How to Verify if a Phone Number is Real?

People give each other fake numbers all the time. Customers give businesses fake numbers as well. There are many reasons for this. Someone who's romantically interested in you might persist for your number and you don't want to cut them off abruptly, so you give a fake number. Or, someone might want a freebie from a company without receiving all the marketing-related calls afterwards.

People also have many reasons to want to know whether a number is real. Read on to find out why people give out fake numbers and how reverse phone number lookup works.

What is a Fake Phone Number?

When we make up a number, we often come up with a valid one. Then, someone else gets the calls meant for us - so this is not a fake number. A fake phone number is a number that's guaranteed not to work. A fake number cannot be traced because it's not actually registered to anyone, and all tracing will only reveal this fact.

If a phone number is always disconnected when you call, that's an obvious sign it's fake. If this happens, you should block the number to stop getting texts and calls from it. However, checking fake numbers can be difficult if you run a business since you may not have the time to dial and check numbers for validity, especially if you get hundreds of calls a day.

Can Google Search Reveal Fake Numbers?

Using Google to check for fake numbers can also be inefficient. While running a reverse number lookup through Google might work, it is not a lookup tool per se because it wasn't designed for this task. Therefore, you may not get reliable information using the search engine.

What About Caller ID?

Phone numbers were never designed as a caller ID method - they were invented to route calls through the telephone network. Moreover, caller ID technology was created for convenience. It doesn't show whether a number is fake. With the advent of VoIP and smartphones, spoofing caller ID has become child's play. This can be done by using fake ID providers or installing certain apps on smartphones. In addition, it's impossible to detect spoofing attacks because phone networks today are divided between countries and enterprises.

This weakness has been exploited with dire consequences - with some criminals committing fraud or calling 911, 999 and 112 from fake numbers. One research paper has proposed a caller ID verification mechanism based on a combination of existing VoIP, cell and landline networks. Users can deploy it as they wish without altering existing infrastructure in any way. Moreover, this scheme was integrated as an app for Android. The researchers found their solution was effective in detecting spoofing attacks in different situations.

Detecting a Fake Quickly

The fastest way to detect a fake is by using a phone validator or doing reverse number lookup. Both are very reliable as methods of spotting fake numbers. Phone validators comb private and public databases and find accurate and current information about a phone number. What's more, this approach works much more efficiently than calling the number.

The Bottom Line

Fake numbers aren't going anywhere. Let's have a quick look at the figures:

Each month, the search term "fake phone number" gets almost 20,000 hits. Many of the people searching for this term are trying to obtain a fake number. Moreover, the site fakenumber.org receives just under 6,000 visits each month. The app Burner, which is used to generate fake numbers, is used by about 3,000 people a month.

When your sales or marketing team gets the wrong person or calls a number that's out of service, it's no coincidence. Using a phone validator or doing reverse number lookup are the best methods for detecting a fake number - and once you identify a number as fake, you should block it immediately.