such annoying operations.

[Vinman]

Originally posted by Zero102
The number of these calls I have been receiving has really picked up the last week. Typically I would get 1 a month or so, I've gotten 10-12 in the last week. Since I figure they must know this number is actually picked up by a person, and me impersonating fax machine noises doesn't seem to have convinced them otherwise I've now adopted the strategy of wasting as much of their time as possible. I push the right buttons to get through to a person then I pretend to be older, talk really slowly, repeat their questions back to them and always ask for extra time: Oh, you want my last name? Hold on just a second....

These calls come from outside of Canada and they spoof the numbers before they even reach the local phone systems. Since there are no policies in place to hold other telecom companies accountable for spoofed caller ID information there is really there is no way even for the authorities to determine who they are unless the issue gets big enough that they go after the other telecom company to get THEIR records. Usually these guys operate from other countries where record keeping is not the same as it is here and they never get caught.

For this reason I think it's only fair that I try to hurt them by wasting as much of their time as possible. If enough people do this it is my hope that it will become economically infeasible for them to continue conducting such annoying operations.

I do something similar to waste their time. If I answer, I will ask them to hold on for just a moment, lay the phone on the counter and carry on about my business for about 5 mins and then pick up the phone and if they are still there, tell them just another minute. I put the phone back down and don't bother with it any more.
After I do this to a couple of calls, suddenly I get no more telemarketers for at least a couple of months.

[big A]

I had a similar harassing bit with telemarketers, ended up I paid extra to Telus for a feature to "block last call"