Although I registered with the national do not call list, I still receive annoying telephone calls from telemarketers. The worst offenders are alleged police departments that are soliciting funds for fallen officers.
Typically, the caller starts out friendly enough and then asks for money to support the family of an officer who was either wounded or killed in the line of duty. If I happen to pick up the phone and talk with these people, they start asking for credit card information as soon as I express sympathy for the family. When I refuse to give my credit card information and insist that they send something by mail or prove who they are, these people get downright hateful, accusing me of being unsympathetic to the plight of the family.
The phone number generally shows on my phone’s caller ID, but it does not identify the caller. For instance, I might get a number like 954-370-6846 (note: This is an example only and not intended to link the number with a disreputable caller) but it does not say such-and-such police department in the caller ID panel.
I also occasionally get phone calls from companies alleging to be my credit card provider, asking for information so that they can enroll me in an identity theft program. When I ask them to send the information to my mailing address on file with the credit card company, they usually get very insistent and irritated. Again, as with the alleged police departments, they eventually hang up; that is, if I don’t hang up on them first!
If you have gone through a nasty divorce or breakup with a significant other, sometimes your estranged partner will harrass you by calling you from a number that you do not recognize. These types of calls, or calls from teenage pranksters, can be particularly annoying — especially if you cannot trace information about the phone number in which the call originated.
Tracing Telephone Numbers Using a Reverse Search
If you get these and other types of harrassing phone calls, there’s a way to find out where they originated, using a reverse phone search database.
Provided by Caller Base, the reverse phone number lookup may be more comprehensive than other services. This is because their reverse phone search database includes millions of cell phone numbers and landline telephones within the United States and Canada. Their information is constantly updated to be up-to-date and accurate. Many other reverse telephone lookup services do not include cell phones, or their information is out of date.
If you do not have caller ID, you can find out the number that the annoying or harassing call came from by pressing *57. Sometimes, missed calls from unknown phone numbers or an unknown number will appear in your phone bill. If using a cell phone, click your “missed calls” feature and the number should appear.
Once you have the phone number where the harassing, prank or annoying call came from, visit Caller Base and type in the number in their free reverse phone search database and the results will show the phone number’s owner information such as name, address, city, state, line type, phone carrier details and more.
Privacy Concerns
Occasionally, a phone number will not show up in the free reverse phone number search. This is because the number may be associated with an unlisted cell phone or land line. Privacy laws ensure that these numbers are not a public record. In this situation, you will need to pay for the infromation. With a nominal payment, Caller Base can locate the information for you.
Additionally, and in compliance with current law, Caller Base does not use privacy-infringing methods such as GPS or Wi-Fi tracking to find a cell phone’s current location.
Conversely, your privacy is also important to Caller Base. What this means to you that all lookups, whether free or paid, are fully confidential. No one will be notified if you search for their phone number.
What To Do Once You’ve Identified the Caller
You can file a complaint at the National Do Not Call Database. You might also want to either contact your local law enforcement if the calls appear to be threatening or in violation of a court order and, if you think you are receiving unlawful business solicitations, contact your state attorney general’s office. If law enforcement or the attorney general’s office cannot help you, they will let you know where you can get assistance.
Conclusion
Your first step in stopping annoying, harassing and threatening telephone calls is to identify the caller. You can do that right now by conducting a search at Caller Base’s reverse phone search database. Try the free version first and if the information is private, seriously consider paying for the unlisted number information. After all, your security and safety may be on the line.
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This is a commercial review written by Urbain Beck
