When you receive a phone call from a number you don’t recognize, you just have to search who owns the phone number, right?

Sure, ringing them back is an option, but then you’ll have to speak to them, and you’ll be stuck with extra bills if it’s someone irrelevant. And they may not tell you the truth anyway. You’re far better off using a people search tool to search for the owner of the unknown number.

1. Intelius

Intelius is a powerful reverse phone number directory tool. Just enter the phone number, then it will search for the available public records associated with the possible owner and generate a detailed report for you. All the searches are conducted privately and legally, and the owner will not be notified that you searched for them.

1. Head to Intelius Reverse Phone Lookup.
2. Enter the phone number and click SEARCH.
   
3. Sit tight as Intelius scours its public record sources. Once it locates a match, it will generate a detailed report about the phone number and its possible owner. Purchase a membership plan to review the report.
   The above image is from a sample Intelius report. Actual Intelius reports may contain more or less information.

2. BeenVerified

Could the mysterious call be from an old friend, a doctor, a business prospect, or a new acquaintance who’s trying to get in touch? Or is it just a robocaller, scammer, or telemarketer who’s merely trying to lure you into their potentially shady shenanigans?

Whenever in doubt, you should run a reverse phone lookup with BeenVerified. All you need to do is enter the phone number, then BeenVerified will run the number in its database and generate a detailed report for you.

1. Go to BeenVerified Phone Lookup.
2. Enter the phone number into the box and click SEARCH.
   
3. Within a minute, you’ll be prompted to access a background report about the phone number owner. The report usually contains the owner’s name, contact info, social media profiles, criminal records, and more if available.
   
   

3. PeopleLooker

PeopleLooker features both web-based and mobile app versions for you to uncover the name of a mysterious caller. By uncovering a phone caller’s information, you can better screen out robocalls, telemarketer sales calls, and irrelevant calls that may scam you out of your time and money.

The service prides itself on providing the most up-to-speed information and no-hassle people lookup. The process is broken down into steps so that you know what to expect while the engine is gathering its data.

Here is how to use PeopleLooker to search who a mobile phone number is registered to:

1. Go to PeopleLooker Phone Search.
2. Plug in the cell phone number whose name you wish to search and click Search.
   
3. Wait as PeopleLooker looks up the phone owner’s name and gathers in-depth information for you.
   
   

4. Spokeo

Spokeo is a people search engine specially optimized for unlocking people’s social network profiles. It puts over 12 billion data records at your fingertips by aggregating them from 120+ social networks, the public as well as governments. It is your go-to option when you’re in the mood of getting more insights into the caller’s social media life.

To run a phone number search in Spokeo, simply plug in the 10-digit phone number, then you’ll be provided with free preliminary information about the number owner to see whether it’s someone you already know. Or if interested in knowing, you can click on the links to view their full report.

Here is how to use Spokeo to look up the number whose owner has been calling or texting you.

1. Go to Spokeo Reverse Phone Lookup.
2. Enter the 10-digit phone number and hit SEARCH NOW.
   
3. Spokeo will start retrieving owner information for the number you search and compile it in an easy-to-read report. The report may include the basic details of the number owner, including their name, age, locations, relations, social profiles and more.
   
   

5. PeopleFinders

As an older cousin in town, PeopleFinders has been in business since 1999.

It allows you to trace an unknown number and dig out in-depth information about the person. The lookup process won’t require you to sign up (which means no logs of your search), and it is pretty quick – all it takes is just a couple of minutes.

Perhaps, the best of all is its affordability – with its Premium membership costing only $9.95 for the first month.

1. Go to PeopleFinders Reverse Phone Lookup page.
2. Enter the phone number of the subject and hit Search.
   
   Hint: You can also click Advanced Search to narrow down your search and get more accurate results.
3. Wait a while as PeopleFinders generates a report of all up-to-date information about caller.
   
   

6. Perform a manual search

Despite being paid options, the above-recommended tools and engines allow you to look up a phone number and quickly identify a mysterious caller at a very low trial cost. If somehow they don’t yield a satisfactory result or you prefer the manual route, here you go:

Google the mobile number

Google is not a dedicated people search engine, but it’s still our #1 source of free information. If the number you’re searching for is from a professional or business person, chances are strong that they will leave trails online that can be traced to their identity.

To avoid a deluge of information searching on Google, you can wrap the mobile number in quotations so that the engine only searches its database for results containing the exact matches; then when you’ve found a lead, you can combine the information with the phone number to narrow down the focus even further. Repeat the steps until you’ve dug out all you have to find out about the person who called you.

Search the phone number on social networks

Social media is yet another way to track down the digital footprints of an unknown caller. To start out, you can hop on regular haunts such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn and see if you will be led to the person’s profile. Once you do, simply scroll through their bio and posts to learn who they are or whether they could be somehow involved in your life.

That said, you may also hit a dead-end if the person doesn’t make his/her profile public or simply doesn’t have a social media presence.

Wrapping up

When you receive a phone call whose number you don’t recognize, you should look up the number and search who owns the number instead of ignoring the call. Intelius, BeenVerified, Spokeo, PeopleLooker, and PeopleFinders are among the best phone number lookup tools in the market. They all give you very affordable($0.95 – $1) trial memberships to search for the identity of the person who the number is registered to within minutes. If you prefer to find out the caller on your own, you can try Googling the number or running the number through social media networks – but it could be a hit or miss.

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