People Searches, Anyone Ever Use One???

[Gouki]

This comes under the heading of : "Trying to get in touch with someone I went to school with YEARS ago and have lost their contact information" :)

So I go to google and type in this persons name and a few hits come up and long with the results are ads for places like this : http://find.intelius.com/

Anyone ever used a site like this before? Do they really work? It's fairly inexpensive to do a single search $7.95, so it's not like I'd be out of a lot of money if it didn't work, but just curious if anyone here has ever used a service like this and if so what their experience was like. :)

[Shyguy]

Ive thought of it, But never tried one.

[nomaxim]

http://www.searchsystems.net/

This link opens you up to all public records in the US.
(Back taxes, traffic tickets, ..etc)

However, you have to work to find anything. :)

EDIT:
And Canada too!

[pphalan]

If you want practice do a search on yourself without a service. It takes a little time but you can come up with some info that may surprise you.

[Axel]

I avoid most search for pay sites.

Use word of mouth and free services to narrow down the possibilities. Find a location - a region - a county name is often enough.

Then do a search of the county tax authority in that area.

Pull up the tax appraisal records for housing to see if they bought a house or hold a mortgage in the county. Often - you can get a digital copy of the mortgage from the tax entity with all the contact info you need.

Also - professional organizations keep online lists often that you can search if you know that the person in question has some sort of professional license.

If you have an address - you can do reverse directory searches to find things out.

If this doesn't bring you any luck, go by the region you think the person is in and then do a methodical search of every county tax authority around that area within a reasonable commute.

Search the online newspaper files in that area for the name of the person.

Once you get into it, the search starts to become fun.

Cut & Paste leads and details into a folder to cross reference stuff as you go.

You'll quickly be amazed by what you can find out there and then you'll start doing a similar search on yourself to see what you can find out about yourself on the web.

Only thing to be careful of - if this person doesn't want to be found by you - this pattern of behaviour constitutes digital stalking in some jurisdictions which might be actionable.

[MiKe85]

Good advice from Axel! :) Just like he said, please remember that digital stalking is a fairly serious crime, if the person you're looking for doesn't want to be found by you. :copcar:

I was trying to find an old friend of mine, and then remembered she moved out of the country. :bs: I still haven't found her yet! :rolleyes:

[Gouki]

Ya this was actually one of my best friends when I was going to college...we just lost contact with each other when we weren't going to school.

And I still haven't taken the time to sit down and do any searching, one of these days I will. lol. :D