There are many reasons a person will search for a phone number, ranging from simple reasons, such as curiosity, to more dangerous matters like security. In a world where scamming, spamming, and stalking are the norm, putting an identity behind an unknown number is essential.
Aside from protecting yourself, recruiters, marketers, and businesses also want to know the identity behind unknown numbers. This set of individuals can crosscheck if a number truly belongs to a person or may want to reach out if they forgot to collect the number of a prospective candidate or customer.
The importance of clarifying unknown numbers or tracing them means there is a booming market for tools that perform these tasks. This article will look at four tools to help you identify or trace unknown numbers.
SignalHire
SignalHire is a professional recruitment tool meant to streamline the recruitment process. A part of what SignalHire does is to provide verified contact information for the recruiters to get in touch with prospects. This task means SignalHire is an ideal tool to source the contact information of individuals.
While its primary use is for businesses and recruitment agencies, you can conveniently get people’s phone numbers and emails. Its search extension, which works with Firefox and Google browsers, can get verified phone numbers from Facebook, Twitter, GitHub, LinkedIn, and Meetup.
You can search for a phone number and email, social networks, or information about a person’s past jobs and location. SignalHire boost of having a data accuracy of over 95%, and so the information on their database is one you can vouch for.
Before you can use the SignalHire extension, you have to register. To do this, go to https://www.signalhire.com/.
Click on the blue button reading “Start free trial.”
It takes you to a page where you either register for free or sign-up using LinkedIn, Facebook, or Google.
After doing this, they give you free credits to use which are provided again every month, and at this point, you can use the extension.
CocoFinder
CocoFinder is a free tool you can use to identify that unknown caller. Unlike its competitors, its interface is user-friendly and free to reverse search phone numbers. CocoFinder does more than find people through their phone numbers – it can also give detailed information on individuals through their names or address. They provide the following services:
People Search
People search allows you to search for individuals with their first or last name, which can be handy when you want a quick overview of someone new.
Phone Lookup
The phone lookup is what similar tools will call reverse phone number service. As its name implies, it means to dig out the details of an individual by phone number alone.
White Pages
Their white pages are like a directory for people with particular skill sets. If looking for a doctor, engineer, electrician, or plumber – this feature can come in handy.
Address Lookup
It brings out all the information on that address, and it brings out information on the owner, location, and history. You can use it as a tool to verify a business address you find online.
Background Check
The background checks feature fishes out any criminal record of an individual.
CocoFinder is an excellent choice because it offers free services, and there is no need for registration or to sign in to use it. They also got their data from public records, so they are pretty spot on their information.
CocoFinder Phone Lookup and its other features make it a total package – where you can further investigate a person if the need arises.
Sometimes results may be inaccurate or outdated, but you should expect that, seeing how fast information changes on the internet.
NumLookup
NumLookup is one of the largest reverse phone lookup websites. NumLookup has over 600 million active mobile users in its database and is in partnership with leading telephone companies worldwide. It has a drop menu that allows you to pick the country code of the phone number you want to reverse search and a feature many competitors don’t possess.
The service is free, and their website speaks about leveling the field between ordinary people and corporations who use and sell customer contact information without their knowledge.
NumLookup offers three peculiar services, and they are:
Lookup
The Lookup service allows you to retrieve the full name of the person registered to a number. It does this by making API calls to those companies that operate the phone number. This method also allows NumLookup to retrieve the person’s name within minutes.
Spydial
Spydial is a feature that allows you to dial a number anonymously. You can do this to talk directly with a number that previously called you, or if you don’t want the person tracing back your call. The Spydial feature only allows you to talk for a few seconds.
Spy text
Spytext serves a similar function to Spydial. It allows you to text a number anonymously, and they limit it to only 120 characters. So your text has to be short and straight to the point.
NumLookup works with mobile numbers, landlines, and even VOIP phones. The ease of use, free and fast service makes it one of the leading phone number search tools.
TruthFinder
TruthFinder is a people search service platform and one of the leading platforms in its industry. It can help you search for an individual using their phone number, name, or address.
Unlike other people search service platforms, it has a much more robust report on individuals. It also charges for its service. The TruthFinder provides the following services:
Reverse Phone Search
Its extensive database allows you to reverse unknown phone numbers of strangers and can verify one’s contact without calling them.
People Search
TruthFinder is primarily a people search platform, so they have robust data on various individuals in the United States. The platform produces a detailed report on any searched individual. Information shared includes:
- Email address
- Social media handles
- Location history
- Assets
- News story
- Personal blog
- Relationships (married or divorced)
Background Search
The background search looks at employment history, credit history, and driver’s history. It also reveals any felony or misdemeanor charges, pending cases, or other criminal records.
Dark Web Scan
The dark web scan is a bonus feature most other platforms don’t have, and it helps you scan the web for leaked information about you. You can customize the platform to search for your:
- Phone Number
- Bank Account details
- Passport Number
- Debit and Credit cards
- Social Security Number
- Driver’s License.
TruthFinder is a paid service that requires you to pay to have access to their report. Their plan as of this write-up was $25 monthly. Their information may also be out-of-date and, depending on the individual digital footprint, may find little on some individuals. Since they use publicly available information, not all information may appear. Their phone’s reverse feature is still one of the best, and it’s for this reason they make this list.
Conclusion
In conclusion, finding out the person behind the unknown number is always a relief, considering the world we live in today. Aside from tracking those who call us for security reasons, there are many other advantages to knowing the name behind a number. As we have seen in the article, we can make other searches on the individual to find out more about the person.
Although the accuracy of most of these platforms is not 100 percent, they are more correct often time than not. And in a world where technology keeps improving, it’s only a matter of time before tech that 100 percent identifies numbers becomes commercially available.
