Skip tracing. The art of finding someone. This is truly an art, typically working freelance for debt collectors, bail bondsmen, or bounty hunters. They are the bounty hunters of the virtual age.
How to do Skip Tracing?
There is a process to locate a person that cannot be found in the usual hangout or place of residents. This process is known as skip tracing. In the past, the debtors who defaulted on their financial deals often chose the easy way out. Meaning that they leave the town, skipping the debt collection attempts. In such a situation, the creditors needed a method to track down these debtors. So, they lean toward skip tracers.
With the help of data resources and skip tracer tools, these investigators can track down any delinquent debtors. Even though all of this started for tracking down debtors, nowadays, skip tracing is used in many fields. For the article’s sake, some individuals and organizations utilize skip tracing.
- Lead Generation
- Debt Collection
- Sales Marketing
- Real Estate
- Business Venture
Skip Tracing Example
People use skip tracing for several purposes. Above mentioned five are the best examples of that. However, if you need more understanding about skip tracing, here are some situations where skip tracing might come in handy.
- As mentioned above, the skip tracing method is perfect for tracking down someone who owes a debt.
- If you want to locate a person that skipped bail with skip tracing, you can do that easily. This skip tracing is known as bounty hunting.
- Also, you can use skip tracing to locate family members, friends, or long-lost love.
Skip Tracing Techniques
A skip tracer can use various sources of information to track his target. Depending on the situation, you can use the following techniques accordingly.
1) Caller ID
This is an easy method that skip tracers use. And here is how you can execute this process. First, send emails to all the places where the individual might live. In the mail, you should state that you must contact him and leave your phone number too. If the individual calls your number, your caller ID will capture his phone number. Afterward, use a site such as www.411.com to initiate a reverse phone number search.
3) Acquaintance
If a person goes missing, most of the time, that individual’s family and friends might know about his whereabouts. Even though it might be a little difficult to extract details from an individual’s family and friends, this is an excellent method to locate the missing person.
4) Corporate Filing
Usually, you can obtain the corporate filing from the secretary of state. Inside this corporate filing, there might be information about the missing person’s location.
5) Criminal Search
Executing a criminal search might reveal whether the person is on parole or incarcerated.
6) Director Assistance
Even if the person’s phone number is disconnected, you can call the directory assistance and ask about other numbers related to the same name.
7) Change of the Postal Service Address
If the missing person is not living in that old place, you can always send mail to that old address. But, write the following on the envelope.
“Do Not Forward – Address Correction requested”
The postal service will correct the address and send the mail back to you. So, this is an excellent method to find the current address of the fugitive.
8) Professional Certificates
Most people get certified by state organizations. They might use those certificates even if they are out of the state. So, you can get the necessary detail through certifying agency.
9) Search Engines
This is one of the easiest ways to find information about a missing person using skip tracer tools. Type the individual’s name on the search bar. If you are lucky, you might get some information.
10) Skip Trace Technique: Voter Registration
Your local city government has all the details about registered voters. You can find information such as name, address, birthplace, and many more. So, if you can access such a database, you will be able to find the necessary information.
11) Reverse Telephone Directories
This is an excellent method to find someone’s address. You can use a site such as www.411.com for this search. Enter the phone number, and you will get the address of that individual.
Best OSINT Tools for Skip Tracing
In the above section, we talked about the techniques of skip tracing. And if you pay close attention, you might realize that in the above section, you can find some traditional and non-traditional methods for skip tracing. However, in this post, we are going to talk about the OSINT tools that can help you skip tracing a missing person. Having said that, when it comes to skip tracing tools, we can categorize them into two categories; Free Skip Tracing Tools and Paid Skip Tracing Tools.
Free Skip Tracing Tools
1) Search Engines
Any search engine can be used as a skip tracer too. For instance, Google, Bing, and Yahoo are the top three search engines on the internet. So, you will be able to use these search engines for skip tracing. Enter the person’s full name into the search section. And you will get all the available information related to that person.
Besides, search engines have the Advanced Search option too. With this option, you can specify your search results.
2) Social Media Platforms
If you didn’t get the expected results from the search engines, you could always find some information by searching social media platforms. For instance, platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter contain personal information about people. On the other hand, with a platform such as LinkedIn, you can find someone’s professional information too.
3) WordPress Sites and Blogs
People share many personal and professional details on WordPress sites and blogs. Besides, the owner adds an about me page whenever a website is created. On the other hand, regular blogger shares their day-to-day activities and experiences in their blog posts. So, you can find some good information there.
