Many parents want to know how to trace a phone number in Nigeria to ensure the safety of their children. If your kid has a phone, you can monitor their location and even ensure they use the device safely. Apart from that, harassing calls, scamming calls, phone thefts, and other cybercrimes may necessitate phone tracking. Luckily, you can use a phone tracker and other methods to identify a phone number location quickly.
Mobile phone tracking technology lets you know about a phone number or the device a person uses to call you. Also, you can use this technology to know your loved ones’ whereabouts for security reasons. Smartphone theft is rampant in Nigeria, with people lamenting when criminals steal their phones. Modern technology enables you to do many things, including tracking someone with a phone number from any location.
How to Track Someone with a Phone Number in Nigeria
For this tracking method to work, you must know the person’s phone number. Also, you require an internet connection on a laptop or phone. In Nigeria, you can’t track a phone number without an internet connection.
Additionally, you can only track a phone by its number if the owner has used it before. That means the number must have past tower records in the Google Maps database. Without this information, you may not know the current or previous location of the number. Here’re some methods on how to trace a phone number in Nigeria.
1. Contact Your Network Provider to Track Your Phone
Calling your network provider is the first option to consider when tracking someone using a phone number. Your network provider stores all call logs, meaning they can ask a user questions about specific calls.
But for security reasons, most network providers give details of the state or city where the person made the call even after authenticating your story for requesting the information. The service provider can check the phone number if something else comes up.
If you want to trace a lost or stolen phone by its number, the service provider will request you to provide the device’s IMEI number and its current number. The network provider might give you insufficient information. Therefore, you may want to use other methods to trace a phone number in Nigeria.
2. Track Phone Number Location with GEOfinder Mobi
GEOfinder Mobi is a mobile number tracker that works without downloading and installing any app on your device. Apart from tracing the phone number location, this spy app enables you to monitor what the target does with their device.
To use this service, visit the GEOfinder website, enter the number you want to trace, and click “Find”. The web-based app will present a page with limited information. Details of the number’s location will also be encrypted. The app will prompt you to create an account to get more detailed information about the number.
After creating an account, you should pay for the GEOfinder account to track a person’s location using their phone number. Once you’ve set up a GEOfinder account, you can access it any time by logging in from the official website.
GEOfinder works by sending a message to the target number in a way that appears as if it came from a reliable system. Therefore, the target person doesn’t suspect the text and grants the location permission immediately.
The tool prefills the Text Message and Sender fields, but you can change them. However, don’t remove the %link% section at the end of a message. Enter the number of the person you want to track and click “Send SMS”.
The target person will receive a message while you appear as you’re the System. For instance, the text can read like this, “Settings update is required to ensure that GPS tracking works correctly. Please update in one click”. The message will also have a link for the target to click. You will only know the target person’s location if they click on the link.
3. Track Phone Number and Location Using Truecaller
Truecaller is a cell phone tracker that most Nigerians know and use to track phone numbers. It’s a caller identification app that allows users to track someone with their phone number. This application is free, and you can use it to track a caller’s location. It’s an updated application that helps you avoid spam SMSs and spam calls and blocks unwanted phone numbers.
When a person with your contact details on their device’s contact list installs this application, it adds your name and phone number to its global database even without your consent. But this application doesn’t avail your contact details immediately. Nevertheless, users can easily search your name on the database.
Once you call a person with a Truecaller on their phone, the application’s caller ID function searches the database and identifies you even if the individual doesn’t have your name on their contact list. Thus, the app unlocks your identity indirectly, making it known to the person.
In Nigeria, law enforcement agencies have used Truecaller to fight crime, save lives, and prevent fraud. Ordinary people use the app to identify unknown numbers, spam callers, and companies that call them before picking up the calls.
Using this app enables you to see the identity of an incoming call, whether mobile, pre-paid, or landline, regardless of its location. Also, the app helps the user track PNR status, upcoming bills, recent bank transactions, delivery status, and important SMSs. The application doubles as a tracking app and a caller identification application.
4. Track Lost Device by Using the IMEI Number
Smartphones have unique IMEI or International Mobile Equipment Identity numbers. This number comprises 15 digits that you can use to identify any device. Thus, you can use IMEI and a phone tracker to trace any smartphone. Here are the steps to follow when tracking a phone with IMEI.
