{"id":21100,"date":"2019-04-01T13:39:55","date_gmt":"2019-04-01T21:39:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/?p=21100"},"modified":"2022-04-13T12:25:46","modified_gmt":"2022-04-13T20:25:46","slug":"whos-texting-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/whos-texting-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Who&#8217;s Texting You?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Have you been receiving unwanted texts from\nmystery numbers? You\u2019re not alone. Here\u2019s how to quickly find out who\u2019s texting\nyou without giving away sensitive information in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Who Could It Be?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We\u2019ve all received texts from strangers at some point or another. Perhaps it is someone you know who just happens to have a new number and isn\u2019t in your contacts. Or maybe it\u2019s someone texting a wrong number (often <a href=\"https:\/\/www.boredpanda.com\/funny-wrong-number-texts\/\">the funniest scenario<\/a>). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Other times, however, it can be a bit more\nsinister. Scammers are no longer limited to appearing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/new-nigerian-email-scams\/\">in your inbox<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/compass\/dont-fall-for-these-dating-scams-2\/\">online dating profile <\/a>&#8211; they\u2019ve embraced\ntexting too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Scam texts (also known as \u201cSmishing\u201d &#8211; a play on \u201cPhishing\u201d and SMS) lure you into providing personal information or clicking devious links, often touting some sort of prize giveaway. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Needless to say, no reputable bank or company contacts people out of the blue via text, but that doesn\u2019t stop many people from falling for it and passing along their credit card info in the process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What You Can Do<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The first thing to always remember when receiving an unexpected text from a mystery remember is <strong>do not respond immediately<\/strong>. Although it may be tempting to ask \u201cwho are you?,\u201d you can try and answer that question yourself first. It&#8217;s time to do some research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Don\u2019t bother with Google to search a phone number. You likely won\u2019t find much. Your best bet for discovering who\u2019s texting you is to use a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/reverse-phone-lookup\">people search engine<\/a>. Simply <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/reverse-phone-lookup\">enter the mystery number<\/a> into the search box and run what\u2019s called a reverse phone lookup. After a few seconds you may find their full name, age, address and more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you still don\u2019t recognize them, you can still <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/\">run a quick search on the name<\/a> for a profile that may include more information, including pics and social media profiles. Your mystery texter will not be notified that you searched them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you recognize the name, feel free to respond and add them to your contacts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Still don\u2019t recognize them? It\u2019s probably best to walk away. Don\u2019t click on links, don\u2019t provide personal information (even your name). Just ignore it, block the number, and move on. Better safe than sorry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Have you been receiving unwanted texts from mystery numbers? You\u2019re not alone. Here\u2019s how to quickly find out who\u2019s texting you without giving away sensitive information in the process. Who&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":21102,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[612],"tags":[664],"class_list":["post-21100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guides","tag-whos-number"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Who&#039;s Texting You? | The Compass<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Have you been receiving unwanted texts from mystery numbers? You\u2019re not alone. 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