This powerful free tool is your secret weapon against phone scams

I don’t know if you’ve noticed—honestly, I hope you haven’t!—but scams are starting to get scarily sophisticated. And that means they’re tougher and tougher to spot, even for the more savvy land mammals among us.

That’s in large part thanks to AI​ and all the ways it’s making it easier than ever to imitate people and create convincing calls that sound like someone official—or even someone specific you know.

The best way to stay safe, as always, is to stay a step ahead of the scammers—and make sure you’re always both aware and prepared.

The tool I’ve got for you today is a powerful new way to do exactly that.

This tip originally appeared in the free Cool Tools newsletter from The Intelligence. Get the next issue in your inbox and get ready to discover all sorts of awesome tech treasures!

5 seconds to simple safety

So, first things first: Smartphones have gotten increasingly smart about scanning incoming calls for you and alerting you to anything that seems shady.

This is especially true on Android and even more so with Pixel devices​, specifically. But (a) even those systems aren’t 100% effective or anywhere close to foolproof—and (b) the breadth and quality of protection available to you varies widely depending on what type of phone you have.

➜ That’s where a new free site called Scan Number Check​ comes into play. Regardless of what level of on-phone protection you’re already packin’, it adds an invaluable extra layer of assurance anytime you get a call from a number you don’t know.

⌚ It takes literally five seconds to use, too.

✅ Just ​pull up the site​ in any browser, on any device you’re using, and type or paste over the number of the unknown call you’re seeing.

In an instant, the site will spit back a simple and easy-to-read report telling you if the number is likely to be related to a scam or not.

The service relies on a robust database of scam attempts maintained by Malwarebytes—a company that sells security software for most every platform. It’s a big enough organization that it has a sprawling series of reports and records indicating when numbers are associated with questionable, scammy activity, so it can easily check whatever number you enter against its data (for almost any country!) and tell you if it’s known to be questionable in any way.

It’s still not 100% foolproof, of course—no form of security protection could possibly be, especially with the pace at which scams are constantly evolving—but it’s a powerful extra form of protection to have in your pocket. And when it comes to keeping yourself safe, it’s all about those layers and doing everything you can to stay one step ahead.

• Scan Number Check is 100% web-based​, with no apps or installations required.
• It’s also 100% free to use. You’ll see some Malwarebytes promos sprinkled throughout the site, as you’d expect, but there are no limits involved, and you never have to sign up for any additional services.
• Malwarebytes says it doesn’t store any searches on the site and logs data only if you actively choose to report a number.

Treat yourself to all sorts of brain-boosting goodies like this with the free Cool Tools newsletter—starting with an instant introduction to an incredible audio app that’ll tune up your days in truly delightful ways.

investment News