- Visit Google Play to download and install the IMEI tracker.
- After reading the instructions, grant the application permissions and fill in the necessary details.
- Use the IMEI number of the phone you want to track.
- The application will display the location of the device.
Perhaps, this is the best method how to trace a phone number in Nigeria. Even when your device is stolen, and a thief wipes the phone clean or restores its factory settings, they can’t alter the IMEI number.
Whenever a person turns on a device with an active SIM card, it connects to the network through the nearest mast or tower. The closest mast beams signal to and from the phone, functioning as the intermediary. But before accepting to perform the intermediary’s work, the device must provide valid identification. In this case, the ID card of the device is the IMEI number.
Therefore, anyone with access to the phone’s network logs has the IMEI records of all devices connected to it. Most phones’ geotagging makes tracking them through the mast that beams signals to them easy.
Most Nigerians track stolen phones with their IMEI with the assistance of network providers and the police. These entities have privileged network infrastructure access and the necessary tools for orchestrating an IMEI track.
5. How to Locate Your Android Phone with Google’s Find My Device
Also, you can use Google’s Find My Device service to track a phone number. However, the cell phone you want to trace must have an internet connection. This service enables the users to track a GPS phone when connected to the internet.
The Find My Device app recognizes when a phone leaves a Wi-Fi range and updates the GPS coordinates. Here’s how to locate your Android phone with this application.
- Visit Android Find My Device and sign in using your Google Account.
- Select the phone that you want to locate if you have several.
- The service will send a notification to the lost phone.
- The app will provide the location details of the lost phone on the map.
- The location details are approximate and may be inaccurate.
- The service provides details of the device’s last location if it can’t find it.
- Select what you want to do but if you suspect that somebody has stolen it, Enable Lock and Erase.
- Other options include Play Sound, Secure Device, and Erase Device.
The downside of this service is that the app takes too much battery power. Therefore, charge your phone fully to use the Find My Device service. Also, your internet connection should be stable.
Requirements for Tracking a Mobile Phone in Nigeria
Regardless of your reasons for tracking someone’s location in Nigeria, you require certain things to succeed. Here’s what you need to follow phone numbers.
- The target person’s or device number
- An internet connection on your laptop or phone, either a Wi-Fi or a phone plan
- A target phone number that has been in use before
You can only track a phone number if it has cell tower records in the Google Maps database. No information about the device’s location will show up without a history, whether for the previous or current position.
Phone Tracking Reasons
People have varied reasons for tracking phones. Here are the primary reasons to trace a cell phone.
- A scammer struggles to find out about you to steal your hard-earned money.
- An ex-partner like a boyfriend, girlfriend, wife, or husband is bothering you.
- A business partner you had a bad deal with keeps disturbing you.
- A prankster that keeps bugging you.
Tracking a Smartphone User
Maybe you’ve been receiving phone calls from strangers. If you’re a parent, somebody could be calling and texting your child, making you worried for their safety. In that case, you may want to track a smartphone user and take appropriate actions. Also, you may want to follow a smartphone user for business purposes like advert targeting.
Once you track such people, you can use CNAM lookup to verify details behind their phone numbers and take the necessary action like blocking them.
Tracking a Non-Smartphone User
Tracking a non-smartphone user is difficult, but you have options. For instance, you can use your device as a GPS device to know its location if you misplace or lose it. If the phone has GPS capabilities, you can track it if the need arises. Log into the AccuTracking site and set up an account.
FAQ
How to trace a phone number in Nigeria using IMEI for free?
Using IMEI, tracing your phone requires downloading and installing or using a web-based IMEI tracker. Once you’ve installed it to your device, enter the IMEI number of the device you want to locate. The app will display its location on the map.
How can I trace someone using their account number in Nigeria?
You require a police report or court order to track someone using their account number in Nigeria. Bank accounts have corresponding addresses, meaning you can get their details from the bank.
What is the purpose of linking SIM to NIN in Nigeria?
SIM to NIN linking ensures proper Telecomm subscribers identification. Thus, investigators can quickly get the owner’s phone number if they perform a crime.