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Even with the Internet, some people these days are still hard to find. Here's a few tips for locating a person with an unlisted phone number.
Steps
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1Gather or try to remember as much information about this person that you can. Consider the following categories of information:
- Age
- Area of residence and past addresses
- Schools attended
- Graduation years
- Family members
- Occupations
- Employers
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2Search the person's name on a search engine like Google. If the first attempt doesn't turn up any useful information, repeat the search with more information attached to the name, such as John Smith Palo Alto High School or John Smith Detroit.
- Enclosing the person's name, school, city, etc. in closed quotation marks if they are more than one word will help narrow your search. E.g.: Typing "John Smith" "New York City" into Google is much more effective than just John Smith New York City.
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3Consider looking for the person in a networking website such as Facebook.com, Friendster.com or Classmates.com. These are websites that generally contain comprehensive information of many schools.
- Look in the social networking site that most closely matches the person's demographic: Facebook.com with college students, LinkedIn.com with professionals, etc.
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4Hire a search company. These companies offer some services for free, and also do extensive searches that are about $20 and up. Some companies are a little pricey and some have questionable reputations so do your research before spending any money.
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5Ask around. See if any of your friends or acquaintances know how to get in touch with this person. You never know what connections you could uncover.
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6Use the Google Phone Book query function by typing in "phonebook:XXX-XXX-XXXX" into the search bar. Your results may lead you to more information about the person you are looking for.
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7If you don't find any info with Google or another search engine sites then type "Telephone Number Lookup" on Google search and you will find several services that offer phone number search.
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Community Q&A
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QuestionHow can I remove my telephone number from lists?
Community AnswerIf the call is a recording, press 1 and speak with an operator and tell them to remove your number. -
QuestionHow do I get my phone number unlisted?Community AnswerContact the phone company and have them remove your name and number from phone lists.
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Warnings
- Be sure you research these companies this user listed before using them - the re unitetonight.com site has been linked to identity theft and fraud charges. Never hire a search company without checking a site about potential ripoffs like ripoffreport.com.⧼thumbs_response⧽
- Be careful not to get caught up in the "we'll find them, but it's going to cost you an arm and a leg" scams.⧼thumbs_response⧽
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