It is one thing to locate a person who is not actively hiding but quite another to locate someone who is making a concerted effort to remain below the radar and who possesses the skill set to keep their personal information hidden from prying eyes. This type of person will do everything possible to keep their current whereabouts concealed including using a variation of their names, social security numbers and frequent changes of address. This is, in many cases, the type of person that the professional tracers and cyber trackers are often seeking to ferret out. This is the type of person who provides the greatest challenge as well as the greatest satisfaction when they are located by letting the tracer know they have the pleasure of a “job well done”. The old quotation attributed to the great boxer Joe Louis, “You can run but you can’t hide” often holds true in the cases the professional tracer is involved in and true to form the subject of the search can run but they cannot hide from the trained professional tracer.
How we find this type of person often depends on two key elements, how much time and how much money we are willing to commit to ensure the success of the pursuit. The client or the tracer’s employer must decide how much money they wish to commit to the endeavor and then commence their tracing efforts through the “waterfall technique”.
Before beginning the actual search it is a requirement that the tracer build a flow chart in order to establish a working profile of the subject they are tracing. The flow chart profile should contain information related to the subject such as full name, nickname, date of birth, social security number, type of work the subject does, previous employers, previous addresses, spouse information, relative information and any other information which will aid in locating the subject. Once this flow chart profile is started the tracer will continue to add information as the search progresses and additional data is obtained.
In order to work as fast and economically feasible as possible the professional tracer will usually start out with the most simple and basic tool they possess, the telephone directory. The professional tracer will not limit themselves to just a single directory but rather will have a multitude of directories in their toolbox. While there are literally thousands of online telephone directories, here are some of the more popular ones that my tracers and I utilize:
• AnyWho www.anywho.com
• AT&T Directory Assistance www.corp.att.com/directory
• SuperPages www.superpages.com
• Switchboard www.switchboard.com
• White Pages www.whitepages.com
• Yahoo! People Search www.people.yahoo.com
• International www.infobel.com
• Reverse Search www.reversephonedirectory.com
A professional tracer will use these directories to not only search for the legal name of the subject they are pursuing but also for name variations such as nicknames, abbreviated names, reverse names, spouse’s maiden name, other people with the same last name and fictitious names the subject may have used in the past.
Yes, this is very basic but all traces must have a starting point and as the professional tracer conserves both time and money this is the starting point for a true “waterfall search”.
You will find that on many occasions this simple basic and inexpensive technique, use of telephone directories, will locate the “average person” you are looking for or will provide someone who will give you location information. By “average person” I mean someone who is just lackadaisical and isn’t necessarily trying to remain unfound. For those who are intentionally hiding, it can and will become a bit more complicated and will require a further investment of time, knowledge and money.
Let us continue to follow the waterfall technique with a few more basic and cost conscious methods used by successful tracers. This waterfall technique will begin with some of the most obvious tracing techniques and move forward with more involved and costly methods.
As you conduct your search always keep in mind those immortal words penned by Lewis Carroll to Alice in his book Alice in Wonderland as she chased the white rabbit down the hole. “Don’t be afraid to follow, but try to keep your head.”
Dead or alive may be the next question that needs to be answered and this is one of the first steps to take in any skip trace. You can determine whether or not your target is still alive using the Social Security Death Records database (or SSDI). While you are unable to access the index from the Social Security Administration’s website, you will find free access here: http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=3693.
Search results include the date of birth, city and state of last residence and the state the social security number was issued in; this should be enough to identify whether or not it pertains to your subject.
In the following issues we will continue to explore the “waterfall technique” of tracing. Until then, Good Luck and Good Hunting.
Ron Brown is a member of the National Association of Fraud Investigators and the author of “MANHUNT: The Book.” Contact him at