With nasty scams over the phone, swindlers try to get sensitive data from unsuspecting cell phone users. As soon as an unknown number calls, special caution is required. But there is a trick you can use to guess where the call came from.
Unsolicited spam calls or text messages are not uncommon. Fraudsters and dubious companies hope to steal important data, for example the account number or the access data for the PayPal account, or to lure you into a cost trap with a callback.
So that you know immediately who is calling you – despite an unknown number – there are a number of tips and tricks that will help you:
Determine caller: Check phone number and know the provider
First: Use reverse lookup tools and check databases to see if another person has already been called from that number. The sites we recommend also have an additional comment field where users can note who made the call.
Secondly: If the phone number is not suppressed, you can also use the first four digits to identify the telephone provider from which the number came and find out whether a reputable provider is behind it or not.
You can identify the provider by the following sequence of digits:
Telecom:
Vodafone:
O2 & E-Plus:
- 0155
- 0157
- 0159
- 0161
- 0163
- 0164
- 0176
- 0177
- 0178
- 0179
Don’t give out any information, don’t call back
If you receive a call from an unknown number or unsolicited messages, we strongly recommend that you exercise caution.
It is best not to give out any data, such as your electricity meter reading, your address or other sensitive information over the phone. Also, don’t click on links sent to you by strangers’ numbers; these usually contain malicious software that can paralyze your devices.
You can often tell whether the call was urgent by whether a message was left in your mailbox. As a rule, scammers do not leave a message on the tape.
Read this article to find out how you can protect your mobile phone against unwanted calls.