Just a few days ago I was answering questions on a popular answers site. Sometimes when I'm chilling with a cup of tea I venture onto one or other of the answers sites to see if I can help someone with their computer problems.
At the top of the list of latest questions was someone asking why they had to pay to reverse look up a cell phone number. It was a sensible question because, as the asker pointed out, you wouldn't expect to pay to look up the owner of a landline number. You'd just go to the white pages website and there is a reverse lookup box right there on the front page.
Why isn't there a similar facility for looking up a cell phone number? That set me thinking. Why isn't there such a thing as a free cell phone lookup?
If you own a landline there are a few things that make it easy for the phone companies to compile a list of who owns which number and what your address is. Firstly, a landline is fixed. The phone company know where the phone line and they know the address it is fitted to. Secondly you are, effectively, under contract to the phone provider. You have to pay your bills regularly. This means that the phone company knows who you are as the number is registered in the bill payer's name. Both of these things make it easy for the phone companies to provide a list of who owns which number.
If you think about it you will realise that it isn't so easy for cell phones. You can buy a prepaid cell phone over the internet. You can buy a prepaid cell phone in the supermarket with your groceries. Nobody at the check-out asks who you are - they just scan the box and sell you the phone. You could be anyone from anywhere. It isn't even necessary to register the number and top up using a credit card, although you can do this if you want. You can purchase top up cards in many stores and just enter the card number. It's all anonymous.
That's why so many scammers use cell phones. Anyone can buy one, anyone can use one, you can use it anywhere and anyone can top it up.
I think you can start to see how difficult it is to compile a realistic list of who owns which cell number and to provide a sensible reverse lookup services. Yet these services do exist. So - how do they manage to provide a reverse lookup service and why do you have to pay for it.
The reverse lookup services have to compile the data for themselves. This means buying in vast lists of cell phone numbers and collating them to provide meaningful data. Not an easy task. These lists are often compiled from websites or forms that ask people for their cell numbers. If you don't specifically ask that your data is not passed on (usually by checking or unchecking a box) then your data may get added to one of the lists that is then sold to the reverse look up providers.
The white pages data is provided as an extra because their customers are already paying for the provision of their landlines. The reverse number providers are businesses that exist solely to provide this service and have to earn money to pay their staff, maintain their websites and buy in those all important lists of data.
Fortunately, the reputable reverse number trace sites won't charge you unless they find the answer you are looking for. They all have staff that can help you, so you are guaranteed to find the answer you need or not have to pay.
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