Most people have received a call from a private number at some poi. Private numbers can be annoying because you don't know who is calling, and often they just hang up when you answer. But there are ways to unmask private numbers and find out who is calling.
If you are wondering how to call back a private number, read on. This article will provide information on how to unmask and call an unknown number.
What is a Private Number?
People generally use private numbers to maintain their anonymity when making calls. A private number does not display the caller's information when they make an outgoing call. The caller's identity is blocked, preventing the recipient from knowing who called them.
For example, debt collectors often use private numbers to contact individuals and businesses.
How to Call Back a Private Number
Here are some ways to unmask a private number:
1. Dial *69
Dialing *69 is a convenient way to call back the last private number that called you. If a caller has blocked their number from being displayed on your caller ID, dialing *69 can unmask the private number, allowing you to call it back.
2. Check Phone Logs
If you're wondering how to call a private number, you can try to unmask it by checking your phone logs. Your phone logs will give you the date, time, and length of incoming and outgoing calls, which might help determine who's been calling you.
If the caller left a voicemail, checking your voicemail log might give you clues. However, these methods might not work if the caller is using a blocked number or spoofing their number.
3. Use Third-Party Apps to Reveal a Private Number
To unmask private numbers, you can use apps such as TrapCall, CallApp, or TrueCaller. Download one of these apps onto your phone and follow the instructions for setting it up.
4. Setup Call Tracing
Dialing *57 is a way to unmask and call back a private number. You can dial *57 right after receiving an anonymous or private call to trace the number. Telecom companies may offer this service as part of their services package, so contact your provider if you want to set up call tracing.
How to Make Your Number Private
Add *67 Before the Number
- Pick up the receiver
- Dial *67 after you hear the dial tone
- Dial the 10-digit number of the recipient
- This code will mark your number as "private" or "unknown" on the recipient's caller ID
Hide your Caller ID on Android and iPhone
On iPhone
- Go to Settings
- Choose Phone
- Select Show my caller ID and Switch off
Switching off the caller ID will hide your identity, and the recipient will not be able to see it when you call them.
On an Android
- Go to the Phone app
- Access settings
- Choose More Settings
- Select Show My Caller ID and choose Hide Number
- Press cancel to exit the menu
Switch to Community Phone for a Smooth Calling Experience
Community Phone provides reliable wireless landline phone service that eliminates the need for internet or copper connections. Their wireless landline base connects your phone to local cell towers to provide reliability, excellent call quality, and safety. The company’s partnership with nationwide carriers and the unique design of the landline base ensure you have great connectivity across 99% of the US, including rural and low-reception areas.
Enjoy unlimited nationwide calling, the freedom of wireless access, and several fantastic calling features like spam call blocking, 3-way calling, call routing, call forwarding, call waiting, caller ID, landline texting, and more at affordable prices.
How It Works
The Community Phone landline base does not tie your phone to the internet as it works off resilient cell towers. The company's partnership with nationwide carriers and the unique design of the landline base ensure connectivity across 99% of the U.S., including rural areas. The built-in antennas on the base amplify signals from mobile towers to ensure superior voice quality in low-reception areas.
The 12-hour backup battery in the base ensures your phones continue working during a power outage or blackout in your area.
Features of Community Phone
1. Spam Call Blocking
23% more Americans were victims of phone scams in 2022 compared to 2021. Manual spam blocking, *60, and phone features are insufficient to block spam, as spammers make an average of 200 million calls yearly.
Engaging spammers can be risky, as many have been fraud victims more than once. You need a spam blocker that can block unwanted calls before your phone rings.
Get the Community Phone spam-blocker, your one-stop solution to barring unwanted and unlawful calls. The spam blocker challenges robocalls and blocks them before the call can ring your phone, ensuring protection against spam.
The "Safelist," a new Community Phone feature, allows you to list the numbers you want to accept calls from. Your phone will ring to let calls from these numbers through and block all others. You can update your allowed list anytime to add or delete numbers, or Community Phone specialists will be happy to assist you.
