You know that when you buy a new cell phone you can go to 'settings' and choose whether or not to display your number to someone you are calling. That is what is meant by showing caller ID. Yes or no, you can choose. Most young people decide to let each other know exactly who is calling, by displaying their caller ID number. We even add a thumbnail image to show up a picture of the caller, who is welcome to call us 95% of the time!

But what if the mobile caller is a trouble maker? What if it's a crank caller? A nuisance call or an idiotic prank caller who you don't really want to speak to? Aha. Now there's a little problem to sort out. Because - - they've probably disabled their 'show caller ID' function. Wouldn't you think?

You might see 'private number' showing when they call. 'Private number' means either they've disabled their 'show caller ID' function or they are calling from an overseas location.

Now if an abusive, nuisance or crank caller is really stupid - as let's face it, many are - then they might have been too emotional to remember to turn off 'show caller ID!' In this case we can catch them red-handed and investigate them. In return for their unwanted harassment and abuse, or bad taste prank - - we can obtain their full name, current address and history of addresses, and possibly even a Full Background Report! More than enough information to take to show at the local police station.

Find their cellphone or landline telephone number in your 'received calls' or your 'missed calls' data log on your mobile. On my Nokia N81 it's under 'Tools' > 'Log' ... then select the type of received call. Write that received call number down on a piece of paper, or save it in Windows® Notepad or similar text editor.

You then can visit ReverseMobile and type (or copy and paste) the offending telephone number into a web form they supply on the site. After a little time spent searching millions of data records, ReverseMobile will return you their registered name, address, history of addresses and much more - - a full background report which may include criminal record and court records. It is a little different for each case, depending on which county or state they are from and which public records actually apply to them. It depends on what type of character they are and what their personal history has been.