It’s four in the afternoon, you’re working and a number you don’t know starts getting lost, but you don’t want to take the call because you don’t know who it might be. Don’t worry, we’ll tell you how to find out who called you so you can find out easily and legally.
IMPORTANT: Finding out ownership of a phone, depending on the methods used, may be illegal or unethical. From SoydeMac we will always talk about the legal methods to obtain this information, advising against methods such as identity theft or registrations in unauthorized databases.
Not everything goes: you have to take into account the Data Protection Law
One of the first considerations that we have to have in order to seek ownership of a telephone is to know the legal limitations that we have and that is established by Organic Law 3/2018, of December 5, on the Protection of Personal Data.
An idea that may come to mind is: “As the number belongs to X telephone operator, I ask them directly who is the owner”. And although for practical purposes it is possible, legally it is not.
Said law indicates that in order to find out who owns a telephone line to an operator, it is necessary to have a legitimate reason to do so, such as a criminal investigation or a legal dispute. If this is the case, through legal authority competent (and never yourself) Telephone companies may be required to own the person who has the line.
Regarding the duty of collaboration of telephone operators before legal investigations, the law is clear. There is an obligation to collaborate on the part of the operators:
When the conduct was carried out through the use of a fixed or mobile telephone service: 1st The telephone number of origin of the call in case it had been hidden and 2nd The name, identification document number and address of the subscriber or registered user to whom that telephone number corresponds.
If there is no legitimate reason and it is not a competent authority the one who finds out this information (for example, through a data leak from the telephone operator itself)this would be considered a violation of the Data Protection Law and may result in legal and economic sanctions both for the person conducting the research and for the party providing it.
So if you want to find out who owns the line, It must always be by legal and public means that exist in order not to breach this law, such as those indicated below.
One of the usual sources to find out who owns a telephone line are social networks. Not only do companies usually publish the telephone numbers that they have for customer service, but there are many individuals who usually publish their contact numbers as well.
For example, this is something very common in LinkedIn profilesoriented to the search for work, or job portals like InfoJobs. Mobile numbers are useful so that recruiters can have direct contact with professional profiles without having to resort to private chat or email if what is sought is a more direct contact with the person.
In other networks like Facebook, instagram either TikTok You can also find the phone number of some user and even some Influencers, although it is something that is not recommended to leave exposed. There are also companies and state agencies that publish their phone number.
Organizations such as the Defense Staff have their telephone number published on RRSS
Google is your friend
If you don’t want to complicate too much and you want to know who has called you, search the phone on google. If the phone is public and belongs to a company, there is probably a record of a user who has left interactions about who owns that number based on previous interactions they have had with him.
There are numerous websites specialized in number call databases, such as Tellows either ListSpam. Consulting on this website is very useful and advisable to avoid phone scams like the “the rise of the 20 euros” as you can see that a user reported below in ListaSpam.
ListaSPAM can help you identify possible fraud
Install a scam call blocker app
There are many applications dedicated to consulting public lists reported from phones and others based on reports from their users that can be very useful when it comes to identifying who is calling us.
Among the most advisable, we highlight:
- TrueCaller: the app uses a database based on the reports of its users and notifies you of the probable holder of the telephone line that is calling you.
- CallBlocker: application that performs a similar function, in addition to blocking everything that is identified as SPAM or possible scam.
- Hiya: another similar application with very good ratings. Block spam, scams and celebrities robocalls which are in fashion lately.
With this we conclude our little tutorial of how to find out who called you. As we have said before, we always recommend checking public databases and, as an extra layer of security, installing an application with good ratings like the three that we have mentioned to be able to identify who is not calling at all times.
