How many times a day do you get a call from a number you don’t recognize?
1. Use a secret people search site
Usually, when I talk about people search sites, it’s to remind you to remove your records. These sites gather any available data, package it up, create a dossier on you and sell access to it. The results are not always reliable, but one site is surprisingly accurate.
The site is FamilyTreeNow.com. Go ahead, first look yourself up. You’ll likely see various places where you lived, your age, any relatives, and other personal details. Be sure to scroll to the bottom of your record because your landline and cellphone numbers might also be readily available.
Be careful using Whitepages, BeenVerified, TruthFinder, and many of the other big people search sites. It’s very easy to get duped into signing up for a monthly membership.
Obviously, there is a slew of sites that promise to provide personal contact details along with criminal records. Tap or click here for a step-by-step guide to deleting yourself from people search sites.
2. Try a reverse number search
Many people search sites let you do a reverse lookup, where you search by a number and not by the person’s name. There are also specialty sites built to give you a head start if you have an old number.
Spy Dialer boasts “billions of phone numbers” and lets you search by phone, name, address, or email. ZLOOKUP and USPhonebook are free options that give results for people and businesses.
3. Expand your horizons
Go ahead, turn to Google. Type in the person’s name and put it in quotes for more accurate results. You can also try adding the area code or a city, or words like “contact,” “number” or “cell.”
Be sure to also look at the Images on the Google search results page. You may find a photo of the person that leads you to another possible clue.
The more details you have, the better. Do you know where this person works or lives? What about their hobbies? Do they have a blog or website?
If the person does have a website, turn to WhoIs. Here, you can look up who owns a domain, and often, a phone number and email address are listed, too.
4. Turn to social media
If you can find the person on social media or you’re already friends, look at their profile. Most people have removed their phone numbers (or never posted it in the first place), but you might get lucky. If you strike out on Facebook, try Twitter or LinkedIn.
USA today
