Guides

The WhoCalledLookup guides are a long-form companion to the per-number lookup. Each piece is research-led, citation-heavy, and aimed at either someone trying to identify a specific UK caller or someone trying to understand the mechanics of how UK telephone numbering actually works. The series is split into four practical clusters:identification guides on how to work out who an unknown number belongs to (who-called-me workflows, area-code lookup, Range Holder vs current provider), scam-pattern guides on the most common UK scam-call shapes (HMRC tax refund scams, parcel redelivery phishing, “Amazon Prime” cold calls, bank impersonation), numbering-plan reference material covering the Ofcom National Telephone Numbering Plan and how 01/02/03/07/08/09 prefixes are allocated, and tooling articles on validation, AI-vs-database lookups, and the data sources used by WhoCalledLookup.

Every guide is reviewed quarterly. Where a piece cites a specific Ofcom statement of policy, statutory instrument, or third-party source, an inline citation is included; if you spot a citation that no longer resolves, please report it via the editorial address on the homepage footer. The byline on each guide links to the author’s profile page, which lists their other articles for the site and a short biography.

If you arrived from a search for a specific kind of caller (for example “0345 numbers explained” or “HMRC scam calls”) the most relevant guide will normally surface in the card grid below. If you arrived from a missed-call CLI on your phone, the fastest answer is usually the per-number reverse lookup on the homepage rather than a guide — paste the digits, get the Ofcom Range Holder and the caller verdicts in seconds, then come back to the guides if you want context on the family or the carrier. The guide series is best read in the order it appears: the identification cluster first (how UK reverse lookup actually works), then the scam-pattern cluster (the most common UK scam shapes and their red flags), then the numbering-plan reference material once you know the families well enough to want the underlying rules.

Guides are written to be useful even if you only read the headline and the first paragraph. Each opens with a one-sentence summary of the call type or scam pattern it covers and a clear “what to do next” recommendation; if you have ten seconds, that opening is enough. The remaining body fills in the regulatory and technical detail for readers who want the longer answer — what Ofcom rule applies, what the consumer protection law actually says, what the cited research found, and how the situation is changing.