Good afternoon bkaufmann-ga. I wanted to post what I put together as
an answer as I am leaving to head out of town for the weekend. If, by
chance, this does not meet your requirements, please state so in a
clarification and I will do my best to add onto the information I am
about to post.
I started doing my own skip tracing about a year ago when I had to
hunt down a deadbeat boyfriend and I happen to gather some very good
tips through trial and error. I will list everything I learned below.
In following some or all of these pointers, I was able to uncover the
whereabouts of many people, to their dismay and disbelief :)
1. First of all, gather as much information on the person you wish to locate.
2. Start a file. Almost all professionals begin with a file in some form.
3. Write down all of the person's identifying information:
a. Full name and any aliases
b. Date of birth (DOB)
c. Previous addresses
d. Social Security number
e. Driver's license number
f. Automobiles
g. License plates
h. Telephone numbers
i. Places of employment and those telephone numbers, note occupation
(most states require licensing for certain professions)
j. Names of friends and relatives,
k. Places the person likes to socialize,
?and anything else you come up with.
4. Begin with the phone book or directory assistance. I've had a lot
of luck just dialing 411.
5. Write down all the persons with the same surname as your subject;
e.g., if you are trying to locate John Doe in Anytowne, USA, write
down all the Does, they could be relatives.
6. Call those people. Here's where we get into some interesting
stuff. Say you won a small claims judgment and are trying to locate
your debtor. Your debtor may very well be attempting to hide. Now, you
can't very well call up any one of those Does and say,? This stinkin'
guy with your same last name owes me money! Now tell me where the no
good looser lives!" In a scenario like this one, not only have you
scared the bejesus out of some poor Doe who may or may not be related
to your debtor, but you potentially have scared off your debtor,
making him skip town.
There's a technique that professionals use called the "ruse", or
"pretext". It's our First Amendment right to lie. A little pretext
goes along way. Let's replay the above scenario again, but this time
we use the "ruse", or "pretext": "Hi! This may sound strange to you.
But I'm trying to find John Doe . . . Oh, my name is Whatever . . .
yeah, me and John go way back. School, ball games . . . (You have to
be careful what you say here ,for obvious reasons) , worked together
in the construction business. Haven't seen him in ages! What's he been
up to? Hey, do you have his number by any chance? Where'd I get your
number. Directory assistance. Yeah, he spoke about you last year when
we went fishing. I'd love to get a hold of him. Thanks a lot. Now you
take care." You have to be creative, but not outrageous. Assume the
person you are calling is intelligent and cautious; they could also
very well be rude. Keep this in mind, too, "You can attract more flies
with honey than you can with vinegar". Ask yourself what you would
believe if someone called you asking for the same information. Write
what you are going to say down on paper. Read it back aloud to
yourself until you get it right. Then make your call.
When you call directory assistance always ask for the person?s
address, whether you need it or not. Why? This buys you more time with
the operator. If you don't, you'll just hear the familiar,? Hold for
the number please . . .". This is very helpful if you are searching a
common name like John Smith - and there will be many John Smiths.
Directory assistance is required to give you up to 3 names, addresses,
and telephone numbers per call. Take advantage of this. It will save
you time and money. Also, if your operator is not performing well, ask
for a supervisor. Supervisors are a little better at searching the
directory.
If you know your subject's last address, do this: Mail an empty
envelope with the subject's address and a return address. On the
envelope write,? DO NOT FORWARD. ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED." After
a week or so, you will receive the envelope back to the return address
you specified with a yellow sticker on the envelope containing the
forwarding address your subject filed with the post office. Of course,
there is always the possibility that your subject did not file a
change of address. Only perform this technique when you are sure that
your subject has moved, or else he may receive the letter and you
might be made.
WARNING: There are laws in most states that forbid a person from
representing themselves as the following: law enforcement, any
government official or employee, and legal counsel. I would go as far
as to not recommend the use of an established business such as AT&T,
Microsoft, NBC, Planet Hollywood, Hard Copy . There may or may not be
criminal ramifications, depending where you live, but there may very
well be civil ramifications. These guys can have attorneys crawling in
every crevice of your life!
7. What if you don't know what city the person lives in? Or state?
Ask yourself about your subject. What kind of person is this? Does
this person have to have a license to run a particular kind of
business in a state? Where would this persons parents live? Where
might this person live? Again, begin with Directory Assistance and
telephone directories that cover the state you wish to search. Call
your local library and ask if they have out of state telephone
directories and what years. If they do not have the directories you
are looking for ask which library would have those. You can also call
most state capitals to locate their respective state's telephone
directories. Most state capitals have there respective state's
telephone directories dating back for years. What if you have NO
idea whatsoever where your subject may be? Begin looking for the
subject's relatives.
