The mobile phone rings, you look at the screen and at first suspicions arise. Either an unknown number appears, or a hidden number appears directly. Most of these calls turn out to be spam calls or even scams, and they occur with increasing frequency.

Fortunately, it is available on both Android devices and iPhones. There are ways to protect ourselves from these calls.First of all, as always, it is useful to be careful about private numbers or numbers calling us from abroad.

It’s recommended that you don’t answer these calls, but there are a few options to avoid all (or almost all) spam and robocalls, no matter where they come from. Let’s review the most notable ones.

Identify who is calling us (even if it is a private number)

When someone calls us from our Android mobile phone, if we suspect it is a spam call, we can block the number directly. This option is easy to find in the list of recent calls and we can “mark as spam” these numbers as soon as we finish the call, whether we answer or not at the beginning.

In addition to these native tools of the “Phone” application on our mobile phones, there are also various applications specifically designed for our mobile phones. reveal private phone numbersOne of the best known and most respected is TrueCaller, which allows us to perfectly control these possible calls in a few steps and block them or contact the caller if necessary.

The ListaSpam service uses a reverse phone book to help us find out who is behind the number that is calling us.

If you do not want to install any of these applications, there are other ways to identify the caller if the number calling you is not hidden. The three main ones are:

1. Copy and paste the number into Google: This method can be surprisingly effective and is very simple as you just need to search for the phone number in the Google search engine.
2. telephone directories– These “databases” contain information on many numbers and you can sometimes use them to find information about the calling number. The most well-known ones include the yellow pages, ListaSpam or the Who called you? service.
3. Unlock the number with WhatsApp: This last option can also work. Simply open a chat with the number in question without sending any messages. Once you open it, you can click on the number and find out more about which person or company it comes from if they have an account in the app.

Google Phone app is your ally

As we mentioned earlier, Google is aware that this is becoming a nightmare for many users today and has been proposing a way to alleviate some of the problems for some time now.

It does this through the Phone app, which allows not only to block calls with the number visible on the screen, but also to place direct calls – others from other manufacturers also offer similar mechanisms – block calls from unknown numbers.

To do this, open the Phone app as if you were going to make a call, go to Settings in it, select the Blocked numbers option and finally check the “Unknown” box.

There is also another very interesting tool integrated into the Google Phone app. spam filterwe can easily activate it. Even if we do not install this application by default on mobile phones from certain manufacturers, you can access the application from Google Play.

To activate the anti-spam filter we will have to go to the Settings section of the phone application as before, but now we will have to go to the option “Caller ID and spam” where we will have access to three different protection options:

• Caller ID: Once you activate it, you will see who is calling you on the screen that appears when they call you, even if the number is not in your phone book. Google obtains this information by comparing the number to business numbers on Google Maps, for example. In some cases, you will be warned that this is “possible spam.”
• Filter spam calls: The best way to get rid of spam calls on your mobile phone is to enable this option. Once you do this, calls from numbers that Google recognizes as spam will automatically be blocked and will not be dialed.
• Verified searches: This option allows businesses to introduce themselves and add a reason for the call, which you’ll see before you answer. For example, your hairstylist might state that the reason for the call is “to reschedule.”

We can activate any of them or directly all three. To avoid spam calls, the ideal option is to activate the second option, “Filter spam calls”. The other two options are more geared towards identifying the calling number.

iPhones also make our job easier

Apple has also been dealing with this problem for a while and here we can access options similar to those offered on Android phones.

For example, we can block numbers one by one. To do this, open the Phone application, enter the Recents section, locate the number and click on the “i” icon that appears to the right of the number. By doing this, we will access a list of options among them. “Block person”.

In addition to this option, we have another striking option. It is about silencing calls from unknown numbers. It is important to say here that should be used with caution -like the other options mentioned- because using it could mean missing important calls.

This option in the Phone app on iOS ensures that calls won’t ring if the number isn’t in your phonebook. These calls will be sent directly to voicemail and will appear in the recent calls list.

Signing up for Robinson’s list isn’t a bad idea

There is another very popular option to avoid commercial searches and that is to sign up for Robinson List. must be respected by telemarketing companies.

If we receive commercial calls even after opting into this list – which may be due to prior consent – ​​we can report the company to the AEPD, but to do so we would need to ask the company making the spam call to identify itself.

There is one last tip that can prevent a few spam calls. This is about asking a simple question if we accept the call and it is spam. Then just ask “Where did you get my number?”.

This question often confuses operators and they try to avoid it. If we do not receive an answer after insisting on this issue, we must report a possible complaint to the AEPD (Spanish Data Protection Agency).

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