What is even worse is when you try to call that number back and all you get is an annoying 'This is an invalid phone number' or and answering machine asking you to please hold for the next available representative with no indication as to what company you have called and why you're holding.

For all you know, you could be on hold to speak to a telemarketer you wouldn't have spoken to in the first place.

All phone numbers - landline, mobile, and unlisted - are registered to some individual or some business. If you are being driven crazy by these calls, there is an easy way to find out where they orinate from, and have them stopped.

It's called a reverse phone search and as long as you have the phone number that keeps popping up on your called id, you can find out who is calling you. There are a wide variety of reverse phone search websites available on the Internet to use for this service and they collect the phone numbers and the names associated with it from confidential sources, public records, and data brokers. These information sites are called 'source databases'.

A reverse phone search can help you do, but is not limited to:

* Find out the identity of a prank or harassing phone caller

* Research numbers that you can't identify on your phone bill or caller id

* Help you locate friends and family who have fallen out of touch

* Look up the exact address of someone you know.

Now there is a fee to utilize this service, and agreeing to the website's terms and conditions is compulsory - and these include you not using for illegal purposes any information you uncover. The target of your search will never know that you have been researching their details. The small fee you pay to find out who is trying to call you is more than compensated by the peace of mind you have in return.

It is important to note however, that if you can find out information on other people, they can do the same for you. The offer of 'opting out' of a reverse phone search website is an option open to all, and this keeps your information private (for their website alone). Unless you pay an extra fee asking the reverse phone search company you are using to notify the 'source databases' in which the information came from, only the reverse phone search website will make your information private and safe.