A safer phone number for Mum or Dad
Scam calls work because the phone rings and someone kind answers it. Give a parent a nothanumber with Trusted contacts switched on, and only the people on their list can make it ring - family, close friends, the GP surgery. Everyone else goes silently to voicemail, and the scammer never gets them on the line.
Why the ringing is the problem
Most phone scams don't start with clever technology - they start with a ring, a friendly voice, and someone who doesn't like to hang up on people. Blocking numbers one by one never keeps up, because the callers change numbers faster than you can block them. Flipping the logic works better: instead of blocking the bad, only allow the good. A trusted-contacts number does exactly that.
How it works for your family
- Set it up together, once. Get the nothanumber app on their phone, add the family, close friends and the surgery to the trusted list, and turn Trusted contacts on. That's the whole job.
- Family rings through like normal. Anyone on the list calls and it rings exactly like any other call. Nothing changes for the people who matter.
- Strangers never make it ring. Unknown callers go straight to voicemail - no ring, no pressure, no one talked into anything on the doorstep of their own phone.
- Voicemail you can check together. Anything genuine that lands in voicemail is still there. Listen with them, add the caller to the trusted list if they're real, and carry on.
- Quiet nights, automatically. Add a sleep schedule so the number rests overnight - because no legitimate caller needs Mum at 3am.
Moving over gently
Nobody has to give up a number they've had for years. Start by giving the new number to the family and the handful of people who really call. Over time it simply becomes "the number that reaches them", while the old one - the one on every marketing list in the country - matters less and less.
Common questions
How does a second number protect my parent from scam calls?
Turn on Trusted contacts for their nothanumber and only the people on their list - family, friends, the GP surgery - can make the phone ring. Anyone else goes straight to voicemail without a single ring, so a scammer never gets them on the line.
Do scam callers know they are being screened?
No. An unknown caller simply hears voicemail, the same as any missed call. There is nothing to get around and nothing to argue with - the phone just never rings.
Is it hard for a parent to use?
Day to day there is nothing to use - calls from family ring like normal calls. You can sit down together once, add the trusted people, and it quietly does its job from then on.
nothanumber is invite-only for now. Join the waitlist and we'll let you know the moment you can set a number up for your mum or dad.