How to protect your phone number online

Have you been wondering why you’re getting so many spam calls lately? When you signed up for a new account or purchased something online, your phone number may have been leaked or sold to telemarketing companies. These unsolicited calls can be annoying and time-consuming, but they can also open your contact information up to scammers on the other end of the line.

Fortunately, there are steps you can take to protect your phone number and prevent unwanted spam, fraud, robocalls, and other nuisances of the modern world.

Don’t share your number if you don’t have to

The first step in protecting your phone number is to be cautious about who you share it with. When filling out forms or signing up for services online, be sure to read the fine print. See how companies collect your data, as many are required by law to report this information. Only provide your number if it’s necessary. Don’t post your number on social media or other public forums. This can make it easy for scammers to find and use your digits—as well as open you up to the possibility of harassment.

Use a secondary number

If you have to provide a phone number, consider getting a secondary number through a virtual phone service. This allows you to give out a separate number when you sign up for a service or place an order, and you can choose to accept or ignore all of your incoming calls. As long as you have internet, you can access your voicemails any time. If you start receiving spam calls, you can easily divert them to this number!

Block unknown callers

Today’s smartphones can identify suspicious calls as spam and allow you to block calls from unknown numbers. Take advantage of this feature to block any numbers that you don’t recognize. Many call-blocking apps can automate this process. These apps use databases of known spam numbers to block calls before they even reach your phone, while recognizing business and personal contacts via an allowlist.

Report spam messages to the FTC

The Federal Trade Commission maintains a Do Not Call Registry that is free for anyone to join. It’s designed to prevent sales calls from reaching you, with penalties and fines for companies who violate it. Still, spam messages can come through regardless—especially from outside the FTC’s jurisdiction. You can report these to the FTC website to help fight against potential fraud, spam, and robocalls.*

Use a privacy-focused browser

Some browsers can protect your online privacy better than others! Microsoft Edge and Microsoft Defender SmartScreen alerts you to potential phishing scams—the same sort of legitimate-seeming attacks that can also reach your phone. With other built-in features including Password Monitor, typo protection, and more, Microsoft Edge is designed to keep you and your information safe.

Choosing a browser that alerts you to fraudulent and suspicious sites is one powerful tool to protect your phone number. Try Microsoft Edge today to reduce the chances that your contact information will be leaked or sold to third parties and be used in ways you don’t want.