Studies report that several people miss legitimate calls fearing spam. Community Phone is launching another iteration of the Safelist soon to balance robust spam protection and help you answer legitimate calls. This feature will allow you to accept calls from numbers you want and route the rest to voicemail. You can check your voice messages and respond to legitimate ones.
The soon-to-be-launched "blocklist" is an aggressive spam blocker that blocks over 6 million spam calls based on an ever-growing database of spam numbers and a spam score. You can actively contribute to this database by adding a spam number to protect yourself and other Community Phone customers from scams and fraud.
Talk to Community Phone specialists to learn more!
2. Call Forwarding
Forward calls to another number of your choice when you cannot answer them from your business landline. You can choose one of the following call forwarding options:
Temporary Forwarding: Use this manual process to turn call forwarding ON/OFF if you are temporarily away from your business phone.
Here's how you can enable it:
- Get a dial tone
- Dial **21*1
- Dial the 10-digit number you want to forward calls to and #
- Three beeps will indicate you have enabled call forwarding
Press ##21# after following the same steps to turn off call forwarding.
Unconditional Forwarding: Forward all calls from your landline to a cell phone or another number of your choice and ditch your landline.
Conditional Forwarding: You can program several phone numbers to ring simultaneously with one incoming call, allowing the person available to answer the call.
You can also have numbers ring in succession if the first number is busy or does not answer. For example, your cell phone can ring if you do not answer your landline within 20 seconds.
3. Call Waiting
The call-waiting feature helps you handle two calls simultaneously. You will hear 2 beeps when there is an incoming call while you are engaged on one call. You can place the first call on hold, talk to the second caller, or route them to voicemail.
4. Call History
Enable the call history feature and access information on incoming and outgoing calls to and from your Community Phone landline.
You can use this feature to
- Return missed calls from known contacts
- Store legitimate contacts
- Check caller information against known contacts
- Send a message or
- Block spam calls.
5. Landline Texting
Studies reveal that millennials and later generations prefer texting to talking. Stay in touch with younger children or grandchildren by texting them from your Community Phone landline through the landline texting feature. Send unlimited texts as 2-way messaging enables you to see the messages from the recipient and continue the conversation.
Benefits of Switching to Community Phone
Besides having a reliable landline service that does not require internet, Community Phone members enjoy the following benefits:
Unlimited nationwide calling and text: Stay in touch with loved ones across the U.S. with Community Phone's unlimited talk and text.
No internet needed: The Community Phone landline base works off cell towers without tying your phone to the internet. Since your phones are not dependent on the internet, they will continue working during an internet outage or maintenance.
Number choice: You can get a new local number FREE when you sign up with Community Phone, or transfer your existing number through their unique hand-held porting process.
Zero-cost Installation: You do not need a technician to install your Community Phone landline. You or anyone in your household can install your Community Phone landline in under 30 seconds and be ready to make calls in 5 mins.
24/7 reliable customer support: Contact Community Phone customer support via phone, email, and live chat 24/7 to experience world-class support from live agents. Glowing customer reviews on BBB and Trustpilot are testimonies of their customer commitment.
Works during power outages: The 12-hour backup battery in the landline base ensures your phones continue working during power outages and blackouts.
FAQs
What happens when you call someone with * 67?
When you call someone after dialing *67 on your phone, your caller ID information will be masked. Your number will appear as “unknown” or “private” on the recipient’s caller ID. Remember to dial the code before you dial the recipient’s phone number for it to work as intended.
Conclusion
This article discussed ways of unmasking private numbers and calling them back. You must exercise caution when calling back a private number to avoid engaging scammers or fraudsters.
Switch to Community Phone landline service to avail of its great calling features and reliable service. Protect yourself from unwanted callers or private numbers through its spam-blocking services at affordable prices. Talk to their specialists today to learn more!