If you're troubled by nuisance phone calls, then you need a way to identify the telephone number which is calling you. This is especially important for single women or older people, because there is always the fear that the caller not only knows your phone number, but also knows your address.

Fortunately it is quite rare for nuisance callers to know the address of the person they're calling, and even less likely that the caller is in the same neighborhood. People who get a kick out of this sort of psychological harassment are usually very insecure, and would be terrified if they had to come face to face with their victim. This isn't very reassuring if it happens to you though, especially if the calls occur late at night. However, if you can identify the owner of a phone number using a reverse phone lookup service, you may find that the caller is from out of state, which may make you a little less worried.

There are a couple of precautions you can take if you become a victim of nuisance calls. If you're a single woman, a good idea is to get a male friend to record your answer phone message for you. This will make it seem like there's a guy around. You can always let your friends and family know what's happening, in case they think they've got the wrong number.

Another idea is simply to ignore the telephone. Most people these days have a cell phone, so if you're getting unwanted calls, simply tell all your friends and family what's happening, and ask them to call you on your mobile number, or to call you at work. If you stop answering your phone, then the nuisance caller will soon get bored - you've got to remember that they're calling in order to get a response. If they sense that their victim is scared, it will make them feel good, and they'll keep doing it.

Eventually, if the problem won't go away, you may have to think about calling the police. However, it will help if you already have some idea who or where the call is coming from. If you need to identify a telephone number, then you'll need to use a Reverse Phone Number Lookup service. There are many of these available. Some are free, and you might be lucky, but if you really need to find out who is calling you, then a paid service is more accurate.