# How to detect the REAL calling phone number? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 31, 2016, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-detect-the-real-calling-phone-number/750767 "2016-03-31T18:20:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2016, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-detect-the-real-calling-phone-number/750767/21 "2016-04-03T15:15:54Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > We are all diminished by the experience. Well, half-diminished. 🙂 Hah! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![stanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@stanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stanger)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2016, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-detect-the-real-calling-phone-number/750767/22 "2016-04-03T19:19:43Z")
I think [TrapCall.com](http://TrapCall.com) may work for what you want to do. I looked into one time and it seemed like a cool service, but depending on what system you have it on, it may effectively double the call costs, but that may not be a big deal nowadays with unlimited voice and such. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2016, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-detect-the-real-calling-phone-number/750767/23 "2016-04-04T15:06:24Z")
> [@stanger](#): > > I think [TrapCall.com](http://TrapCall.com) may work for what you want to do. Probably not. The current crop of scammers doesn’t disguise their CID, they just fake it to make it misleading or sufficiently obscure. I imagine TrapCall would return what I already know unless they have ANI access. But thanks for suggesting it, **Stranger.** I did not know that technology was available, and I wonder how it works. I might sign up for a month just to try it out ($4 or $8, depending on features). On the [TrapCall.com](http://TrapCall.com) page, it offers a free test if you call their number with your CID hidden (using the \*67 pre-dial code). I tried that, and was 50% successful. If I dialed the number as on their page, “\*67+area code, etc.”, it worked, but if I dialed “\*67+1+area code, etc.”, it did not. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2016, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-detect-the-real-calling-phone-number/750767/24 "2016-04-04T16:31:27Z")
Keep in mind the Nomorobo was the [winner of a contest](https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2013/04/ftc-announces-robocall-challenge-winners), sponsored by the FCC and with a $50,000 prize, to block illegal robocalls. If this is the best that the FCC could come up with, how do you think that you’re going to do any better? ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2016, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-detect-the-real-calling-phone-number/750767/25 "2016-04-04T16:35:30Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Keep in mind the Nomorobo was the [winner of a contest](https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2013/04/ftc-announces-robocall-challenge-winners), sponsored by the FCC and with a $50,000 prize, to block illegal robocalls. If this is the best that the FCC could come up with, how do you think that you’re going to do any better? Will you admit that _blocking calls_ isn’t the same as _putting the callers in jail_ and/or collecting a fine? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2016, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-detect-the-real-calling-phone-number/750767/26 "2016-04-04T16:38:01Z")
Of course it’s not the same thing. And the FCC has been [putting the callers in jail and/or collecting fines](https://transition.fcc.gov/eb/tcd/eabydate.html). But I think they recognize the scope of the problem. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2016, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-detect-the-real-calling-phone-number/750767/27 "2016-04-04T17:03:48Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Will you admit that _blocking calls_ isn’t the same as _putting the callers in jail_ and/or collecting a fine? Fundamentally, until we re-engineer the internet so 100% of all traffic is fully attributed in a way that all secret police organizations across the world can track every bit of it and know exactly who sent it, you’re not going to eliminate anonymous scamming. Think carefully about which can of worms you really want to deal with. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2016, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-detect-the-real-calling-phone-number/750767/28 "2016-04-04T21:27:47Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > **Y’all need to check the OP.** _I am not looking to block anything._ I am looking to ID them with the intention of prosecuting or shutting them down, or getting a government agency to act upon it. Blocking them is a futile gesture. … I wasn’t responding to _you_, but to another poster. This is a perfectly normal thing to occur on a message board. Don’t have a cow, man. ---
**Author:** ![Carryon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Carryon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carryon)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-detect-the-real-calling-phone-number/750767/29 "2016-04-06T20:56:33Z")
Get a toll free number. You get a list of the people who called you with their actual numbers. There is (or was) a service, that allowed you to bounce your actual number to a toll free number and it would kick back with the real number on your caller ID. So let’s say my number is 212-999-6666 and I spoof the caller id to say 213-888-5555, when I call YOUR home with my spoofed number, the call gets forwarded to the toll free service and then gets forwarded back again, to your home with the actual caller id of 212-999-6666. I’m not sure how well it works but it is out there, or was at one time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-detect-the-real-calling-phone-number/750767.md?page=1)