subject: How to stop unwanted calls - The truth of reverse phone lookup [print this page] How to stop unwanted calls - The truth of reverse phone lookup
Have you ever received unwanted phone calls from some unknown persons? It seems the callers know your name, phone number, and probably your address, but you know nothing about them. How could they get your information?
They got it from the public phone list, or run a reverse number lookup to get it by entering your phone number. You can try this by yourself. Go to an online phone number search website, enter any phone number and try to see if you can find the owner's information. You may find out that sometimes you can get it, but sometimes you cannot. Do you know what the reason is?
The reason is, if it is a home phone number, you may be able to get it for free instantly. But if the number belongs to a cell phone, it is very likely you can't get it for free. Why?
Because, in most cases the home phone owner's information is public information. When you are registering for a home phone, you have an option to pay some fee to remove your name from the public directory. It is very likely you will decline this offer, in order to save money. Therefore, your private information, such as phone number, address, is listed in public directory, and others can search it for free. Some advertisers may get your information and call you, trying to sell something to you. It is quite annoying. If you don't want to receive this kind of phone calls, you can go to www.donotcall.gov to register your phone number. After 31 days, if you still receive this kind of call, you can go to the same website to file a complaint. But even if you have registered your phone number, it is still public information, and people can still find it out easily, though they are not allowed to call you.
If you sign up for a cell phone, the cell phone company will not list your information to the public. This doesn't mean others can't find it. They still can, if they want to pay. Your cell phone company may provide your information to some phone number search companies , which provide reverse phone number lookup service to the public, of cause not for free, or not totally free. If someone wants to get your information by your phone number, he can log into these reverse phone number lookup companies' websites, pay a certain fee, and then enter your phone number and get your information. They may still get some information for free, for example, the city where the cell phone is registered.
