Topic: A Brief Guide to Reverse Search Of Phone Numbers...

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A Brief Guide to Reverse Search Of Phone Numbers and its Usage in the Identification of Unknown Callers

It is a phrase which commonly refers to the utilisation of a reverse phone directory to allow a person who is in knowledge of a particular phone number, but has no information regarding the registrant or owner of that number, to search for and find out the unknown caller’s identity. As such, reverse phone lookup performs a task which is opposite to that of a standard phone directory. Instead of searching a user’s particulars to find out his or her phone number, one would search for the phone number to find out the owner’s particulars.



There exist both public and private reverse phone services. Private services are generally confidential and can only be accessed by individuals who work within the police or emergency medical fields. Public services, on the other hand, are often concurrently provided by most telephone companies with their standard telephone directory services. Historically, these reverse phone directories would come in printed editions, similar to those of standard phone directories. With the advent of technology in the past couple of decades, however, such systems have been transformed into online search engines, where one can simply enter a phone number into a text box, and with the click of a search button, retrieve the desired information about the registrant of that particular phone number.

If such a concept still remains mind-boggling to you, here’s a quick run through to demonstrate how you would use such a system. If you live in the USA, give the free ‘Reverse Phone Lookup’ system provided by ‘White Pages’ a shot. The first step would be to type in the phone number you wish to lookup in the text box provided on the website. Next, click the ‘Find’ button, and give the site a couple of moments to perform the search for you. Wait for the site to load, and voilа, the business or person whom which the phone number is registered to, along with a location of the phone number and a corresponding map is shown to you.



There are various online services which provide additional details about the owner or registrant of the phone number. These, however, usually come with a small fee attached.

The ease at which one can use such a system to sieve out private details about people has sparked some controversy. It has also led to some debate about the level of privacy of phone owners which should be maintained by telecommunication companies. Currently, the USA still has a system where landline phone registrants can, at a low price, pay to prevent their phone number from being included in systems, so as to maintain their privacy.