Someone has texted my SO's phone with some pretty nasty stuff. He has no idea who it is. He has blocked the number. The area code is a Texas one but I know people can keep their numbers even if they move to other states.

I saw a website called spydialer that claims you can find who owns cell numbers but I am hesitant to use it.

This has just got us rattled since we have no idea who is behind it.

Any input would be welcome. thanks

okcaller.com is the best, free, source for cellular registry info.

However, note that the telco system -- particularly for SMS messages -- does not necessarily perform validation on communication sources. This has permitted, in benign form, the use of 'spoofed' caller ID's for things like collections; in a more aggressive form, it's used for things like 'SWATting' (where somebody spoofs a caller ID and then calls the police claiming to have committed an egregious crime, leading to the call-out of a SWAT team on an unsuspecting and unaware holder of the number).

So, in short -- okcaller will tell you who owns the number, but it's not necessarily the same person as the one texting you.

TracingAmerica(dot)net is expensive, but they've never failed me. They will give you the name of the subscriber and the billing address.

But a Walmart throw away phone would frustrate such a search.

The billing address might no longer be good, but there are services that would should get you a current address if you had the name and an old address.

wow..I hadn't thought of that. That is a bit unnerving to me.

It is such a weird thing that has never happened to either of us before.

thanks Alpiner

So, a so called burner phone would not be attached to a person we could identify? Bummer

Pay cash, wear dark glasses and a hoodie and they'll never know, unless NSA has you on tape giving or acknowledging your name.

Burners occupy their own niche. "Burner" usually means a dumb phone with a SIM card that can do top-ups (often referred to as 'pre-paid') that one can purchase at a gas station or grocery store.

Contrary to popular opinion, you *can* trace these. Some have a credit or debit card linked to the account to do top-ups, and the card will have their name and address. Or, if they purchased at a Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart could correlate the SIM card's inventory number to the point of purchase and the method of payment; if the payment was non-cash, then it, too, can be traced. The only true burner is one purchased with cash, never linked to an account, and not recorded on any surveillance system at the point of purchase.

There's also means of spoofing SMS using a variety of relay services. Easiest solution:
-- Go to okcaller.com, plug in the number. See what it yields.
-- Call your provider and tell them you're being harassed by the person at the number and ask them to block it.
-- If there are clear threats, take it to the local police department.

Sure, but...
Neither the phone operating company nor WalMart (nor anyone else) will give you any information about someone's credit card without a court order.

So without legal intervention, those phones *can't* be traced.

Here's one method. Go to a big box store like Walmart, Target, etc. and purchase a pre-pay cell phone. Use cash.

Then call the number that's been harrassing your SO. Don't mention the harrassment or accuse the answerer of anything. Claim to be looking for a lost relative, or to have found something of value that had the number associated with it. Use this story to dig deeper and find out more information about the answerer.

If you decide that you have found the harrassing party, report them to the authorities.

Also, you can create a Gmail account, from a public wifi, like Starbucks, get a Google voice number, attach that Google voice number to a burner cell phone and now you're not even on video!

You can be in Utah and ask Google for a Google voice number with a Florida area code.

Why not go to the authorities and tell them of the harassment?

Which authority?

Suppose a cop in Orem calls the offending number, introduces himself and explains the purpose of his call, and asks for the persons name. The person gives his name. The cop then tells the person, 'don't do that anymore, or... !' and the person says 'Okay.'

The cop then smiles at you, and tells you, 'case closed.' But at that same moment you get a text message, telling you and the cop to do rude things to each other.

Seriously, no 'authority' you can talk to directly or over the phone is going to do anything once you tell them you blocked the incoming texts.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/03/stalkers-turn-to-cell-pho_n_171555.html

Utah has specific laws against harassing text messages.

SO found out who it was and it is so dumb. A former co-worker with a chip on his shoulder about something. Case closed.

thank you everyone who had such wonderful information! I learned more from your replies than I could have done searching around the web! RfM ers rock!

I have used it to call back numbers I don't recognize....
everything but 800 numbers which will see my number.

Usually it's a non available number/disconnected that I reach which means it's probably a "sales" call.

I block #s that do not leave messages.....or are annoying.