You’d be surprised by who is selling your private info anymore. DMV sells ALL your pertinent info to the highest bidder. Social Security is doing the same. Many years back I had the opportunity to see my credit report. At that point in time I was much stricter with whom I shared my cell to the point that my Mother didn’t have it because I was afraid she’d share it & when I did finally give it to a friend, it was with the understanding that they were NOT to share it with anyone. When I looked at my credit report, there was my cell number promptly displayed above my home phone number.
When I first moved back to GA, I worked as a telemarketer for a little bit to give me some income until I could find a full time job. It may have changed; but back then, they would choose an area code & first 3 digits of a phone exchange then we’d call EVERY possible combination in that exchange. Didn’t matter if your number was unlisted or just turned on that day, you were getting a call. I feel fairly confident that they know the block of numbers each cell company owns & they may do the same with them. There’s NO such thing as privacy anymore. That’s why I do NOT answer calls on my phone from numbers that I don’t recognize. My friends know to leave a message if they are calling from a different number than normal if they really need to speak with me because they can call 100 times & I’m going to ignore it!!!
Other than a trusted source selling your info or a block calling method, I have NO other ideas.
Oops, one other idea…do you realize that anytime you call a toll free number, that they can see the number you’re calling from even if you’re using number blocking