Check where a phone number comes from
What this tool does
It reads the number you type and tells you facts about the area code: the state or country, the main cities, and the time zone. It also notices a few patterns, such as toll-free codes and numbers reserved for movies. That is all, and we think it is better to say so than to pretend.
What it cannot tell you
It cannot tell you who owns the number, which phone company carries it, whether it is a cell phone or a landline, or whether other people have reported it. Nothing you type is checked against a list of scammers. Be wary of any site that promises the name of a caller for free: many of them just collect your number and then ask for a payment.
It also cannot tell you whether the number on your screen is real. Callers can fake what appears on caller ID, so a local-looking number may come from anywhere. Our guide to helping a parent stop scam calls explains the settings that cope with this better than any lookup can.
What to do next
- If you did not recognize the call, do not ring back. Let a real caller leave a voicemail.
- If the caller claimed to be a bank, a store or an agency, look up that organization's number yourself on its official website or on a card or statement you already hold, and call that.
- If the caller asked for gift cards, a wire transfer, cryptocurrency or a code from a text, treat it as a scam and hang up.
- To report a call, use reportfraud.ftc.gov. To block it, use your phone's own blocking menu or read our landline blocker guide.
Your number is handled only to answer this request and is not stored in a database. The web server's ordinary logs do keep requests for about a week. Details are in the privacy notice.
How to read each field
Area code is the first three digits. It shows where the number was first assigned, which may not be where the person is now. Region and cities describe that area in general terms, and a large state may hold several codes. Time zone is the local time for that region. If a call that "needs an answer today" arrives at a time that does not fit that zone, it is a small but useful oddity.
The notes underneath, such as toll-free, premium or Caribbean, are plain-language flags. A toll-free code like 833 is not tied to any place. A 900 number charges per call. A Caribbean code can look domestic but be a foreign number, and calling back may cost much more than you expect.
Common situations
A missed call with no message is the most common. Do not ring back. A real person leaves a voicemail. A text that says "call this number" is next. Do not call; forward it to 7726 (SPAM). A call from your own number is a fake, because caller ID can be set to anything. For help with a parent who is getting many such calls, our cheat sheet for helping a parent is the best place to start, and the guide on arrest-threat calls explains the scariest version.