How to Find Owner of Cell Phone Number Free
Have you ever received a call from a strange number? If yes, you're not alone, and I've been there too! Research reveals that over 46% of Americans get spam calls every single day. I'm not sure if you have this tendency, but there are times I'm curious about who called me, especially when I missed the call.
If yes, I'll show you different methods to find telephone number owners.
💡TL;DR:
- For general purposes, such as confirming whether a mobile phone number belongs to scammers or a business, a Google search is often sufficient.
- If you need to find the private phone number owner, consider utilizing social media, or third-party tools such as Truecaller and NumLookup. These are the effective methods I have tested with my own mobile phone number.
- And always be careful not to violate local laws or others' privacy.
Can You Find Out Who Owns a Phone Number?
Yes! You can easily identify the owner of a public telephone number. But remember, looking up private phone number owner often comes with limitations such as:
Inaccuracy: One major limitation is the low accuracy, especially if you use a reverse phone lookup service. They do not guarantee 100% accuracy of the data because they primarily match numbers with publicly available databases or social media profiles.
Legal Risks: Legal restrictions can also prevent you from identifying the owner of a strange phone number. Many countries have laws that regulate the collection, storage, and sharing of personal phone data. This makes it difficult to access the phone number owner's information.
3 Ways to Look Up Cell Phone Number for Free
Now that you know it's possible to identify the person behind those strange calls, let's explore several ways to look up a cell phone number owner free.
- Google Searches -- Best for looking up public or scam number owners
- Social Media -- Best for finding private phone number owners
- Contact Police -- Best for checking number owners when there is a legal or safety concern
Search Phone Number Owner on Google
Google is one of the most accurate free tools for looking up cell phone number owners. It works well for identifying phone numbers belonging to businesses, governments, and scammers, by pulling data from business directories, government websites, and public criminal records.
Just enter the phone number you need to find the owner, and Google will show you accurate results if it is public.
It can also be used to identify numbers that belong to an individual, but the number must have been publicly shared in a forum, articles, or social media post. However, you have to know few people will publicly share their personal information, such as mobile phone numbers, addresses, etc.
Find Owner of Phone Number on Social Media Apps
Nowadays, popular messaging apps like WhatsApp or social media apps like Facebook require users to link their phone number or email address. So, as long as the phone number has been used for social media account registration, you can find out who owns the phone number in an accurate way.
But first thing first, you have to add the phone number to your phonebook. This is because messaging apps sync your phone contacts automatically to find friends you might know while social media's algorithms recommend these accounts by accessing your contacts data.
OK, now, after saving the number to your phone's contact list, follow the steps below to find owner of cell phone number free.
If yes, you can have a clue about who is behind the phone number.
Contact Police or Law Enforcement
If you can't identify the phone number through social media or Google, consider seeking help from the police or other law enforcement agencies.
They can easily trace numbers belonging to public officials, businesses, or private individuals. Law enforcement typically works closely with phone carriers to track and identify unknown callers.
But using this way requires a legitimate reason, such as an emergency. If it is just out of curiosity or other improper reasons, law enforcement officers usually will not provide information related to the phone number.
Popular Phone Number Owner Finders -- Are They Working?
After exploring the free ways to find phone number owners, I bet you might have heard of online phone number owner finders. But are they really work? To answer that, I've tried and tested several popular options on the market.
After testing, I can tell you responsibly that Truecaller and Numlookup are the most effective and accurate tools to look up phone number owner. And they are free to use.
1Truecaller
With over 433 million active users worldwide, Truecaller can be a reliable tool for identifying phone number owners as well as caller ID. It is available in both app and web versions. If you install the app, it can also help you block spam calls, filter spam messages, and identify unknown numbers.
Truecaller identifies phone number owners using two main sources:
- User Profiles and Public Data: If the owner is a Truecaller user, the app will show their name and other details from their Truecaller profile when you search for their telephone number.
- Community Sourcing: Truecaller also determines the caller based on how other users have saved the number. For example, if multiple users have saved a number as "XXX," Truecaller will display that name when the number calls you.
Hands-on experience: Because it relies on its own user database to retrieve phone number data, it may not find every phone number owner. During the test, its free version can reveal accurate information about my phone number such as name. And this is because I signed up for this service before. For phone numbers I need to look for, it cannot tell me who they are.
Additionally, the free version's search limit of just two times is quite restrictive.
2NumLookup
NumLookup is a platform strictly for users in the US and Canada. Unlike Truecaller, NumLookup reveals caller identities by pulling data from different sources, including phone carrier collaborations, social media platforms, and public records (such as property listings and lead databases), professional listings, and more.
Hands-on experience: NumLookup is truly exceptional in looking up phone number owners as long as it is from the US. See when I input my own phone number, it shows my name. However, my only issue is that it is not entirely free as claimed. To access details beyond just the caller's name, you still need to subscribe to its premium plan.
3IPQualityScore
IPQualityScore is another free reverse phone number lookup service. This toll collaborates with phone carriers to reveal phone number owners by sending a ping containing a CNAM query request to the carrier network. If the carrier does not have a record, IPQS checks public records and its consumer and business databases to find a match.
To use this phone number owner finder, you must sign up at first.
Hands-on experience: While IPQualityScore is free, it is not as effective as the above two tools. It cannot show my name after entering my phone number. It seems that it only reveals owners if they have a criminal record or are listed on the dark web.
4Whitepages
Whitepages was founded in 1997, and has audiences from different parts of the world. What sets Whitepages apart is its ability to generate relevant FAQs about lookup numbers and provide answers to the phone number lookup.
Though its data sourcing is similar to NumLookup, as it scans public records and property information to reveal caller identities, the accuracy is super low. Only for public phone number lookup, it performs well.
Hands-on experience: Though Whitepages provides details about the phone number owner, such as the location and network provider, much of this information is inaccurate.
During my test, it correctly identified my network provider, but the location was incorrect. More importantly, it doesn't show the caller's name with the free version, except when you upgrade to its paid version.
Bonus: Block Unknown Numbers on Your Phone
If you are always disturbed by unknown phone numbers, why don't you block them instead of stressing yourself about finding the person behind those strange calls or SMS?
If this looks like what you're thinking right now, follow the prompt below to learn how to block unknown numbers on your phone with the built-in features.
On iPhone:
- Step 1.Go to "Settings."
- Step 2.Select the "Phone" app.
- Step 3.Scroll down and find "Silence Unknown Callers."
- Step 4.Tap it to toggle it ON.
On Android:
- Step 1.Open the "Phone" app from the home screen.
- Step 2.Tap the three-dot menu in the top-right corner.
- Step 3.Select "Settings" and tap "Blocked numbers."
- Step 4.Turn the "Block unknown numbers" switch on.
Once you've enabled this setting on your phone, unknown numbers will be blocked completely so you do not need to find who owns them. If you need to block phone numbers for your child, we recommend using AirDroid Parental Control's call blocker function.
Finding the Owner of a Phone Number More Effectively
In conclusion, we've tested and introduced different ways and tools to achieve your goal.
By utilizing search engines like Google, you can easily know the owner of a business number or identify if it belongs to a scammer. If you are involved in cases such as telecom fraud, please contact local enforcement immediately to find the man behind the phone number.
With social media apps or reverse phone lookup services like Truecaller and Numlookup, finding a private number owner accurately is a breeze. Surely, it's important to respect privacy laws and use this information responsibly.
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