Running a Reverse Phone Search - The Pitfalls And Issues
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Reverse Cell Phone | Reverse Phone Lookup | Trace Phone Number | Reverse Phone Trace | Trace Phone Call
While you are searching for information, you may come across terms and lingo that you don’t understand. Knowing what these terms really mean, and what legal implications some of them may have is important. Though your search may be innocent, and you simply want to reach someone or find out who is bothering your family, you still don’t want to break the law in your endeavor to find more information. Here are a few things you need to know.
Pre-Texting: This is a form of deceit that some use to get information that they would not normally have access to. This is often used in illegal activities aimed at identity theft or phishing for account and social security numbers. A pre-text is often more complicated than a simple lie. It is a well thought-out story that has been researched and even coached. Some will find a bit of information on someone and use that information to get to more. They often pretend to be someone of authority in order to gain that information.
Pre-texting is sometimes the best tool for someone who wants to lift an identity or simply gain information to credit card and bank accounts for financial gain. This tool is more effective than one might think, and is often the basis for online and over the phone phishing scams. The worst part about pre-texting is that many individuals are fooled, as can be expected, but many companies fall victim to this as well. One of the most common reasons for pre-texting, other than phishing and scams, is using this practice to gain access to phone call records.
XXX-President George W. Bush signed a bill on pre-texting in regards to phone records in January of 2007. This bill makes pre-texting illegal, and is punishable as a felony. Fines for individuals can be as high as $250,000. If a company is involved, the fine doubles. Each can also carry a prison term of up to ten years.
Call Records: These are much like they sound. Call records accompany any phone account. They have information on what numbers were called by any customer, when they called, how long they may have spoken to the other party, and the charges for these calls. These should not be available to anyone other than the account holder, and the police if they have a warrant to have access to them. When the records are in the wrong hands, private landline numbers and mobile numbers can be passed around and sold. Some sites to claim to have them for sale, but they have gotten them illegally.
This sounds as if the biggest problem with this would be privacy issues. However, this can put an individual in a very vulnerable spot. You may be guarded, and you may know not to answer questions on the phone, but some of your friends and relatives may be fooled by a well put together pre-text. Anyone with access to your phone records could call all of the people you know, and fish around for tiny bits of information like your maiden name. Your friends and relatives may be taken off guard and think they are doing you a favor by giving out something like that. The worst part is that you would never know your records have been sold or accessed, and you would not be able to warn those on your records about what has occurred.
Reverse Phone Lookup: This is the act of using a limited amount of information, namely a phone number, to try to find information on the caller. This is used when people are receiving calls they can not identify, and that are suspicious in nature. Some calls are harassing, and some are simple hang ups. A reverse lookup is used in an attempt to find a name, address, or email address that is connected with an unknown and unlisted number.
Though reverse phone lookups have a limited success rate, they are often the only way some can be tracked down. Using them is a matter of time and diligence, but when it is important to find information, this time is well worth it. The success of a reverse phone lookup will greatly depend on the information needed, and the time and money put into the search. This is something that can be done before deciding if the services of a private investigator are needed.
Call Trace: This tool can be used when a caller is being harassed by an unknown caller. Some phone companies have a code that can be entered after such a call, and that allows the phone company to find the number. This information is rarely released to the person making the complaint. There is often a small fee involved.
If the harassment continues, the phone company can then turn this information over to law enforcement for further action. Though most companies have this feature, a consumer should call to find out if they have access to this and what they should do next. In ongoing cases, the next step would be a call trap.
Call Trap: This tool can be used by the phone company and the police to determine the origin of harassing phone calls. If calls become threatening in nature, a consumer must complaint to the police and the phone company. A call trap can then be put on the phone line to capture the phone numbers of incoming calls.
The consumer should keep a phone long of all calls that come in including time, date, length of call, what was said, gender, and specific threats being made. These are usually put on a line for about two weeks to capture the number of the offender. These are normally used when the consumer may be in danger.
Privacy and Legal Issues
Though it seems that some information is available online for a price, not all of this information is legal. Some find sources for this information and then offer it up for sale when they have no business doing so. When you are using any of the tools at your disposal to locate a person and any of their personal information, there are some issues that you should keep in mind.
Selling Phone Records: It is illegal for anyone to sell the phone call logs and records for anyone. There were numerous sites online that offered to hand over the phone records for anyone, for a fee. Some of these sites have been shut down under threat of prosecution. These records are confidential. While it is not certain how these records end up in the hands of those willing to sell them off, some believe they use pre-texting to get them, or they have paid someone within a phone company for the information.
Keeping Searches Private: Though it will depend on the reasons, it is always a good idea to make sure you keep your reverse phone lookups private. Though some searches are to find friends, there may be times when you do not want to alert the other person to the fact that they are being tracked down. This might be when the calls being traced are harassing in nature, when someone owes money, or a person is being sought for legal reasons.
Most online searches and fee-based services will not alert the person to the search, but there are times when a private investigator may not be as discreet. If your search ends with a private investigator, find someone with a good reputation who will share their tactics with you so you are comfortable with what they must do and that you will not be associated with the search until necessary.
Your Home Privacy: When it becomes apparent that unknown numbers may belong to people who are interfering in a marriage, usually by way of affair, it is important to have all of the information possible before one spouse confronts the other. If a home computer is shared, it might be very obvious that someone is searching down a phone number. In an effort to keep this type of endeavor quiet until the sought information is found, there are a few things that anyone should do to erase their tracks.
Email accounts should be closed after signing out. Many are found out by leaving an email address open. If there are communications about the search within an email, it could easily be found. Each computer has a record of cookies that should be erased as well. These are stored on the computer and keep track of each site visited. These can be erased through Internet Explorer by going to Tools, and clicking on Internet Options. There is an option there to delete cookies and temporary files. Use it.
Lastly, do not forget about the History function on Internet Explorer. If you use a different browser, it may have the same feature. This feature will record all web sites visited by a computer on any given day. It often saves this information for quite a while. If you have been searching, you have to delete the history. You can delete the entire thing, or you can delete the links you wish to hide. As a last step, empty the recycle bin as well. It may be holding the links or files you have just deleted.
Information provided by ReversePhoneDetective.com