subject: Free Reverse Phone Lookup - A Myth Or Reality? [print this page] Is there a truly free reverse phone lookup service on the internet? There are those of us who have been scammed and became frustrated looking for websites that claimed to offer free services or products. Is it a truly a myth?
Before we jump to any conclusions, let's look at what a reverse search on phone number entails. If you have a phone number with you but have not a clue who owns the number, you can use such a service to find out not just the name but address as well by doing a search on that number.
People use these services for various reasons:
1. To stop prank calls. Finding out who has been harassing you should be the single most effective way to put a stop to it.
2. Locating a long lost friend.
3. Background check on prospective employees.
4. Private investigations. It is not uncommon for private investigators to use such services to their work simply because it is effective and fast.
Free reverse phone lookup is possible. Period. But there is a catch. Free searches can only be done for landlines and toll-free numbers. The services providing these free searches are commonly referred to as online white pages. Reverse search on mobile and unlisted numbers, on the other hand, is only available as paid services. You may come across websites that claim to provide free reverse phone lookup on cell phone and unlisted numbers but when you do a search, they only give you superficial information like which state the number is registered in. Hardly useful information. They do however, offer more information if you pay.
Be very careful when you come across sites that claims to provide free reverse phone lookup on mobile and unlisted numbers because the information does not come free for legitimate service providers. They have to pay to use and maintain those data. Hence the charges imposed on users. Some rouge website even went to the extent of charging users when they only provide a list of sites that actually have the service.
