Data that contains this info is routinely bought and sold between various parties and is a good reason to be more cautious when sharing up your own personal details. In other words, the owner needs to have openly linked themselves to the phone number when giving census information, registering a business, etc.Ī second source is the phone company itself or other companies that hold the names and numbers of its customers. Designated city and state for the area codeįinding the precise address where the phone is located, and the name of the owner is a bit more complex.to help identify unknown callers.Īny phone number can quite easily be tied to the:

Today, advances in technology now allow anyone to do a reverse phone number lookup that queries many different databases, depending on the quality of the service. As time went on, however, data was sold and records grew. Cross directories were kept private between law enforcement and investigators. Historically, starting with the phone number to find other information was more difficult. In the late 90s the White Pages directory began collecting home and business numbers online – an extension of traditional business phone books like the Yellow Pages. You simply called the operator, say the name and city, and they would share the number. In the past, the majority of business and house phone numbers were publicly available via 411 directory assistance or the telephone book. They can reveal everything from a person’s employment history to their social media profiles. A name and phone number together can then be used for broader background checks. Such services provide detailed information, including the name of anyone registered to the phone number and its geographic location. This certainly can return some results, but the best option is to use a dedicated phone number reverse lookup service. If you’ve ever wondered how to lookup phone numbers, your first thought might be to type it into Google. This is where reverse call lookup comes into play.

But what can you do about it? Blocking a number is not always feasible and some nuisance callers will simply switch to a different phone line anyway. We’ve all been pestered by phone calls from unknown numbers at some point in our lives.

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