I'm not referring to pre-installed or trusted apps that can be used to track devices. Those types of software have access to the GPS system of the device and can actively report on where the phone is located within a certain margin of error.
I am also excluding the official "Find my phone" apps that are installed by the manufacturer and is part of the operating system. To use these types of trackers you agree to the terms of use and then activate the GPS.
Here is an example from one of the sites:
They claim to be able to find a large amount of data about you from various social media apps, texts and photos as well as your exact current location. All you need to do is sign up and pay a small fee.
Here is where the alarm bells should start ringing and the red flags should be raised.
It is impossible for any external software to be able to find this information on you from just your cellphone/mobile number. Not without having direct access to your device. The claims that they are making about what they can find and how fast they can do it are impossible as no normal person or company will be able to get this information without permission from the courts/authorities.
Imagine if anyone could just enter a number, pay a few dollars, and within seconds be able to find anyone they are looking for!
The authorities/governments have been trying for years to convince the cellphone manufacturers to do this for them, but have always been denied as it seriously invades the privacy of regular citizens.
Not to say that the cellphone manufacturers have not helped in the past, but those are rare cases and usually involve a missing person/child who definitely needs help i.e. emergency situations.
Even your service provider, who has access to the cell tower logs, could only roughly pin point your general location within a large area. Basically they could do a search for which cell tower your device is currently connected to and then use the coverage map of the tower to show roughly in which general area you are. That is still not very accurate, and if you were in a large city, you could be in any building, among thousands of other people, in quite a large area. You would still be very difficult to find.
If you have a lot of your personal data online, such as an address linked to your phone number, or you have had some of your data leaked onto the internet in the past, someone might find it easier to track your location as your personal info is now in the public domain. It would be best to approach the companies who are holding that data and ask them to remove it. Changing your phone number might also be a good idea as it will break the link between your phone number and the online data and will make you much harder to find.
In conclusion, do not fall for these kind of scam websites. They are most likely trying to get hold of your credit card information as the site you are logging into could be hosted anywhere and by anyone. There will most likely be no way to hold the site liable for stealing from your credit card as there is no way to find them, or the site is listed in another country and cannot be tracked down to a physical location.
A lot of people have missing loved ones and it is sad that there a people who will try to take advantage of a desperate person who might not be thinking things through before trying anything and everything to find someone.
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