A. Conducting some simple Nationwide searches you can get a listing
of persons with the same name as your subject.
B. Contact the subject's former employers, co-workers, or employees.
If you're lucky, these folks will have a grudge against your subject,
too. Note that people are creatures of habit. A person who is likely
to commit improprieties in one instance may very well do the same
elsewhere. This means that there may be a good chance that one of the
people you contact could have a similar experience to yours. They may
or may not be willing to share the information they have. But, there
is always a good chance that your contact will say, "Yeah, I heard
John Doe moved to Alabama or somewhere." Okay, that's a good start.
Ask your contact where he heard this. Try to validate his statement
without insulting him. Then follow up on his lead. It could very well
be nothing. Maybe it was Arkansas and not Alabama. Continue to dig.
You may have to exhaust all your contacts. But that's part of the
game. Unless the guy is a complete loser or in jail, then you stand a
good chance of finding him. Even if he is total loser you can find
him, but he probably won't have anything worth levying to satisfy your
judgment.
C. Search court records. There can be a wealth of information in
civil, criminal, and bankruptcy records. If you're searching
bankruptcy files you will be able to find out if he has claimed
bankruptcy, and whether or not you can make a claim against his
estate, or simply whether or not it is worthwhile pursuing. You can
also find his social security number, DOB, spouse, other persons
involved, and list of assets and liabilities at the time of filing
bankruptcy. We have also seen copies of Federal Tax returns, divorce
settlements, and abstracts from other civil cases. If you search
criminal and civil records, you may also find additional identifying
information, such as spouse, addresses, aliases, etc. Add these to
your list and follow up on them.
D. Search vital records as birth, death, and marriage records. Say
you feel that knowing your subject's parents would be helpful. If you
can locate his birth certificate, his parents will be listed on the
certificate. Say you feel that your debtor has vested all his assets
in his wife's name, but you don't know the spouse's name: search the
marriage records. For this reason you may also find it necessary to
know your subject's spouse's or ex-spouse name.
E. Search Department of Motor Vehicle Records. Note that many states
have restrictions on DMV searching and some states forbid the general
public from accessing those records. However, you could very possibly
locate an address, vehicles registrations, or a driving record. The
search criteria for DMV records varies. Some states require full name
and date of birth, others require a social security number, and others
require an arbitrary driver's license number. You may also be able to
search using your subject's license plate, so always take plate
numbers down.
F. Search voter registration records. These are still public in most
places, but note that a lot of people do not vote. However, if you do
not find your subject listed you may find his parents, brother or
sister. Also, you will have to call around to see which city or county
would have the records for your subject's address - voter
registration, like other matters, is jurisdictional.
G. Search tax roll records. See the city or county office that has
jurisdiction over your subject's address, and search for property tax
bills, personal property tax bills, and excise tax bills.
H. Search for business license records. You may have to dig to see
which agency controls this. It may be the state, the county, or the
city in which your subject's business OR residence lies in. It may
also be in one, all, or any combination of the three. And they may all
contain different information.
I. Search real estate records. Most states have several County
Recorder's Offices which record all real estate transactions in the
given county. Go to the county recorder's office in the county in
which your subject resides or has resided. The records will usually be
indexed alphabetically, by date, and by grantor (seller) and grantee
(buyer). Search both indices. Search by your subject's name, aliases,
spouse's name, and all possible spelling combinations of his name.
Again, know that information has to be passed through many hands
before it reaches an index. Keep in mind that it is very easy to
create a typographical error in that process. So it is paramount that
when searching you have to exhaust all possibilities. Also keep in
mind that people will use their initials in their names. So locate
where this will be in the index. For example, Z. Doe might be listed
in the Z's OR he might be listed at the very beginning of the index.
Look at both.
Public information is free! However, compiling it and making it
available is costly. Keep in mind that investigators pay well for
their information databases and would probably not be able to compete
without them. They pay for the ease of access of the information and
for the time their vendors have taken to compile it and make it
available.
