Pub debate time. My friend has heard that it’s possible to find someones address from just their mobile phone number via the internet. I said that this is ‘rubbish’ as surely all mobile providers are obliged to keep this sort of data private.

Googling this there seems to be some dubious looking websites in the US that claim to do this but nothing here in the UK. I’m a bit worried now (thinking back to all the random women I’ve given my mobile number to in the past). Please tell me this can’t be done in the UK?

if you google the number itself then if it’s listed against something public then that will come up.
Take that info and add a bit more to your search an see what you get.

After that you could just buy a list of contact details for spam purposes and use them – have you ever ticked “it’s ok for us/others to contact you”

if you google the number itself then if it’s listed against something public then that will come up.
Take that info and add a bit more to your search an see what you get.

This approach is really easy. Several years ago after becoming convinced that my bike was stolen because i posted a picture of it online I tried it out to see if it was possible. Picked a load of people on here and got home addresses for about two thirds without any special database access or signing up to anything. Never spent more than about twenty minutes per person, If I found nothing by then I gave up.

if you google my phone number you get my name, but thats because its a work phone I can use for personal.

EDIT: it would appear this is no longer the case or I’m doing it wrong, either way i prefer it like that.

Least of your worries that

They are watching you right now through your camera

Ps they can turn it on in your sleep…it’s like a countrywide giant baby monitor

My name, address, telephone number and bank details are readily available online. I also tell all and sundry whenever I’m off on holiday. Maybe I’ve been lucky but no worries so far.

Googled my number – nothing comes up with any contact details – does that mean I’m safe?

agent007 – Member
– does that mean I’m safe?

yes every James Bond film I’ve seen ends badly for the baddies
He gets the girl but I guess with changing times holding hands in the sunset with the a hairy gent from the LBS may figure in future plots

to be really safe I’d take the agent number out of your username

Not always possible to find out – my mum has a tesco pay as you go phone, she’s had it for some years and always topped up with cash, and when the police picked it up her number as part of an investigation and wanted to find out who owned it, the only way they could find out was by calling all the numbers that it had called out to, and asking them. They couldn’t even find out by calling her as 9 times out of 10 it’d be turned off unless she was expecting a call.

And that was with full access to the customer databases that mobile phone networks have and all that, not just with a quick google,

I know a UK company that can do it (e.g. you type in a mobile number and it matches to a name and address), however, it uses data collected from ‘marketing sources’ that allow the data to be searched in any way. However as it comes from ‘marketing sources’ – it tends to be very hit and miss.

That’s how most of the US websites work. They just access a $12 public record search that aggregates stuff drawn from credit apps, electoral rolls, mailing lists blah de blah, and then just mark it up.

It is of course possible to get the same or more accurate information unlawfully through brokers, but that’s a touch more expensive.

Here’s how it works.
People talk about this so everyone goes and googles their phone number. Google then link this search to the information they’ve gathered by driving past you in a car and hey presto, they’ve tracked you down.

Only people who google their own phone number will fall victim to this.