This an all too familiar situation: you hear your favorite ring tone start to play, signaling that you have a call. You fumble with your phone, glance to the screen and... Frown. The number seems familiar but it does not register from your contact list. It is just titled with that ominous “unknown” and you hesitate to answer. After all, you have heard about the scams of the salesman; you know how they manage to keep people talking (some modern day magic, you’re sure). But, even as you refuse to pick up, you still can’t help but feel that you have seen this number before...
Chances are, you probably have.
A cell phone’s level of security does not allow for many fraudulent calls or mistakes. You are more likely to have the number listed somewhere in your mind. It’s there, just not quite recognizable. Which is not made any easier by the fact that you don’t seem to have it in your contact list.
So what do you do?
Well, this is painfully simple but: ask your friends.
You have given out your number to a select group of people and the probability that they share the same user network as you is quite high. Their acquaintances are your acquaintances, and this translates to an instant way to check for number confirmation. All you have to do is quickly dial a friend, read off the number and ask if they know it. Their answer can be found either in their contact list or simply in their memory. Either way, you are going to get a response.
It is easy to forget that you do not have to rely purely on your cell phone; there is a reason, after all, that you have invited so many others to call you on it. These are your friends and they will be able to do more than your address book can.
This is a basic method (even if it’s often overlooked) that will let you find the answers you want and get back to the important issue: calling back that foreign number and seeing who it is.