Have you ever been apprehensive, pondering, “Is this call a scam?” each time you receive an unexpected call, yet are hesitant to block them for fear of missing something vital? Are you seeking a legitimate method to confirm a caller’s identity via their phone number? Rest assured, we have you covered. In this article, we will guide you on how to execute a reverse phone lookup and identify scam numbers with a few straightforward techniques.
Search on Google
When suspicious of an anonymous call, Google serves as a reliable starting point. Explore the number or area code to identify potential scam warnings associated with it.
Avoid immediately returning calls when there are no warning signs on Google. Numerous victims of caller ID spoofing have incurred international charges.
Search on Social Media
To find out who’s calling you, social media can also give you some hints. You can search for the phone number on social media. If you think it’s a real person calling, not a scammer, there’s a good chance that you can spot some traces on social media.
On Facebook and Linkedin, where people are more likely to link their numbers to their accounts, you may be able to find the exact account of the caller.
Use a phone number lookup tool
A more reliable and effective way to uncover a suspicious phone number is to use a professional tool. If social media didn’t give you luck, you can try a phone number lookup engine. You’ll be able to recognize who’s calling you and if the number belongs to a scammer right away.
We’ve tested a few services and here are the ones that we love the most:
–BeenVerified
Out of all the services we tried, BeenVerified is our favorite and the absolute all-rounder. BeenVerified’s reverse phone lookup allows you to search among its large data sources and find out if the number is a scammer within minutes. The report may include the caller’s name/alias, address, social media accounts, other associated phone numbers, etc.
- Go to BeenVerified and search for the phone number.
- BeenVerified will then pull the data and generate a report for you. It lists all potential owners and their brief info in the report, and you can click View person report to check a detailed people search report.
Note that BeenVerified is a subscription-based service, so you need to set up your account to access the report. You can try their excellent search power to search suspicious numbers you want to look up.
–Spokeo
Spokeo is long-standing in the field of people search and specializes in reverse phone lookup. Just give it a phone number, and Spokeo will dig into millions of phone records and discover to whom the number is registered. The report may also include contact info, location, associated social media profiles, potential relatives, etc.
- Go to the Spokeo reverse phone lookup page, type in the phone number and hit Search Now.
- Spokeo will search in its database and generate the report for you. You’ll need to pay a one-time fee of $0.95 to view the full report. Or you can purchase a monthly subscription plan.
–PeopleFinders
Since people search engines obtain their data from public records and every site has different information, the result can vary when you use different tools. If BeenVerified and Spokeo didn’t give you luck, you can try PeopleFinders. This site has an up-to-date phone number directory and is very user-friendly.
Just go To the PeopleFinders Reverse Phone Lookup page, and search by the number you have.
PeopleFinders will pull the data and generate a report for you. It may include name/alias, contact info history, age, addresses, etc. If any of the info looks suspicious to you, it could be a scammer number.
You need to pay a one-time fee for every report. We recommend signing up for the trial membership for multiple searches if you need to, which gives a better value. If you wish to cancel the service, make sure you do it before the trial ends.
Credits:
Photo by USA-Reiseblogger on Pixabay
Icons made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com
Contributors
Writer