When Searching public records like the ones listed to the above, you
will be asked to use an index that will list persons and businesses by
name. If you are looking for a person, search for the last name, then
find the first name and ANY similar spellings of either first or last
names. This is very important, because oftentimes typographical errors
occur when the data is processed. Also, be aware that someone's
initials can be used in the index. Once you have found some possible
"hits", there will be a corresponding file number. Record the file
number and ask the clerk to retrieve the file for you, or ask how to
retrieve it if the files are self serve.
J. If you plan to canvass a neighborhood, get a map. When you are in
the neighborhood pay close attention to all adjacent properties to
your subject's house or apartment. You will want to talk with at least
several persons on each side of your target, as well as behind the
target and across the street.
If your subject rented the property you will certainly want to contact
his landlord. First, find out who owns the property. This can be done
by contacting the appropriate county tax assessor. Provide the clerk
(either by mail or in person; they rarely give info over the
telephone) with the address of the property. They will, in turn,
provide you with the name and billing address of the person
responsible for paying the tax bill. This, presumably, is the owner.
If it is the subject's previous landlord, ask if he or she will kindly
provide you with any information of the subject. This may include an
application, which hopefully will show his SS#, DOB, employment,
previous addresses, references, spouse, etc.
If the subject was the owner of the property, or better yet, IS the
owner, you may get some information from the current tenant. Ask the
tenant where they send the rent check. But again be careful, you do
not want to spook you subject into hiding. Use a ruse if you're
speaking with your subject's tenants.
Contacting Neighbors in an apartment building. This can be difficult,
but maybe necessary. If you plan to canvass the building, you first
have to get inside. This can get you in trouble if you go about it in
the wrong way. How you gain access will be dependent on the
trespassing laws in your state. Most states trespassing laws state
that any area commonly accessible to the general public is not
considered trespassing unless otherwise noted. And by all means DO NOT
BREAK THE LAW TO GAIN ACCESS INTO AN APARTMENT BUILDING! Not only can
you get arrested, but it is possible that it may be brought up in
court as it pertains to your manner of collecting your judgment. The
judge or jury may not be happy with your behavior and hence find
against you. It is best to get permission to enter the building. If
you can sweet talk your way into the building via the building's
manager, you probably will be safe. Remember to note the name and
physical description of the person who let you in. If there is a
security guard on duty you might be out of luck. These guys, in
general, are very difficult to deal with. They seem to get pleasure
out of making things difficult or unpleasant for people. Again, here's
where a professional would have the advantage. A security guard might
very well be a P.I. wanna-be and would love nothing more than to aid
in the investigation of one of the previous ''bad tenants'' tenants.
Here are some sites on the internet that I used in conducting my searches:
Accurint ? http://www.accurint.com (my bible!) Accurint is the most
widely accepted locate-and-research tool available to government, law
enforcement and commercial customers. Its proprietary data-linking
technology returns search results in seconds to the user?s desktop.
There is a fee with this and you have to register but registration is
free. Simple person search is $.25 and the more in depth searches,
such as vehicle registration databases, court records etc. will cost
more. Check out http://www.accurint.com/price2.html for a price
list.
Anywho Online Directory: http://www.anywho.com/
BRB Publications - http://www.brbpub.com/pubrecsites.asp (my other
bible!) You can gather a wealth of free information of this site from
land records to criminal records to marriage records.
Federal Bureau of Prisons: http://www.bop.gov/
Kidnapped & Missing Persons Investigations:
http://www.fbi.gov/mostwant/kidnap/kidmiss.htm
Lycos People Search: http://www.whowhere.lycos.com/
Missing Children Directory: http://www.missingkids.com/
Missing Children(Polly Klaas Foundation): http://www.pollyklaas.org/
National Center for Health Statistics:
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/howto/w2w/w2welcom.htm
Peoplesearch.net: http://www.peoplesearch.net/
United States Vital Records Information: http://www.vitalrec.com/
Vinelink: http://www.vinelink.com/offender/searchNew.jsp?siteID=28000
Yahoo People Search: http://people.yahoo.com/
Zabasearch.com - http://www.zabasearch.com/
ALWAYS look professional. Be clean and neat. You will be judged
constantly. If you look like a looser, you probably will be treated as
such. Also, dress appropriately or dress in a style that the neighbors
can identify with. If you plan to canvas a "Blue Collar" neighborhood,
don't dress like an attorney; forgo the gray suit with a white shirt,
and opt for a more casual look. If the neighborhood you are canvassing
is upper middle class a suit may be more appropriate. Use your best
judgment.
Last words of advice: Be discreet, be professional, be thorough. Good Luck!
Nenna-GA
Google Researcher |
