Whew, 2025 sure was…a year. We discovered oxygen in a distant galaxy, Kendrick took out Drake on live TV at Super Bowl LIX, Wicked merch was inescapable, and AI went from kind of niche to completely mainstream. And through it all, Spokeo was here. Our Compass blog covered everything from scams (including lots of AI scams, no Wicked scams, though) to online etiquette to tech history to baby names.
You might say we posted through it. Of course, that includes dozens of articles, but if you need the TLDR, grab a warm bevvie and tuck in to 10 of our absolute favorites from the Big 2025.
1. How to Find Out Who’s Behind a “No Caller ID”
Look, if you’re millennial-aged or younger, you’re probably running from actual phone calls anyway. And if “No Caller ID” pops up? No shot. But if it’s not explicitly marked as spam and you’re still a little curious, this article gives you no less than five options for tracking down your mystery caller.
2. How to Pull off a Catfish Search Like the MTV Pros
If you’re dealing with a stinky catfish, you could cast your reel blindly into scam rivers, or you could pull from real, accessible methods (including Spokeo people searches!) used by pros from MTV’s Catfish, like co-host Max Joseph and co-creator Nev Schulman. Plus, we drop some juicy Catfish history.
3. Too Good to Be True: Publishers Clearing House Scams
You know what? It’s an oldie but a goodie, and Compass is inclusive – we’re an all-ages blog. Publishers Clearing House has been ticking since the 1950s, and it seems like the scams associated with it have been around for just as long. Here’s how to (finally) make these iconic grifts a thing of the past.
4. How to Find Out Who a Phone Number Belongs To, for Free
Look, finding a whole lot of info on people you’re curious about by using just a tiny bit of info to search is kind of Spokeo’s whole thing. This lays out some tried and true old-school methods, but doesn’t take long to get to the heat, guiding you through the process of a Spokeo Reverse Phone Lookup, step by step.
5. Who is This Number Registered To? How to Find Out Quickly
OK, so How to Find Out Who a Phone Number Belongs To hooked you up with some solid info on your mystery digits. But we need to go deeper. This post does just that – follow it down the rabbit hole, and you might even end up with your mystery caller’s social profiles, criminal record, age, gender, and more.
6. Who Are My Neighbors? Getting to Know the People Around You
There’s curiosity, and there’s safety. And this article is where the two meet. To assuage that curiosity and ease your mind, we talk you through some people-searching deep cuts you may have never thought of — public records, National Sex Offender sites, the National Center for State Courts — as well as a (much easier) Spokeo Reverse Address Search.
7. 6 Smishing Scams to Watch Out for in 2025
If you’ve ever read the Compass, you know one thing for sure: a scam hates to see us coming. Covering bogus delivery messages, toll scams, 2FA rackets, IRS-related smishing, and more, this article guides you through the best of the worst in 2025 — and teaches you how to stay safe from them, in any year.
8. Our Emails, Ourselves: What the History of Email Reveals About Us
Of course, we’re not all scams and searches at the Compass. Here, we take a deep, fascinating, and often funny dive into the very human history of email (the thing people used to use before Slack and iMessage), from ARPANET in the early 1970s and the Yahoo and AOL addresses of the ‘90s to Gmail in 2004, and way beyond.
9. Watch Out for These 7 Cash App Scams
In 2025, Cash App had more than 57 million monthly active users, generating $3.88 billion in revenue in Q1 of the year alone. With those numbers, you’re just going to get some scams. Good thing we have your back with seven of the most widespread Cash App scams of the year, and how to protect yourself from every one of them.
10. How to Delete or Deactivate Facebook (and What’s the Difference?)
Facebook’s coolness cachet has been on the decline for a few years, so if you’re finally ready to stop scrolling through AI bot posts and your friend’s mom’s weird selfies, we’ve broken down the difference between deleting and deactivating Facebook and how to do both.
As a freelance writer, small business owner, and consultant with more than a decade of experience, Dan has been fortunate enough to collaborate with leading brands including Microsoft, Fortune, Verizon, Discover, Office Depot, The Motley Fool, and more. He currently resides in Dallas, TX.
SourcesBacklinko – Cash App Statistics: How Many People Use Cash App?