I have the app for you. It is called Hiya and it is free. Whenever you get an unsolicited call, you can find out who called you without answering the call. Let it ring and then enter the phone number into Hiya. It will tell you who called you and whether it is spam. If it is spam, the screen turns red and there are comments from people identifying the type of spam and the pitch. Then, you can proceed to block the number knowing it was spam. This proves helpful for all unknown numbers. I awoke one morning with a message that I received a call at 3:32am. I checked the number through Hiya and found out it was from the ER of a local hospital. No need to block that number; it was just dialed in error. On another occasion, I was about to block a number I did not recognize and then thought it would be best to check Hiya first. It turns out the number was from the pharmacy that fills my prescriptions. As you can see, this app is not only useful for identifying spam but also beneficial for identifying legitimate calls. 

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This article was originally published in the June 2017 issue of the ISBA's Senior Lawyers newsletter.