Reverse Phone or Lookup by Phone Number: Why and How?

First, think about this for your on personal protection.

Have you ever wanted to buy something on a classified site like Craigslist or an auction site like eBay? Have you been called from an organization for donations? Have you ever received phone calls from businesses or individuals that are not known, personally, to you? Have you ever received an anonymous call? Have you ever received a call from a legitimate business with which you are acquainted; however, you did not initiate the call?

These are instances where a records lookup by phone number (also called a reverse phone lookup) may be appropriate. In each of the cases above, looking up a person or business by their phone number will help to validate:

1) Is the person or business who they say they are.
2) Where is the phone number registered? Does the address make sense?
3) Is the number registered, at all, to an individual or business?
4) Do all of these match what you expect?

Item number 1) is self explanatory. If the name does not match the individual or business, then some explanation is required.

Item number 2) is useful to give some validation to identity. For example, if you are answering a local advertisement to buy something and the phone number is listed to an address a thousand miles away, there could be a problem.

Item number 3) "Is the number registered, at all, to an individual or business?" is particularly important. If the number is not registered, it is probably what is known as a throw away or "burn phone". This should present a warning to you regarding this person or business. However, it could also be a noncontract phone and not a problem. It is just an area for more careful inspection.

If you find information that just does not match up with what you expect and the other party cannot or will not provide reasonable explanation, then you probably should ignore or walk away from them. If the situation merits, you may want to contact local authorities for possible fraud, harassment, or other charges.

Next, think about using a lookup by phone number service for your own special needs.

Have you needed to contact a relative, friend, or someone that owes you money? In today's world, phone numbers tend to stay with the person (especially mobile numbers). So, if you have their phone number, you can probably get their additional contact information with a phone number lookup.

So, how do you do this? For landline publicly listed numbers, it is easy. There are multiple sites online to help with this. The difficulty comes with unlisted landline numbers and with mobile numbers used on cell phones, tablets, pads, etc...There is also an additional twist with IP (internet) based phone services. Most online services that offer "free" reverse phone lookups will not provide information for unlisted or mobile numbers. So, in reality, all services that actually perform a useful search for you will cost something, but, if it helps with protecting you or linking up with a long lost friend, it is probably worth it.

If you are on a land line phone, you can pay an extra monthly fee to make your number "unlisted". This will get you off of the white list search results; however, it may not get you off of the paid search results. Currently, cell phone numbers are not required to be included in a public directory; however, phone lists that include cell phone numbers are created from purchased lists from utilities. There may be an opt out of these lists is you send a letter in writing to your carrier. Of course, you can buy a non contract phone, a sim card, and monthly minutes to help prevent your personal information tied to your phone number. Or, you can buy throw away phones. Of course, all of these techniques then put you on the "be wary" list of those that may do a reverse search on you. Check out the wiki link below for more information.