How to Find out who Called you with No Caller ID
Getting a call from an unknown caller with a masked ID is not new. Millions of Americans and people from around the world struggle to deal with telemarketers and fraudulent companies. But when that becomes a real level of harassment or threats, then you should take action and identify the caller, even if he used no caller ID mask.
In today’s guide, we’ll be talking about how you can find out a “No Caller ID” number for both cell phones and landlines, or at least, how to report it, as that may be different from one case to another. For a complete approach to phone number tracing, see our phone number tracing guide.
Table of Contents
No Caller ID & Phone Harassment Statistics
How to figure out a “No caller ID” in 5 ways
Dial *57 immediately after the call
Whenever you get a call from a private number on a landline, immediately pick up the phone and dial *57. That will send a request to the phone service provider to trace the last call you received. You’ll hear some sort of success or confirmation sound. If that’s not possible, you’ll hear an error beep or similar sound, depending on your carrier and device.
What does *57 do?
In reality, *57 is a special code given to mobile carriers to trace threatening calls that can cause serious problems to people. It’s called the Malicious Caller Identification service, and most companies offer that for a fee that will be reflected later on the customer bill.
The most popular mobile telephone providers in the United States can track down any call that’s dangerous for the person. That includes companies like AT&T, Verizon, and others.
Next, the customer needs to contact his local law enforcement agency to let them know about that unknown call (it should be clearly harassing or threatening for them to take that seriously). Unfortunately, that’s how things work. So, take that into consideration and also provide them with the time of the call written clearly. If you have other notes to tell them, that can help further investigate. If you're dealing with spam or unknown numbers, finding their identity is the first step; try a general Trustiko people search to gather public data.
Note: If the call is life-threatening, immediately call your local police office and let them know about that.
Take note of the time and date of the call (important)
Don’t skip this step. It’s crucial, and most landline and wireless phone providers require it to trace any harassing call. Simply remember the exact hour and minute of the call and keep that written on a piece of paper for further investigation. Remember that mobile phone companies have millions of numbers, and when it comes to tracing a call for some number, it won’t be that easy to see who called without using the correct time for their call log. This is especially important when dealing with someone who might be hiding their identity across platforms, which is similar to looking for a dating profile by username.
Contact local authorities
This is one of the most effective ways to stop harassing calls from private numbers. However, you may need to fill out a demand for that and indicate all the details you know about the caller. That can be a note about the caller’s voice, a man or a woman, or someone who seems to be from a specific region, state, or country, and also include any other information about the call content.
Besides, even if you remember the time, it’s a good idea to add that to your demand and type it clearly with the exact hour, minute, and day of the month.
This type of information can help police experts and authorities, especially in telecommunications, to do their investigations. So, they trace the hidden person behind the call with advanced techniques like location routing numbers, VoIP, etc. Dealing with anonymous online harassment can be similar; check our people search guide for non-phone identity tracing methods.
Will contacting your phone company help?
Depending on the circumstances of the call and the mobile carrier or even the company behind the landline number that received the call with no ID, people do not have many options to see who the person is. To potentially uncover the real identity behind a masked number, you can use advanced tools discussed in our Snapchat username reverse lookup guide, as many people search services work with both phone numbers and online identities.
That’s because of law guidelines for telecommunications. In fact, these companies won’t let you know about the real identity of the caller, as that is protected by law. However, when things become threatening, harassing, and uncomfortable to manage for customers, these companies should uncover the real identity of the suspicious caller with name, address, and other details. Unfortunately, only the governmental authorities can see that data.
Use caller identification tools
For landlines, you can add a device that shows the caller ID. Just add it to your landline, and that’s it. Millions of spam numbers have already been reported and will be automatically blocked. It’s faster than the others.
💡 Expert Insight: Identifying Private Scams
The main goal of these private calls is often not just for identification but for security. You don’t have to answer annoying phone calls with private numbers. They’re primarily other phone scams that attract people’s attention by offering fake prizes, gifts, or offers. Never answer a "No Caller ID" number unless you are prepared to deal with telemarketers or fraudulent attempts. For comprehensive background checks, you can use Trustiko's search tools.
Opting out by just using the Do Not Call website is not enough with these nuisance phone calls. They’ll find a way to contact you again through another number, and if you have installed an unknown caller ID blocking app on your smartphone, they won’t be able to hide their real numbers in general; otherwise, they’ll stop harassing you. Finding the source of these calls is similar to finding a hidden social media account; see our guide on finding secret Facebook accounts for analogous search methods.
What about the No Caller ID on the landline?
For landlines, it’s another story. There are many caller identification tools to buy and add. These tools will block unknown callers first and show the number if possible. Otherwise, the scammer won’t be able to reach your line while keeping his ID masked, even if he tries multiple times.
If you need one of these systems, search Amazon or Google for telephone caller ID displays or use the green button above, as we tried that device, and it’s the best.
🔥 Pro Tip: Unmasking *67 Callers
Many telemarketing firms use the ID block technique by dialing \*67. Some hardware devices can trace this call and show the real number by forcing the system to request verification from the caller's private database. While complicated, this process works in most cases to reveal numbers hidden by simple masking codes. For alternative methods when physical tracing fails, consider using an email lookup tool to trace linked accounts if you have any associated email information.
Also, you’ll find lots of hardware to use. That looks like a little bit of a complicated process. But it works in most cases. If that’s not true, then that’s probably an issue with the phone service provider or network issues.
Should you really identify the caller with no ID?
Answering a call from an unknown caller with a hidden number is just a waste of time for you. Why should someone keep his number private when calling others? It’s for spam, scams, or harassment in most cases, and we recommend not answering any of these calls.
If someone wants to talk to you normally, he won’t mask his number unless he wants to steal something from you, like your personal data, or harass you. Thus, it will be a bad scenario to answer every call you receive from these spammers without seeing the number.
In general, people who hide their numbers are telemarketing agencies. And in some cases, they’ll be bad guys from other countries trying to sell you something you never needed. So, be careful with that; never answer a “No Caller ID” number.
For those who may be curious about the person behind the call, there is no need to call back a “no caller ID” number. Even if that’s just to verify their identities, it will be a waste of time and money for you. These people have been scamming in the United States for years, and they know how to block others from reaching them, or they may use VoIP techniques to mask their numbers, etc. Instead, contact your mobile company and follow the above steps.
Conclusion
Figuring out who called with a private number may not always be a problem. Once you install the right app on your smartphone or use a device that blocks unknown numbers and forces the ID to be shown on the screen, what to do if you didn’t add that?
Well, there are still options to identify these hidden numbers and see who owns them. But don’t expect this to be easy all the time. You may need to contact your phone carrier or check with your local police department if they can help. In all cases, there is always a solution for every problem, and getting the real identity of a spam caller won’t take long if you apply the above tips and tricks. For alternative methods to track down private callers, check out our full reverse phone number lookup guide.
