Hi, 
What are the best places to search for a person's email or current
address?  I've gone through google and a lot of the webpages (like USA
people search) don't even have information on my own current address.
(and they are not free either).  I've also tried Net Detective 8.0,
but that didn't work so well either. (it's just a combination of many
searches put toghether).  I am also wondering how they do the searches
on those "paid" sites for basic info such as current address or
current email.  Like if it is possible for me to do those on my own?

Hi there,

I do this professionally, and typically I find the person without
paying a cent. It's quite complicated and without one set linear path,
but I'll do my best to show you how I go about it.


Step One - AnyBirthday
----------------------
If you know the persons full name or date of birth, this is a great
free resource to use first, because it returns a zipcode matched to
the name and date of birth...

AnyBirthday
http://www.anybirthday.com

I use their paid services, AnyBirthday Plus and LocateMe Pro. They are
an annual subscription. LocateMe Pro typically has data as recent as 3
months old, and if you are doing more than a couple of searches is
worth the $100 sub.


Step Two - US Search, Intelius and DogPile
------------------------------------------
First of all, the data provided by companies like US Search can be
quite dated. This is fine if you are trying to locate a grandparent,
but not so good for finding young folk or anyone that owes you money.
The three best services  of this ilk are:

US Search 
http://www.ussearch.com

Intelius
http://www.intelius.com

DogPile People Finder
http://www.people-finders.ws/Processor.asp?site=8&from=1016

The information provided by each is often quite different. The best
way to use them is as a free resource. By searching all three, you can
get an idea of places where the target has lived, matched to an age,
and via Intelius find out who they were living with. In my experience
a lot of the info is from voter records, and many people are
registered at the same address as other family members, which can be
different to their actual residence.

Intelius kindly lets you know how old the data is.


Step Three - Argali
-------------------
Argali 
http://www.argali.com

Argali is a very cool piece of ad-supported freeware. Quite simply it
is the most powerful phone directory search available. Search for the
person, and compare the results to what you have already found. It's
quite likely that you will now have matched up a full name and DOB,
with an old address and phone number. It could still be current, so
giving it a go is suggested.

Do a reverse search on the phone number or address at Intelius - and
you might get an idea of how old the data is.


Step Four - SearchSystems
-------------------------
SearchSystems
http://www.searchsystems.net

Basically the Yahoo of public databases. Find the county associated
with the address you have found using this site:
http://zipinfo.com/search/zipcode.htm

Then use SearchSystems to find all the databases for that state and
county. The best tend to be property records, for they are current and
free. If the person you are looking for owns their home, it's an easy
way to locate them.


Email
-----
There's not too much skill required - just visited the best email
databases and hope they come up with the answers. Also use Argali - it
contains quite a good email search.

I've compiled the best email search databases here:
http://searchenginez.com/reverse_email.html


For any further info on this topic you need, just ask for a
clarification and I'll get back to you.


Best wishes,
robertskelton-ga

---

Request for Answer Clarification by astrokoala-ga on 18 Aug 2003 10:23 PDT

Hi, thanks for all the info.  But I've pretty much gone through those
sites myself already.  I guess I am wondering if I *do* use one of the
paid sites, how much more effective would they be?  I have no luck
finding this person through all the non-paid sites you gave me. I do
have the person's phone number but it didn't come up on any reverse
searches either.  I also have the person's date of birth, last place
lived, and an old aol email address... so much info it seems but the
person is just too elusive I suppose.  Any more input will be
appreciated!! thanks

---

Clarification of Answer by robertskelton-ga on 18 Aug 2003 16:35 PDT

With a date of birth and location, LocateMe.com could have the answer
for you.
http://www.locateme.com/

The cost is $39 for a one-off search. Maybe you could find someone who
has subscribed to it to do a free search for you...

Keep in mind that finding people using online resources is, in my
experience, only successful about 50% of the time. And that's for
people that aren't hiding for any reason.

The next step after automated databases and public records is private
investigators. These days they use many online resources that you or I
am unable to access due to privacy laws. Many databases are available
only to law enforcement professionals, insurance companies and
licensed private investigators. (As an un-licensed investigator I am
envious of what they can access).

The downside is that they are not cheap. 

The types of things that can access are:

Driving records
Criminal history
Court records
Current phone account details
Credit reports
Business details and assets

I have heard good things about Abika:

Abika
http://www.abika.com

If you want an idea of how old a lot of that info is, run your own
name through the search engine. I found that even 1-800-USSEARCH has
very very outdated info, like from 20 years ago. I can't even find any
info on myself, but when I run a search on my husband of 17 years, I
find his info from 22 years ago, but nothing current. I did the same
with some of the other services and had very spotty results. Basically
we've lived in the same place for 20 years and up until this year
those databases didn't even record our current city.

Good luck