You can fight back by using a tool that can help lookup numbers for you. Why bother? Because in all aspects of life, information is king. Knowledge is powerful leverage these days, even more so in an ever-increasing digital world.
However, one of the most irritating aspects of technology is that nothing is private anymore. Also, that includes your phone number if you’re not careful. Here are five reasons why you need to start using a phone lookup tool today.
Block Spam and other Unsolicited Calls
Let’s say you’re waiting for a call from a future employer or a clinic. Your phone rings, and it’s just a number. You think it’s someone calling you for a job or a doctor’s appointment, only to get a spam caller. You can let it go to voicemail, but what if the next call was from the party you were most expecting?
See where this is going? With a reverse phone lookup, you can let calls go to voicemail and weed out unsolicited calls. Once you get information on a caller, you can block and report the number.
Keep You and Your Family Safe
Aside from the annoyances of spam calls and people calling in the middle of the night, security is another concern. Strangers knowing your phone number carries significant safety risks for not only you but your entire family. Determined stalkers and predators can get your address just by knowing your phone number.
Phone lookup can also help you know more about whom your children are talking with. Is it their classmates, friends, or a stranger they met online? The internet is a dangerous place for kids. Tip the scales in your favor by looking up unknown callers and reporting the numbers to the authorities.
Avoid Phone Scams
People get scammed over the phone all the time. By getting more information on the identity and location of the caller, you can avoid scam calls from people halfway across the globe. Scam calls usually originate from Africa or Asia, so if you’re getting a call from Nigeria that says you won the lottery, that’s a scam.
Be aware that some criminals use technology to mask their real location. Take every call with caution, and always do a phone lookup when you feel something isn’t right. Google is your friend here, so ask for details you can check online.
Research a Person or a Company
If you want to know more about a person or a company, looking up a number can reveal plenty of information — unexpected calls from companies that want to hire you, for example. You can search for information on the numbers to check if they are legit or not. A reverse phone lookup also works if you want to know more about someone you just met.
Say you’re planning to go out on a date with someone you exchanged numbers with at the park. You can do a reverse phone lookup to see if this person is the real deal or not.
Practice Your Spy Skills
It’s OK to snoop on people if you’re 100% certain that something fishy is going on and if it’s part of your job. IT and security teams can run checks on employees suspected of placing non-work-related calls to outside parties. Management looking into cases involving data theft can track locations, dates, and names.
Summary
A reverse phone lookup is a powerful tool for gathering the information that can help keep you safe from spam and scams. However, like everything in life, you get what you pay for. There are a lot of free reverse phone lookup websites, but you won’t get all the information you need.
Most of the free services also serve up old data, so it’s always better to invest a little bit of money for a paid reverse lookup service.