Who Called Me From This Phone Number? Need-to-know Tips

In the age of the internet and the cell phones, dealing with unknown callers is a fact of life. Sometimes it's an honest mistake, or a case of misplaced information, but all too often an unknown phone number is from a caller you'd rather not talk to.

If you're asking, "Who called me from this phone number?" you have some potential answers, but be warned: it's a murky world out there.

Paying the Price of Reverse Phone Lookup Service

If you do an online search, you're going to come across various companies offering a phone lookup. Like anything you type into the search bar, the first results are very likely going to cost you. If you miss a call from a number you don't recognize, you'll see a long roster of options, many of which will try to entice you with the word "free."

Be wary.

It's very unlikely that any of these reverse phone lookup services are actually free of charge. And many of them are suspiciously similar in the way they operate: After you type in the number, you'll see one or more pages of progress bars as the system relentlessly scours the internet for any and all available information.

Then, you'll likely receive notification that there's been a hit: They have the information you're seeking. However, there's almost always a catch. To see the relevant info, you'll have to do something first.

At the very least, you'll have to enter your name and email, adding yourself to their list. At most, you'll have to pay or give payment info for a "free" trial, at which point, supposedly, you'll gain access to the information you want.

How Reliable Are Reverse Phone Lookup Services?

We've already seen the hoops you'll have to jump through just to see some information, with the kind of bait-and-switch tactics that don't usually inspire consumer confidence. But it gets worse: Often, when you sign up for a phone number search service, you have no idea how reliable the information is.

That's because there's no one, central database with all the cell phone numbers listed. Fee-based services that offer a reverse number lookup are often just scrubbing social media and doing an extensive public records search, but much faster than you could on your own.

There's no way to ensure that the information is going to be accurate.

Phone Number Search Services: Proceed With Caution

Here are some reverse phone lookup sites. Approach them cautiously, knowing that some are very hard to quit after paying for (like many internet services, they work using a subscription model).

• Intelius

• CocoFinder

• Truecaller

• Spokeo

• PeopleFinderFree

If you have the time — and a decent appetite for risk and hassle — you can try one of these services. And you might get lucky, even with something more detailed, like an address lookup for the person who is sending you unwanted calls.

But you might find that it's not worth the money (or the effort) to get this info.

Reverse Telephone Directory

Ideally, the service many people are looking for would operate like a phone book.

If you're too young to know what a phone book (or phone directory) is, it's a big book compiled by your local telephone service provider with people and business's names, listed alphabetically. Next to their names are their phone numbers.

In the era of the internet, physical phone books have become increasingly unnecessary, although online versions persist. Added concerns about privacy have led to mobile phones being unlisted in any central database, although some municipalities do keep them.

These directories work in the opposite direction, allowing users to search for a name by typing in the phone number. In effect, these could be used as a phone number lookup site, but they are often unavailable to the public. Instead, they are used by law enforcement or other municipal authorities.

The Wild Era of Wireless

Unlike in the ancient days of land lines, mobile phone numbers are relatively unregulated. Your carrier will keep track of your info, but there's no publicly available database that you can use to look up a phone number owner.

Caller ID is standard on cell phones, but of course there are ways that this feature can be blocked by the caller, as often happens with spam calls.

Law enforcement agencies have ways of keeping track of criminal and traffic records, but these aren't available to the public, and given how easy it is to change cell phone numbers, even these databases aren't necessarily up to speed.

While this has some privacy benefits to the average person, it also means that scammers and spam calls can get away with a lot more than they used to. It's yet another uneasy trade-off in the world of modern technology.

Is There Such Thing a Free Phone Number Lookup?

If you're interested in finding out the identity behind a specific unknown number, your best bet might be regular old search engine such as Google (or a private browser such as Startpage). That's right: Reverse number lookups can be as easy as opening up your browser.

Of course, you'll have to scroll past lots of sites, including some of the ones listed earlier, to get to any information that you don't have to pay for. But after the various "free" sites offering reverse phone lookups, you're likely to see some information that might help, including — potentially — that unknown caller.

This is where social media accounts come into play. Since we're all so wired in, it's not unlikely that personal information is out there — often, way more than you would be comfortable with. (Have you ever tried Googling yourself? Terrifying.)

Sometimes, identifying unknown callers can be as simple as a quick browser search, and you'll get the same information that a fee-based search tool would've found.

Why Would I Want to Look Up a Number?

We've all been in the position of asking the main question this article began with: "Who called me from this phone number?" But there are plenty of reasons why you, or someone else, or some corporation, might want to look up who a number belongs to.

We've already covered the lack of a central database, but there are companies that compile oodles of personal data, including the names associated with particular phone numbers.

You've probably heard of these companies, such as Experian, TransUnion or Equifax. Each of these is a consumer reporting agency, and they use your data for everything from car financing to bank accounts and mortgages.

This can feel a little one-sided, and it is. (Have you ever wondered why a potential landlord gets to screen your credit, but you don't get to screen them for things like late repairs or harassment of tenants — and make them pay for the process?)

Luckily, the Fair Credit Reporting Act requires that some of this personal information be made available to consumers. It's a limited but still useful check on the power of financial institutions.

Original article: Who Called Me From This Phone Number? Need-to-know Tips

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