There is an abundance of apps on the App Store and Google Play Store that give you a fake number. Sometimes, people use these apps to send hurtful or harmful messages. If you're receiving these messages, you might wonder if you can find out who they're from.

While tracing these messages can be hard, hope is not lost. If you take the proper steps, you can protect yourself and others. If you're wondering how to trace a fake texting app number for free, don't fret; we'll help you figure out what to do.

1. Find the App Used to Send You These Messages

First things first, you would need to find out where the message is coming from. You can do this by going to Carrier Lookup. Here, you can see what carrier hosts the number. It will tell you if the number belongs to Google Voice or other apps that can generate a phone number.

Once you have the source of the number, you should contact the company. While you won't be able to find out who the owner of the number is, you can report it to the company and let them know what the user of the number did.

The company can then ban their account or open an investigation. These companies are now under more scrutiny, so an investigation is very likely. But if you want to know what apps send free texts, you can check out the best sites for sending free messages.

2. Contact Law Enforcement

If the messages sent to you were threatening or had personal information about you, you might want to contact law enforcement. Sometimes, law enforcement can open an investigation.

If other people have made complaints about the same number, then they can combine the information and try to find out who is sending the messages. Contacting local law enforcement is also a good idea if you're getting personal threats.

You can also contact the CISA (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency) if you're in the US or if the threats are US-based. You can also find similar agencies in other countries.

If the messages you're getting are advertisements or pushy salespeople, you can report them to the Federal Trade Commission.

3. Contact Your Mobile Phone Carrier

If you're getting harassing messages from a fake phone number app, or need to better track it, contact your carrier for an official report.

Often, your carrier will provide you with a PDF report of the phone number used to contact you. This will include the messages and time stamps, along with the number. While your carrier might not be able to track the source of the fake number, this report can be helpful for law enforcement.

Alternatively, if you do find the company or source of the fake number, this official report will have you taken more seriously.

Your carrier can also block the number and possibly keep a record of when that number tried to contact you. To avoid such issues in the future, you can learn to block texts on your iPhone. Don't have an iPhone? You can block messages on your Android device too.

Is There Any Other Way to Track a Fake Number?

Unfortunately, there is a reason that people use these apps. That's because they're hard to trace. Usually, these numbers are just connected to an email address. And if the email address is anonymous, you won't be able to even trace them with that.

That's why it's important to contact the app developer, your carrier, or law enforcement if you get these messages. That way, they can put the information you gave them along with reports from others and try to find the culprit. With combined information, law enforcement can have an easier time finding the source of the number.