Verifying name, address or telephone #

There are various reasons you may want to verify a person's name, address or telephone number. For instance, if you have recently met someone, it is often a good idea to check out the information they have given you to see if they are on the up and up. Luckily, name, address, and telephone number verification is pretty easy to do for most anyone.

One of the simplest ways to check out a name, telephone number, or address is to look in your local telephone directory(assuming the person is located local to you) or call directory assistance. You can verify that the name listed corresponds with the address and/or telephone number you have received. Take special note of any differences you may find. If you see additional names with the listing it could indicate the person is married or has children. A different address could indicate a recent move or even an attempt to deceive you. A person that doesn't want you to know where they live may have something to hide.

If the person isn't located near you, it may be possible to use the methods described in our article Gathering your information for a background check or people search. Using the telephone number from our example in that article we can find a phonebook listing on google:

As you can see, the phonebook results show a name, address, and the city, state and zip code to go along with the telephone number. Again, if you see different or additional information to what you already know then this could be an attempt to deceive you.

There are many telephone & e-mail directories you can use for these same types of searches.

Another simple and easy method to verify a phone number is to just call the number and ask for the person in question. If someone unexpected answers, obviously this could be a red flag.

** Please note that the information in this article pertains mostly to land-base telephone services. Information on cell phone telephone numbers is still pretty sketchy at best and not as easily found. While not as likely, it may still be possible to find cell phone information using these methods.