Tracking down someone’s cell phone number can be difficult, if not impossible. After all, one of the reasons that people purchase a mobile phone is so they can have some measure of anonymity. In addition, phone books do not (usually) carry listings of cell phone numbers, so there’s no paper trail to follow, and cell phone numbers are unlisted – meaning that even if the number comes through on your phone screen, the person attached to it is still a mystery for the most part.
However, that doesn’t mean that finding a cell phone number listing is an impossible task. While mobile phone numbers are notoriously tricky to look up, there are a couple of tricks you can try. In this article, we’re going to look at five different ways you can use the Internet to potentially track down a cell phone number.
Note: While the Web is a vast treasury of resources, not everything can be found online. Use these tips for entertainment purposes only.
Try Using a Search Engine to Find That Cell Phone Number
Try a search engine. If you know the mobile phone number already, try entering it into your favorite search engine and see what comes up. If the cell phone number you are looking for has ever been entered somewhere on the Web – a blog, a public job profile – it will show up and you’ll be able to track to whom it belongs to.
- How to pick a search engine: There’s no set rule in place that says you have to use the same search engine every time you look for something. In fact, most search industry experts would advise you to do the exact opposite in order to get the most well-rounded results. Every search engine serves up different results, sometimes drastically so.
- Top Ten Google Search Tricks: While Google is definitely the search engine of choice for most people, there’s a lot more to it than just tracking down Wikipedia articles and finding cute cat pics. Learn how you can make your Google searches more powerful than you ever thought you could.
- Top ten Web search tricks: Do you use the same basic Web search technique every time you look for something? If you do, you’re not alone…most people are “stuck in a rut” when it comes to their search habits. With a few simple tweaks, you can make your Web searches more targeted and therefore much more effective.
Use Social Media to Find a Cell Phone Number
Try social networking sites. There are literally hundreds of millions of people who are active on various social networking sites all over the world. Many people use these social networking sites to share information with each other, and yes, that does include phone numbers. Simply type the person’s name into the site’s search function and see what comes back.
In addition, one of the most popular social networking sites is Facebook, which boasts at the time of this writing more than 500 million members. It’s a great source for tracking people down and, while most of the ways you can find people here are somewhat obvious, there are other informational sources within Facebook that might not be quite as easy to use. Read How to Use Facebook to Find People – Ten Easy Ways to learn more about how you can use Facebook to find cell phone numbers and (potentially) much, much more.
Search Across Websites For The Same Username To Find A Cell Phone Number
Try searching via username. Usernames, individual identification codes/names for people accessing a computer, network, or website, are also good jumping-off points for tracking down a cell phone number. Since many people keep the same username across multiple sites, you can sometimes hit pay dirt simply by typing that username into your favorite search engine and waiting for the results. If the person has entered in their phone number somewhere on the Web underneath their username, it will come up in a search engine query.
Alternative Search Engines Can Help Find Cell Phone Numbers
Try a niche search engine. There are a wide variety of search engines on the Web, and all of them serve up unique results. While general search engines are quite useful in most search situations, sometimes niche search engines – tools that fulfill a specific search purpose – can come in handy. People search engines can be extraordinarily useful in this regard since they search and retrieve only people-related information, which includes cell phone numbers. Type in the person’s name (use quotation marks around the name to make the search even more focused), or type in the phone number itself to find related information.
Finding Cell Phone Numbers Online – Not Always Guaranteed
Should I pay for this information? After years of receiving literally hundreds of emails from frustrated readers that have paid so-called “legit” services that promise to do a mobile phone number search, I can say confidently that no, you should not pay for this information. Not one of these folks has ever had success with these sites that offer to find this information for you. They have access to the same information you do on the Web – if you can’t find it, they probably can’t either.
What if I can’t find the mobile phone number I’m looking for? Unfortunately, that’s going to be the norm and not the exception. Mobile phone numbers are kept very private by most people and, since they are not in any kind of published directory (yet), they are next to impossible to track down. However, don’t give up! Try the tips I’ve mentioned in this article to help you in your free mobile phone number search, and you just might get lucky.