People nowadays have gone to some extent in keeping their personal data safe and private. Some people will contact their phone company and local post office in order to have their names, address and phone numbers removed from the public listings or directories. Their phone number then becomes an unlisted number. This is in order for them to avoid getting prank calls or from telemarketing people from contacting them and sending those catalogs or brochures that adds up to their clutter. That's why when they get anonymous phone calls; they get concerned and possibly upset and they begin to wonder if there has been any breach in their data privacy. For anonymous phone calls, reverse phone lookup is one of the options that people can use to trace anonymous callers without having to dial the number itself. There are a lot of websites that offer free reverse phone lookup services, but people have to be wary since there are some that are scam sites that will not be able to give you the information that you need.

Landlines or regular home phone numbers have a database and the numbers are linked to a specific area code, making the tracing of a particular number easier. For cell phone numbers though, it can be quite difficult since there is no central database for all cell phone numbers, unlike with regular land line phone. Now, how can one determine a real reverse phone lookup site from a scam site?

First, legitimate reverse phone lookup sites will ask for a fee for a number inquiry. These sites have invested in gathering information and setting up a database for this type of service unlike with scam reverse phone lookup sites. The scam sites will usually advertise that the service is for free and may ask you to fill out a form. The downside of these scam sites is that they may use and can use the information you provide from the form that you use in order to avail of their so-called free service. These sites also may not give you the information that you are looking for which is important in the process of a reverse phone lookup service, and that is to know the owner of the number who called you anonymously.

The free sites are good if you just want to trace the location of an area code of a particular number. Legitimate reverse phone lookup sites have a money back guarantee if in case that they are not able to trace the number for you. Legitimate sites also offer a subscription plan if in case you would need their services again. Another tip in trying to trace anonymous numbers but you don't want to pay the fee is try to enter the number in any search engine and see if it will give any result. Trying to search or lookup the number from social networking websites can also be an alternative to tracing anonymous numbers.