# Looking up phone numbers on Google gives nothing but junk?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-up-phone-numbers-on-google-gives-nothing-but-junk/980956>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 10, 2023, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-up-phone-numbers-on-google-gives-nothing-but-junk/980956 "2023-03-10T00:14:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 3

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**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2023, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-up-phone-numbers-on-google-gives-nothing-but-junk/980956/3 "2023-03-10T00:21:44Z")

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> [@Neidhart](#):
>
> What is the deal with these sites?

Nobody seems to know. There was one suggestion made in a similar thread a couple of months ago:

> [@Spam calls and google search results for these numbers](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spam-calls-and-google-search-results-for-these-numbers/978465/13):
>
> RE the OP question…
> 
> I’m just going from (faulty) memory here, but there used to be a database of thousands of fake phone numbers and names, all obviously computer generated. It was originally intended to be a “practice” database for some application, but got released to the public, and some search engines picked it up. Like many stupid computer decisions, the search engines were unable to distinguish between the real and the fantasy, and were linking real numbers to the fake database. Maybe this – or something like it – is the source of your interesting fake names?

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