How to Stop Spam Calls After Your Number Gets Out

You gave out your phone number, and now the spam calls won’t stop. Maybe they started right after an online signup, purchase, or form submission. Or maybe your number has been floating around online for long enough that it’s impossible to pinpoint where the calls are coming from.

Either way, changing your phone number isn’t your only option. You can block individual callers, filter suspected spam, report unwanted calls, and take steps to limit where your number appears online. You can also be more selective about where you use your primary number going forward.

Here’s how to cut down on the spam calls you’re already getting and make it harder for more of them to reach you:

Why Am I Getting Spam Calls After Giving Out My Number?

Giving your phone number to a company doesn’t necessarily mean that company is responsible for the spam calls that follow. Your number can end up in circulation in several ways.

Depending on the company and its privacy practices, it may use your number for marketing or share it with third parties. It may also already appear in data broker databases, public records, or other sources that collect and compile personal information.

Beyond this, spam callers can reach numbers through automated dialing and number spoofing, so they don’t always need to find your number on a specific website first. That can make it difficult to trace a sudden increase in spam calls back to one signup.

Fortunately, you don’t need to know exactly where the calls came from to start reducing them.

How to Stop Spam Calls After Giving Out Your Number

Once spam calls start, you may not be able to pull your number back from every place that already has it. What you can do, however, is make it harder for unwanted calls to reach you and reduce some of the ways your number continues to circulate.

Block Individual Spam Numbers

If unwanted calls are repeatedly coming from the same number, block it directly from your phone’s recent calls list. Once blocked, calls from that number will no longer ring through normally.

Blocking is most useful for persistent callers using the same number. It becomes less effective when spam callers regularly switch numbers or spoof the number that appears on your caller ID.

Turn On Your Phone’s Built-In Spam Filtering

Your phone may already have a setting that can identify, silence, or filter suspicious calls before they interrupt you.

On iPhone, you can use call-screening and filtering features to manage calls from unknown numbers. Androids also offer spam protection and caller identification features, although the exact settings available depend on your device and phone app.

Built-in filtering is a better fit when the spam isn’t coming from one repeat caller. Instead of blocking numbers individually, it can help catch suspicious calls as they come in.

Add Your Number to the National Do Not Call Registry

Register your phone number with the National Do Not Call Registry if you haven’t already. It’s free and tells legitimate telemarketers that you don’t want to receive sales calls. The Registry won’t block calls or scammers who ignore the law, but it can reduce unwanted calls from companies that follow federal telemarketing rules.

Report Unwanted Calls to the FTC

You can also report unwanted calls to the Federal Trade Commission. Include the number that called you, the date and time of the call when possible, and any callback number you were given. Even if you suspect the number on your caller ID was spoofed, you can still report it.

The FTC uses reports to identify patterns in illegal calls, and shares reported numbers with organizations working on call-blocking and call-labeling systems.

Remove Your Number From Data Broker Sites

Your phone number may also appear in databases maintained by data brokers, which collect personal information from a range of public and commercial sources.

You can request removal from individual data broker sites yourself or use a personal information removal service to handle the process across multiple sites. Removing your number won’t stop every spam call you’re already receiving, but it can reduce some of the places where your contact information is publicly available.

Use a Spam Call Filtering Service

Your phone’s built-in settings aren’t the only way to filter unwanted calls. Spam filtering services can identify known or suspected spam numbers and block or flag them before you answer.

If you use a second number, spam protection may also be included with the service. Burner uses Nomorobo to automatically filter spam calls to Burner numbers, so you don’t have to identify and block every known spam number yourself.

Filtering won’t catch every unwanted call, especially as spam numbers change. Still, it can handle more screening before the phone ever rings.

Why Do Spam Calls Keep Coming From Different Numbers?

Blocking a spam number doesn’t necessarily stop the caller behind it. Spam and scam callers can use caller ID spoofing to make a different number appear on your screen, even when the call isn’t actually coming from that number.

That’s why you may block one number only to get a similar call from another one later. Some spoofed calls may even appear to come from a number with your area code. When the number keeps changing, blocking individual calls becomes less useful. Call filtering can help address the pattern instead of relying on you to block every new number that appears.

How to Keep Your Primary Number From Getting Out Again

Stopping the calls you’re already receiving is only part of the problem. You can also be more selective about where you share your primary number going forward.

Before entering your number online, check whether the field is actually required and how the company says it will use your information. For signups that need a working phone number but don’t need to be connected to the number you use every day, a second number can keep your primary one out of the exchange.

If a site doesn’t accept a standard app-based number, other options may be available depending on its verification requirements. The point isn’t to avoid sharing your primary number; it’s to stop making it the default.

Frequently Asked Questions About Spam Calls

How do spam callers get my phone number?

Spam callers can get phone numbers from various sources, including data broker databases, public records, online forms, marketing lists, and data breaches. They can also use automated systems to call large ranges of phone numbers without obtaining yours from a specific source first.

How can I tell if my phone number was sold?

Usually, you can’t tell from the spam call alone. Receiving more calls after submitting your number to a website doesn’t prove the company sold it. Check the company’s privacy policy for information about how it collects, uses, and shares personal information.

Depending on applicable privacy laws and the company’s practices, you may also have options for limiting certain uses or sharing of your information.

Why is my phone number showing up as spam?

Phone carriers and call-filtering services may label numbers as spam or suspicious based on their own analytics and calling data. A legitimate number can sometimes be mislabeled. If your own number is being flagged when you call people, contact your carrier first. Depending on the service applying the label, there may also be a process for requesting that it be reviewed.

Be More Selective With Your Phone Number

Once your number is out there, you can’t control every place it ends up. You can, however, control how much access unwanted callers have to you going forward.

Burner gives you a second phone number you can use when you don’t want to hand out your primary one, with Nomorobo spam filtering included by default to help keep known spam calls from getting through. Burner Premium adds tools like Number Lookup to help you check unfamiliar callers and Personal Info Protection to find and remove your information from data broker sites.

Spam calls may be hard to eliminate completely, but your primary number doesn’t have to stay exposed just because it already made its way onto a few too many forms.

Get a second number with Burner and keep more of the unwanted calls away from your primary number.