In a perfect world you would want the subject’s name, address, date of birth, social security number, gender and ethnicity. That little packet of information is called a persons pedigree. If someone is looking for an employment background check they will have all that information. With a signed release from the subject you can discover everything you need to know to help the employer make a decision.
Step 1: Write down what you know about the person you want to investigate and keep a note pad near your computer. If you only have some of the information it doesn’t matter we can find everything we need for free (if you know where to look).
Google Them
Everyone knows this trick; let’s Google them. Go to all the free search engines and put their name into the search engine and spend some time looking over the results. Common names , like Steve Johnson, are harder than uncommon names, like Thadidus Spunkenputer. Now go to facebook and myspace and search their names. Most good data miners will maintain bogus accounts of both male and female pretext persona. If they are looking for a guy they will pose as a girl and request to be their friend. Once in they can see everything they post. Laws are changing in some states, so stay legal and know your local laws.
When you are performing these simple searches keep notes of any information that is tied to the person. If they are in a social group or club then you can search through that affiliation for photos and upcoming dates it you need to get some photos or follow them for information.
Fill in the blanks
Now it’s time to get serious and find the information we need to check them out. Lets start with address or phone number. If you have their phone number (not a cell phone) then go to www.anywho.com and perform a reverse look up on that number. This will confirm the name and address associated with the number.
There are other white page and reverse look up type sites to use. If you can’t find it with one then try another. Here is a list of sites to work with: Anywho, White Pages Online, Super pages, Yellow pages, Switchboard and other search engines.
If you have a personal contact it is the best way to start. Call them up and tell them you are looking for that person and you haven’t talked to them since (high school, college, work whatever). People who know your contact are your best first source. If you’re looking for a lady they might have changed their last names if they got married. That will make it more difficult but not impossible for you to get that information. Try and get their occupation. Many people can be traced by where they work or professional licenses.
Can’t find the number?
Now that you have performed a few basic searches hopefully you have narrowed down the information. If you went to anywho and put in Dan Rhoads you would have 80 results. If you add the state of Missouri it reduces the results to 1 and it’s not me. So you add St Louis to the search and still nothing. Why is that? The answer is simple: my phone is either a cell phone or it is with an internet service like Vonage or the cable company.
This is why there are so many white pages companies listed. If you go to www.whitepages.com and enter my name and state, my information pops up right away. So if one site doesn’t give you the proper information, keep looking. Once you have the number, run it on a reverse look up search. This will normally give you the names of spouses or others listed on that number.
Search Public Records
Now that you have gone through the easy free sites it’s time to search through a few public record sites to see who we are dealing with.
Is your person alive? If there is a chance that the person is older or that you have received information the person was dead then you need to search the Social Security Death Master File. You might have to pay a minor fee to access this data base but it will confirm if the subject is living or not. The record will give the subjects SSN, the date of death and country they died in. If you’re looking for an elderly person this simple search might save you some time if they have stopped communication suddenly. If you are looking for a company to run the search for you plan on spending $5 to $50 for this service, so shop wisely.
Is the person you are looking for in jail? If they are a federal prisoner check www.bop.gov this site is for the Federal Bureau of Prisons. To the left of the screen under Tools click on inmate locator. Fill in the search by name and you will see if they are in the data base. If your person is in jail this site will give release date, phone number to the jail and a lot of useful information.
At this point you should have the basic information on the person. So let’s take that information and visit Big Brother.
The Driver’s Licenses information is a great source of core data on a person. The address on the license is not always current. You will need to go to a pay service or to a PI to get this information. You can also use pay sites for information.Corporate Records are kept by the Secretary of State. Go to your search engine and put in SOS and the name of the state you are searching. In Missouri you can go to www.sos.mo.gov . Say you are looking for a person listed as a Registered Agent. Go to the Business tab and go down to corporation. Then click on “Search For A Business” once you’re there look at the “Registered Agent” search on the left. Put your subjects name in to see if they own a business.
Does the person have a professional license granted by the state. Search your state professional license and check them out. In Missouri go to www.pr.mo.gov. You’re looking for the license search on the left. This data base is for all State issued professional licenses.
Every state and county handles their records differently. So get on the computer and type in the county you are looking for and enter public records. For records in St Louis County go to www.stlouisco.com . It will tell you how to obtain public records in the county. You might have to visit the office and pay a small fee but most records are available. Remember to check the criminal records of all the counties surrounding the one they live in. Make sure you visit the court case search and check on any cases your subject might have been a party to www.courts.mo.gov . If you;re dating someone you can tell if they were divorced in this county. Make sure you check the state and local courts in every area. Next do a search based on state and county criminal records.
The Plumber
A lady was having trouble with her pipes so she called the plumber from the yellow pages. When he arrived she explained the problem and how it was ruining her life. The plumber listened to her story then went down stairs with his tools. He stopped at a rather large pipe and reached into his toolbox. He removed a big wrench and patted his palm with it a few times. Then he struck the pipe once very soundly. He returned the tool to its box and wrote the lady an invoice for $150.
“$150″ the lady sounded upset. “Just for hitting my pipe.”
No mum” the plumber replied, “That’s $50 for the house call and $100 for knowing where to hit the pipe.”
Best tool for the job
I do normally check the free information before I would spend money looking on a pay site. With regulations the way they are today you must be careful how you tread in the private information world. If you want to be a professional PI and find people who are hiding then you will want to subscribe to one or more of these services. If you are just looking for one person then you’re better off hiring someone who has access to the pay sites to perform the search. They know where to hit the pipe and can give you results quickly. Most PIs I know can do a complete search in less than 15 minutes and give you everything you need. Almost all of them will make you wait 24 to 48 hours to get the results. If you knew how easy it is would you pay the $250 to $500 to get the information?
Who uses credit these days?
Almost everyone uses a credit card or has a loan. Access to credit information is the best and easiest way to find a person. Can you imagine if you moved and didn’t pay your bills? Those large credit companies use big gun companies to locate you and ensure you pay your obligations. So most people do not hide from their bills or the credit companies will do the searching for you (and they are good). The three major credit reporting companies are;
Trans Union www.transunion.com
Equifax www.equifax.com
Experian www.experian.com
Most of your credit information stays in your file for 7 years. Bankruptcy stays for 10 years. Knowing where a person has lived can be helpful if they have disappeared. They might have returned home or to past friends. Most of the credit information is personal and subject to FCRA rules. The Credit Header is considered public and have valuable information such as:
Your name and also known as names
Date of birth
Social Security Number
Current and Previous addresses
Current and Previous Employers
The credit companies sell the header information to data base companies. If you subscribe to one of these companies you can view the header information without fear of stumbling over FCRA rules. There are a few ways to view a full credit report (criminal & civil prosecutions) but this topic does not cover them. My advice is if your just skip tracing avoid the trouble of getting a full report. If you subscribe to one of these data bases you will learn about the Individual Reference Service Group (IRSG) and the GLB act. These laws and policies erect a fence you need to stay in to avoid breaking the law.
Once you have the information the service will offer a host of other searches. There is a lot of random information that you might find useful. Your client is paying you to find the address or locate the subject but if you include an extra packet of random information it makes them feel that they got their money’s worth so send the time and get the records.
I will list a few data base search sites. You will have to negotiate the fees and check out the services for yourself. West Law is the most popular site for those dealing with the legal community but there are other sites as well. Here is an incomplete list of sites but these are sites I have used in the past.
West Law, Merlin, Intelius, Skip Smasher, Locate Information and public People Finer
Good luck in your search and keep it legal!