Nowadays, you may use lots of search tools to find the owner of a mobile number with the name provided. But the truth is, not all of them show the real identity of the caller or people you’re trying to identify.
We’re in a new world of telemarketing spam, annoying calls, online fraud, and lots of problems. Millions of people in the US are facing these problems every year. So, when it comes to reversing-lookup a phone number without paying any fees, not all the search ways work the same. In fact, identifying a No Caller ID or the unknown person who called from a mobile number won’t be easy. That’s because many sites claim and talk about it in the wrong way.
In this guide, we’ll show you the only options you can use to run a reverse phone number lookup and find the name of the owner. And maybe, you’ll get his personal details such as social profiles, addresses, and more, if that’s possible, of course. Also, I’ll discuss the truth and limitations of free public data records. Also, you’ll understand why many tools want your information just to show you the name of someone’s number that you’re not able to identify.
The truth about free reverse cell phone number lookup
The short answer is Yes and No at the same time. Here is why: mobile phone numbers are not like landline numbers that can be easily identified by looking at any of the search directories. That won’t be like old telephone books used for decades.
Another difference with landline numbers is that mobile phone carriers sell numbers to individuals, businesses, and organizations without listing the owners’ identities publicly. That means these details are kept secret at the carrier level. Or even if there is any visible information associated with someone’s cell number, it will be locked until the person who needs that data pays a small fee.
Now, why are there fees for just looking up people’s mobile numbers? Is that data a public record? Or can you really find out who the caller is with name, location, and other details completely for free?
By doing deep research into this subject, we found that many of the so-called phone lookup tools are just spam and will try to keep users on their sites for as long as they can. Meantime, there are also good tools to reverse lookup cell numbers, but unfortunately, they are paid, but they work anyway.
Also, residential phone books like Whitepages may show you the line owner’s name. But when it comes to any mobile number, the data is not visible at no cost to members. So, Whitepages shows the data only when the user buys a premium subscription. And compared to other advanced phone lookup systems, Whitepages is not the best. Other sites may show more data without extra money.
So why do some tools claim they’re 100% free?
Don’t be fooled by the number of details and fake promises many of the online tools and websites show on their pages. They just want your personal information in exchange for showing you the name of someone through his cell number.
These tools may do their best to look like a good cell phone number lookup system that’s free, with a name included in the report. And, of course, they’ll talk about showing full reports with no charge for your credit card or PayPal account.
That may look interesting to many, but know what type of information you’ll share with them.
It’s your contact list, your name, email, address, and even your photos and family secrets if you saved them on your smartphone. That’s not all; these fake free phone lookup sites take a copy of your mobile phone contacts one by one. So, they add them to their database and then sell the data or use it in other ways no one is aware of.
Some free tools are fake
Here is an example of a site, it’s TrueCaller, that millions of users across the world are downloading in the hope of knowing who the caller is. In the US, they have a targeted strategy that collects as much data as they can about the user who signs up just to see the first name of the suspicious caller number. Now see the following screenshot we created when we wanted to use TrueCaller. Which is supposed to be a freeway to run reverse phone lookup.
Now, they want to collect data about users, such as their names, and where they live, (state and even city). Also, they’ll ask for the Google contact list and download a copy of it directly into their servers. Once we click on that “Enhanced search” interrogation point, there will be the following popup message. Read it, and you’ll understand that these tools take your personal information at no cost, and they do not provide you with free phone lookup services.
That’s ridiculous; why would someone need that very personal information when he offers a free service online? You know the answer, they want to know who you are, what you do, where you live, with whom you’re in contact, etc… That’s your personal life, ladies and men.
So, how to look up mobile phone numbers?
Now, you can take a look at the following options. Some tools allow you to find out who a phone number belongs to free of charge, while others require signup. But when you need a good one, choose the service that suits your needs and respects your privacy.
Free options
The best free reverse phone lookup options show the data publicly. They include search engines like Google, Bing, and social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Other than that, there are no real solutions to look up mobile numbers free of charge. Some of these sites, like the ones we talked about, claim false promises, and then, they exchange the data with the user’s details which they’ll sell later.
The downside of this strategy is that people may see who has had that phone number in the past when the actual owner is someone else. That’s why the data is free; it’s not always accurate.
How can Google help?
To find the owner of a cell phone number free, Google is the best option. It has all you need to search for publicly available information linked to contact details.
Now, to look up telephone numbers with Google, add them to the search box. And if there is any associated information about the owner, the search engine will show you the pages where the information is located. That way, you read the names and see personal information without paying any cost.
Next, if that option is not working for you, visit Facebook. Next, type the number in their search system, and see if there is anyone associated with it there. Finally, try LinkedIn or other social networks using the same method.
Sometimes, websites may not allow Google to crawl specific web pages and index the details on them. However, when searching Facebook or other sites directly, the data will be listed in the internal search program, all that is worth a try.
Besides, if there are no details about the cell phone number owner, no other site will show that for free. In this case, only premium tools that are sophisticated enough to crawl websites, deep web, and social media can extract the data. They can show full search reports for a membership fee. So, that’s when users get unlimited access to phone lookups and other search solutions without sharing their data or exposing any personal information.
Paid reverse mobile number lookup tools
On the other side, there are paid ways like this people finder system to get the first name of a cell number, and also their last name, location, and social profiles. Unlike the other options, they don’t sell your data or even collect it. Even more, you can opt out, which the sites have enabled by default for all members. Users can remove their data from the database if they accidentally share it.
Be careful with Android apps
Because Android is not better than iOS, app developers can play with many system weaknesses to collect users’ data. Consequently, they may try to showcase their app’s abilities to show you who a mobile phone number belongs to, by typing it directly into a search box. Or automatically when you see the caller screen. But in reality, they don’t do any of that, except a few features that may work sometimes.
Consequently, instead of exposing their details to online threats, we recommend that people carefully check what these apps ask for as information before installing them.
For iPhone, it’s a different story. It’s more secure, and in general, iPhone owners prefer paying for a trusted reverse phone lookup tool that keeps their data secure instead of using free apps with lots of problems and annoying ads.
Your data is your responsibility
That’s true; most sites want your personal data or give nothing as a free search. They may sell every personal information on the dark web with millions of other individuals’ records for millions of dollars.
In many cases, there will be serious damage because of identity theft, cell phone cloning, and more. So, when you need to know the name of a caller using his phone number, make sure you keep that into consideration before giving your details for free.
Just think why someone or some companies will give you free data when that takes server resources, employees, and maintenance.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are some options you can try to see the name of the mobile number owner. But always starts with the trusted ones as I discussed above. Also, you may find new free cell phone number lookup services with names provided and no charge for you, but remember, there should be a hidden cost for that. So, that could be your online security or privacy. That’s why there are always issues linked to using free search tools just to see the number owner.
