I’ve only had two types of experiences with blocked numbers (numbers that show up as either ‘unknown’ or ‘blocked number’): they’re either telemarketers or it’s someone who wants to harass me and be nasty (and/or threaten me) and they don’t want you to know who they are because they know they shouldn’t be doing it and what they’re doing could get them in trouble.

I’ve always wanted to be able to find out who it was, and you can pay your service provider to simply block blocked numbers (bit ironic isn’t that?) where someone who blocks their number when they call you is simply directed to a pre-recorded message that says something like “Sorry, this person does not accept blocked calls, please unblock your number and try your call again…*click* “.

I want to know who it is that’s calling me, especially if it’s a case of someone other than a telemarketer calling (an actual human being, in other words), plus some telemarketing companies have taken to changing the number that goes out over the CallerID system to 000-000-0000 or a random local number so it gets around people blocking blocked numbers, and now there’s a service called TrapCall (official site) that purports to unblock any number completely free (I know, that’s where I got suspicious–I’ll explain how they make their money below).

I was very suspicious when I heard about them (they’ve got this video out, you can see it below, called ‘how to view blocked numbers’ that’s gone viral–735,191 views on YouTube as of now–and that’s how I heard of them), but came across an article done on them by a local news channel that explains how it works, and now I really think I might try this.

Here’s how it works: all you have to do to block your number is dial *67 before the number you want to call, however nobody is allowed to block a number that’s calling a 1-800 number because the person with the 1-800 number is the person who’s actually paying for the call, so what TrapCall does is redirect blocked numbers (when you tell them to, you can also choose to just ignore the call) to their own 1-800 number where the blocked number is revealed to them which they then immediately send to you (they tell you what the number is and the city it’s coming from).

And then you have the option to accept the call or not. You can also blacklist numbers so that whenever that number calls they hear ‘We’re sorry, the number you have dialed has been disconnected and is no longer in service.’–oh, I love that .

Not only is that a great way to deal with irritating telemarketers and harassing creditors, but if you’re being stalked or harassed it’ll put a stop to it straight away because they’ll think you’ve changed your number.

Ok, the way they make their money is that the ability to view blocked numbers and blacklist certain ones is only about $5.00, and then they’ve got other packages that are a sort of upgrade that cost a bit more and allow you to do things like record calls (useful to get evidence if someone’s harassing or threatening you), have them transcribe voicemails, alert you to missed calls, etc.

You can go to the official site and see the different packages they have and how much they cost here: TrapCall Packages (all come with a 15 day free trial). If you want to actually get information about the number once you’ve got it, if you don’t recognize it, then definitely check out the website under the video below, that’ll get you just about anything you want immediately, all you have to do is give them the phone number in question.

Here’s the video they’ve done, this goes into a lot more depth about the sign-up process, what you have to do, and how they actually get the blocked number to you:



Additional Resources and Further Reading

LifeHacker’s review of TrapCall

Wired Magazine’s review of TrapCall

And even the New York Times has gotten in on it