I have seen many references to "Googling" phone numbers should be part of our screening process.  I tried that and get results for a number of pay sites that promise more info with a subscription.  Am I missing something or is this what it takes to get the details on a particular number?

but don't get fooled by those reverse phone number lookup sites. I've googled my own phone and it comes up as a land line. That's good for me (diversionary tactic but not so hot if you're checking out a provider. Many times, these pay sites will state that they've found the owner of the number which for most hobby cell numbers is complete BS.

What you're looking for are hits to TER or other sites where you can verify that the provider really is a provider and has been around for a while.

But if you look carefully, about half the time there are other hits in there and they can tell you something. It is definitely not worth paying for the reverse lookup sites.

Zig

Remember that the internet, now-a-days, is set up to make random people money. If you google a phone number and all you get is some random directory/reverse lookup pages then assume 'no results'. However, sometimes you will get references to TER pages, ads, and some other good stuff. It's quite easy to tell (just from the google results page) what returns are actual web sites and which are 'non-results'.

I used one pay site in particular, and got some useful information that I followed up on, but I had to subscribe.  The trick is trying to cancel the subscription.  Somehow I got sucked into geting to services that were charging me a total of 40 bucks a month, and they didn't cancel me out when I requested.  Finally after 3 months they credited my credit card.  This was a monumental mistake on my part, because I had to explain to my SO what these charges and credits were for.  Whew, but also valuable is checking out email domains.  You can find out geographic location of the computer that an email comes from.  This was valuable to me because I almost set up an appointment with a provider with a very hot ad.  When I checked the phone number it came up from Florida, but her computer was in Las Vegas.  Later I checked the ad and found several other ads with the same number, and computer location.  Later, when I asked about her on this forum, guys said that the pictures were fake.

A big part of the problem is girls (especially the fly by nighters) are always juggling new pre-paid phones which won't be traceable at all.

But I always Google the phone # and the email address (if they post one) .....it does turn up things sometimes ....old ads on various sites like BP, CL, CV, etc..    It takes two seconds, no harm no foul IMO and its saved me from disappointment many a time.


For anyone who is looking for an alternative to those web site that do reverse searches (and charge a monthly fee), there is an iPhone app called Mr. Number....it's a buck or two and is the same service that their web site providers w/out the monthly fee.     Again...odds aren't spectacular here either (ie...throw away phones) but it can be of help.