How to get your phone number off reverse-lookup sites

Reverse-lookup listings are the exposure people most often miss, because they search their name rather than their number. If you are being called or texted by someone you are avoiding, this is the first thing to fix.

Difficulty

✓Easy

Time

30–45 minutes

Cost

Free

Steps

5

1. 01Search your own number in quotesPut your number in quotes in Google, in every format: "555-123-4567", "(555) 123-4567", "5551234567". Different sites index different formats.
2. 02Start with USPhoneBookFind the listing for your number, copy the URL, and submit it at usphonebook.com/opt-out. Confirm via the emailed link.
3. 03Then the general people-search sitesWhitepages, Spokeo, TruePeopleSearch and FastPeopleSearch all index by number as well as by name. A name-based removal usually covers the number too, but verify it.
4. 04Then ThatsThem and the data-append sitesThatsThem specifically publishes phone-to-identity matches alongside estimated income. Remove it directly.
5. 05Set a carrier PIN while you are hereCall your mobile carrier and set an account PIN and a port-freeze. This is the single most effective thing you can do against a SIM swap, and it takes five minutes.