If you’re receiving random text messages from an unknown number and you want to find out who the person behind that contact is, then keep reading. To figure out who’s texting you, there are some options that can help you in your research. Nowadays, so many spammers and robocalls from different states in the US and other countries send millions of annoying text messages.
That becomes a real issue, especially when users on social media add their contact details there. That’s where spammers, telemarketers, and other people get your number and then contact you. Now, let’s see the best ways to identify the mysterious phone number owner behind the text you received.
Reverse phone number lookup
With the help of reverse phone number lookup tools, you can easily discover who is behind almost any text message you receive. Just type that number in the search box, validate, and wait for the scan to be done in the background. That search may take a minute or so, and then, you’ll uncover the possible name of the person behind the contact. Also, you may get their social media accounts, possible photos, and more.
The advantage of using a phone lookup service is that you can use it to learn more details about people with simple clicks. Thus, it’s possible to find out the owner of the number behind random texts without wasting hours in the search. In addition, there could be other data about that mobile number, such as the additional contact details associated with it. Or find the linked emails, other numbers, online accounts, and more.
Nowadays, reverse phone lookup services have lots of data about contact details. That means they can tell you more information than what you can get by searching manually on the Internet. You can use them to search for the identity behind that SMS number quickly. Also, you may want to verify the information in your contacts list or find the real name of the SMS sender. Best of all, users are members of these tools because of the system’s default privacy-focused algorithm.
Remember that you can only use these services for US-based numbers. So, if you think that you’re dealing with international text spam, try the following options:.
TrueCaller
With millions of users worldwide, the TrueCaller app is a must-have tool these days. It’s free, and you can easily discover who is texting you from numbers you can’t identify. The app is a caller identification tool developed years ago.
The team behind it works hard to achieve the highest level of accuracy when it comes to telling you who is behind any phone number. However, expect some out-of-date details, especially with mobile numbers that change ownership often and texts from apps such as Viber, WeChat, etc.
Cell numbers are easy to trace because of their use on social media and websites. So, these tools may know the full name of the person behind them. However, people may change their contact numbers for many reasons.
As a result, the TrueCaller app will only know about the first person to use that number. Or the last person who updated their name while installing it. Thus, when someone else is using it now, you may find the previous owner’s name and not the actual person.
That’s why using premium tools such as the above phone lookup options is better in this search. Advanced lookup tools have lots of server resources and technology to crawl the web and update the information regularly.
This number tracker tool is better than WhitePages and similar services. It can show you the email behind a phone number’s text message and the location. But as I said, that depends on how often the app updates the details.
Search engines
Next time, when you want to figure out who is texting you from that unknown number, try Google in the first place. Then, use other alternatives, such as Bing or Yahoo. These search engines have lots of data to share with users who are looking for it. Now, type that number in the Google search inside quotes and see what you get on the search results page.
Here’s an example:
"(415) 555‑0132"When you see the same number published on web pages, click on them and read the details. That could be the social media profile on Facebook of the person who is using that number. Or, that could be an online directory that lists phone numbers and the names of the people behind them. Anyway, Google is free to use, and it’s worth the research.
You can also try WhatsApp to know the name of the text message sender. Just save that number in your list of contacts. After that, use WhatsApp to find friends by syncing your list of contacts. If the number is associated with someone’s account on WhatsApp, you’ll see their name on the list of suggested users.
Challenges in tracking numbers behind texts
As you may know, there are lots of online texting platforms that people use. So, they let anyone send a text message to a specific number without showing their real contact number. Consequently, those numbers will be associated with so many names and not a single one. Or, that could be linked to a company name in most cases.
Now, to find out who is texting you from a Text Now number, for example, you’ll find the company name behind that Internet tool and not the person’s name. That’s because it’s a texting platform where people send their SMS from the same numbers.
Thus, it’s not accurate to look up a text’s phone number coming from online texting services. These are shared phone numbers that other people use at the same time. In addition, tracing the first name and location of the person behind them won’t be an easy search.
That said, if you think that you receive spam texts from online messaging apps, make sure you contact them. First, type that exact number into Google and find out who is behind it. If you come across a website that offers online texting services with that number, scroll down until you find their contact page link. From there, send them a message and tell them what happened, like the date and exact time of the message. They should be able to trace back the real person who sent that text (if they want).
Conclusion
Use the above tools and tips to easily find out who’s texting you. But always try to use a reverse number lookup and copy-paste the exact contact digits you see in the SMS source. If the tool skips the country code, there is no need to type that manually.
On the other side, if you think that the text is coming from robocalls or an online messaging app, try Google and see who is behind it. That way, you can contact the services and ask them to help you know the person’s name who sent that text. That’s the only way to stop those annoying messages after discovering the person behind them.
