If you need court documents to be delivered, there are companies that offer process services. They will make sure the papers get delivered to the intended parties on time. But what of those people who are difficult to find? As they say, you can’t find someone who doesn’t want to be found. They may do this intentionally or unintentionally. Sometimes they just plain moved to a different address without notifying anyone.
But what of those who are seemingly hiding? This is where skip tracing comes in.
Skip Tracing
Skipping out of town is a phrase used to denote someone who has left suddenly. Basically someone who dropped off the radar. Skip tracing was derived from this phrase and is the act of finding a person who recently left. The start point of the trace will begin from the last known address of the person.
Thinking about their motives is not part of the process. When you are doing skip tracing, your main goal is to reach that person. It’s not always used to pursue people in hiding. This operation is also done to generate contact lead for real estate, for example. It’s a way to find potential property sellers. Though it’s often used to trace people for debt collecting and serving court orders.
Tools of the Trade
Skip tracing can only use legal means of collecting data. This means that recording conversations will be out of the picture. Anything that violates another person’s rights is not permissible.
You can start by searching for public information. The internet can be used for this. There are websites that let you search a name and it will provide you with a wealth of information about the person. This is information that probably was culled from various directories. If a person’s employed, their company may have information about them online. Searching through the company’s website may provide you leads about where you can find them. The work address itself is a crucial piece of information.
If the person has a presence in social media, it can be a good source of information if they made their profile public. Posts can reveal the last few locations where they’ve been found. Their connections also open up a whole new realm of possibilities in gathering your data.
Remember, it’s best to not engage in a conversation with anyone. So sending messages to their connections is out of the question. If you wish to branch out here, stick to doing strictly researching. Any form of interaction can be a violation of New York’s privacy laws.
The main idea here is to just write down the information presented to you, which you were able to access publicly. Always be on the safe side.
Pen and Paper
Write down any pertinent information you can gather. The data from your online search should all be organized. Make a spreadsheet of all you know about the person. This will make it easier for you to plan your next actions.
When all is done, use the information that you have to your advantage. Hopefully, those will serve as the crumbs that will lead you to the whereabouts of the person.
