Phone numbers are a little like fingerprints.
They can reveal a lot about a person, for example their name or
where they live.
If you have a missed call from an unknown phone
number, you may want to identify the phone number of the person who
tried to reach you before you dial that number. Chances are you’re
hooking up with a telemarketer. Eventually some random person simply
dialed the wrong number. Or it’s your long lost best friend who
finally found you. You never know.
There are several free online tools to reverse
lookup and identify a North American phone number. However, with
cell phone numbers it’s almost impossible to find out the identity
of the person behind the phone number. Unless you are willing to
pay.
Sadly, most seemingly free services will redirect
you to a paid option, even if it’s possible to find the information
for free elsewhere. To avoid these pitfalls, I have compiled a list
with services for reverse phone number search and how to use them.
If you suspect that a telemarketer called you, this is the service
you should try. Enter the number in the search field and hit “Get
Details“. If the number is not listed, no one has had
complaints about it yet.
The database at WhoCallsMe? is supplied by its
users. So if you have been receiving unsolicited calls from
telemarketers, surveyors, charities or other organizations, help
others avoid these people by entering their phone number and details
into WhoCallsMe?’s database.
A similar page is Who
Called Us.
For North American landline numbers, Google is an
excellent choice to identify a phone number. For listed US numbers,
Google may return a phonebook result that looks like this:
It reveals the name and address of the person who
owns the respective number. Using the convenient GoogleMaps link you
can look up in what neighborhood they live.
For other numbers, Google may return links to
local online phone books.
Now you could directly go to one of your local
online phone books. Which one you choose of course depends on where
you are. Unfortunately, I can’t list one for each country. Besides,
reverse phone number search is restricted in and unavailable for
several countries, including Australia and the UK.
The following four sites are for Canada and
Germany. They basically all work the same – you find the reverse
lookup option, enter the number, and hit search. So without further
comments, here it goes…
3. 411 (Canada)
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