4 ways to find anyone’s cellphone number online

How many times a day do you get a call from a number you don’t recognize?

If you’re inundated with robocalls, you’re not alone. You can’t make them stop altogether, but a few simple steps can go a long way in silencing the noise. Tap or click here for my best tricks to put an end to annoying robocalls.

Spam texts are surging, and you might be making a big mistake that will land you with more of them. Tap or click to find out why you’re getting more spammy texts.

The information provided here is to help you reconnect with someone. Maybe you had a number and lost it. Maybe the number you had is no longer in service. Perhaps you got a call from someone you don’t recognize and need to sleuth it out. 

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.

When you’re done being shocked, here are the step-by-step instructions to remove your name and records from FamilyTreeNow.com.

Be careful using Whitepages, BeenVerified, TruthFinder and many 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 Who.Is. 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 them in the first place), but you might get lucky. If you strike out on Facebook, try Twitter or LinkedIn.

Need more help? 6 tips to find anyone on social media.

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What digital lifestyle questions do you have? Call Kim’s national radio show and tap or click here to find it on your local radio station. You can listen to or watch The Kim Komando Show on your phone, tablet, television or computer. Or tap or click here for Kim’s free podcasts.

Tags: Facebook, Google, Kim Komando Show, people-search sites, Podcasts, robocalls, social media, spam texts, tech help