How to be a Phone Detective

Or, how to "break" a phone number.

First - what is "breaking?"

Breaking a phone number is finding out who owns the number or where the number comes from. I looked up Revers Cell Phone lookup on 'Wikihow'. What they had looks like it was written by someone that has never done breaking before. It mentions basically the same thing 3 times.

OK, yes the fastest and easiest thing to do is use reverse phone detective. However, you may be a cheapskate, or you may have time, or you may actually enjoy research and investigation. If any of those apply to you I will tell you what investigators do (besides issuing a subpoena), without revealing any trade secrets.

Since you are reading this - you have access to the internet. The first place I check is phonevalidator.com . It is free, and it will tell you what type of phone it is, like a cellular phone, a land line, and it usually tells you who the carrier. Their report looks like this:

Phone Number: 832-878-5555
Date of this Report: March 01, 2008
Phone Line Type: Cell Phone
Phone Company: T-MOBILE
Phone Location: HOUSTON, TX
Directory Assistance Results: Click here...
Google Results: Click here...

Next, check whitepages.com or 411.com and Google to check on the number.

OK, let's use the example above (yes the 5555 is just a fake example). You are still too cheap to use the Reverse Phone Detective. You see that the phone goes to Houston, Texas. I would check Texas Public Records. Sometimes you can find phone numbers in property record transactions, and other public records. OK, now you may not be able to search by phone number, but you really want to know about the number. Maybe you want to "play detective" instead of just searching the number. Here is a fun and useful way to do this:

First, locate a "safe phone" you can use. A "safe phone' is one that doesn't come back to you. If you just borrow a buddy's phone it may not be such a nice trick on him or her. Perhaps you have access to a prepaid phone or a phone bank at a business. You don't even have to be local as who you are pretending to be can be calling from elsewhere. Call the number. If someone answers the phone, tell them you are with Domino's or some other local pizza delivery place. Tell them up front you have a simple 3 question survey and they will get a free pizza delivered for completing the survey. Can you see were I am going? If you are guessed that you are going to get the address by doing this, you are right. Here is an example of the conversation:

We can pretend to be domino's. :)

Hi I am (Make up any name here) with Domino's (or other Pizza Place). If you can take the time to answer a three question survey, we will send a complimentary pizza for your trouble. (They say OK 99% of the time. After all, who doesn't like pizza?) OK, this isn't one of the questions, but can I get your name?

1) Ok, (First Name) Have you ever used Domino's (or other local delivery pizza)?
2) How often do you use our service?
3) Would you use Domino's (or your other pizza place) again?

Interact with answers as if you are really taking the survey. Then say, "We are going to send one of our delivery people by with the coupon for a free pizza. What address do we send that to?"

See how easy that is? It can actually be fun and there is nothing illegal about it. :D

You can compare phone breaking services at Comparing Reverse Cell Phone Lookups

You can see this original article at Squidoo