4) Online Directories
Popular skip-tracing tools such as SkipEase use information from major telecommunications companies. So, you will be able to find almost everything, given that you have the correct information. Usually, you will have to enter the missing person’s full name or phone number to get additional information.
5) Email Checkers
There are many email checkers sites, such as www.emailsherlock.com and www.email-checker.com. Therefore, you can check the subject’s information using his email address.
Paid Skip Tracing Tools
1) LocatePlus.com
For $2.5 price you can search an unlimited amount of subjects. LocatePlus allow you to access billions of non-public and public databases. Besides, you can skip tracing your target through your browser window. LocatePlus provides information for various fields and individuals. For instance, LocatePlus is perfect for real estate agents, skip-tracing professionals, investigators, bail bondsmen, and many other parties.
2) SkipSmasher.com
Skip Smasher was founded in 2004. And this is the only service that runs by a licensed private investigator. With Skip Smasher, you can find the identity of people, contact numbers, addresses, and many more. You can use this service for skip tracing or fraud investigation. However, before starting, the users must upload their applications.
3) Skip Trace Tool : SkipGenie.com
With unlimited skip-tracing searches for investors, SkipGenie is one of the best skip-tracer tools on the internet. Besides, this is one of the best ways to find home sellers. With SkipGenie, you can find valuable sellers within a few minutes. Also, you can get details such as landlines, mobiles, addresses, and email via SkipGenie. You have to pay $47 per month for all of these features.
4) TLO.com
If you are looking for a skip tracer tool for debt recovery processes, identity authentication, or investigation, TLOxp is the best option. Furthermore, it is a perfect threat assessment, due diligence, and fraud detection tool. Therefore, if you are a private investigator, TLOxp is a must-have tool.
Besides, TLOxp is equipped with an advanced linking algorithm. And this algorithm can collect data from 95% of the US population.
5) BellesLink.com
BellesLink is specially made for the field of real estate. So, if you are a real estate investor, you can get several benefits from the BellesLink tool. Besides, this tool is popular among skip-tracing pros, investigators, lawyers, repossessors & forwarders.
In BellesLink, you can easily skip tracing anyone by using a phone number or address. A monthly subscription will cost you $99.95 per month. Even though the price is high, you will get the best possible skip tracing from BellesLink.
Viewing a Property: Insights on Type of Property
Finding some information about someone’s properties can be pretty handy, especially if someone is a debtor. If you cannot find the debtor, the property details will give you some idea of the debtor’s whereabouts. With skip tracing, you can get information such as property reports, document searches, and map services.
Note: A property report includes all the details of that property, such as owner information, value, and more.
Use Multiple Sources for Accurate Results
When locating debtors or some other subject, it is always better to use multiple sources. Using one or two sources might not be accurate enough. For instance, when trying to locate someone using skip tracing, first, use Google search. Then do a social media platform search for the same person. Finally, you can use an email checker site to get some details from that person’s email.
Note: Even though people provide their personal information to social media sites, those details might not be accurate every time. So, searching using three or four sources is always a good idea.
Access Motor Vehicle Repair and Warranty Records
If you need the latest details of a particular person, looking in a motor vehicle repair and warranty database is the best option. Sometimes, information from other sources, such as Google or Facebook, might be outdated. But, most of the time, vehicle repair databases have up-to-date information. And same goes for the warranty records.
See Information with Only a Phone Number
When you exciting skip tracing, having proper skip tracer tools can benefit you greatly. So, use the sites such as www.411.com. This site will give you a bundle of information related to your search. The only thing you need is the correct phone number.
How to Use www.411.com
First, go to the official 411 websites. You can see a search bar on the home page with four different options.
- PEOPLE SEARCH
- REVERSE SEARCH
- REVERSE ADDRESS
- BUSINESS SEARCH
To trace your target via the phone number, select the REVERSE SEARCH option and enter the phone number. After that, you will get all the details related to that particular phone number.
Inspect Obituaries
If a debtor goes missing suddenly, he might be trying to escape his debt. Or something terrible might happen to him. So, make sure to check the obituaries. If you don’t know about obituaries, obituaries are written piece of paper that indicates someone’s death. So you will know whether the subject is alive or dead.
Any more tools?
This post covers a lot of ground for skip tracer tools and their uses. Besides, now you know the answer to what skip tracing is. On the other hand, you learn some new tricks that can be used while skip tracing.
However, without proper tools, your search won’t be any good. Therefore, always use powerful tools such as LocatePlus and BellesLink. Whether you track down a debtor or a missing person, these tools can make a huge difference.
