Free Sites for Tracing

In the last issue we began to look at the profitable tracing techniques known in the industry as “waterfall tracing”. In this issue we will continue to explore the tracer’s options that allow skip tracing and cyber tracking while keeping costs at a minimum.

After exhausting our efforts to locate our errant consumer through the use of directories including but not limited to telephone directories, church directories, homeowners’ association directories, licensing directories, occupational directories and advertising directories we then slide down the waterfall to “free data resources”.

These “free data resource” sites gather up information from many public sources, proprietary databases and open sources and put them in one location that makes a tracer’s job a lot easier. These sites make their money by selling advertising; and the more people who visit their sites the more money they can charge their advertisers. The creators of these sites value the hit ratio very highly and therefore provide pertinent and valuable data to insure that ratio.

The only expense in using these sites is your time value and I have used several of these sites for many years and have had very good luck. When using these “free sites” you must realize that the information may not be as good as a pay site but be constantly aware the data you obtain is free.

One of the primary sites that I use on a regular basis is www.blackbookonline.info. It usually provides a wealth of information. This site promotes itself as “The Free Public Records Site”; and it is that and much more. It has 45 categories a tracer can choose from as well as links to all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Several links that I use are the People Profiler and the Business Profiler. All you have to do is fill in the blanks with a person’s name or a business’ name, the city and state they are located in; and presto the link will give you all the net data links on the subject. I also utilize their SPYDIALER as it is truly a free database of cell phone numbers that I have found to be as accurate and complete as several of the pay sites offering the same information. As a bonus feature, this site will dial the number and enable you to listen to the voicemail message. This tool is very useful if you want to see who answers a particular cell phone. I also use the Voter Registration link; and under it I often search the Federal Campaign Contributor List when attempting to locate a person’s assets. The Asset Locator link works well for me as well as the Email Lookup, Professional Licenses and Property Records links. When using the links at this site keep in mind that all the information is free; and it is just another level of the waterfall you are sliding down.

The next “free site” I would suggest you to look over, and one I use quite a bit, is www.pimall.com/nais/SKIPTRACE.HTM; or as the name suggests a PIs Mall for data shopping. This site was developed by a private investigator, Ralph Thomas, who runs the National Association of Investigative Specialists and touts having the “world’s largest list of phone books”. At this site, under Phone Books, there are 21 categories; and under each category there are numerous links. A few of the categories we utilize on a regular basis are Toll Free Lookups, Reverse Lookups, World Phone Numbers and World Switch. In addition to the numerous other links at this site we also use the 16 Email Lookup site, the UCC Searches by State and the Ebay Seller Lookup. As I previously stated this site contains too many links to list; but I would recommend you peruse it paying close attention to the eight Military links, eight Alumni links and the Missing Persons links. This is truly a tracers shopping mall; and you should be able to obtain a huge amount of data on your skip... remember it is all free.

The last site I would recommend you look at is www.sagal.com/ajax/. This site is a cornucopia of links to delight the national and international cybertracker. Here you will find both national and international links to Law Enforcement, Intelligence and Military links. Included at this site will be links to the CIA, DIA, NSA, and Secret Service. Also you will find 15 US Regulatory Agency links, 10 US Law Enforcement links and links to all branches of the US Military. An enormous amount of data for the tracer who cares enough to spend their time and not their money while attempting to locate their quarry.

Once again I remind the reader that everything discussed in this article is available at no cost; and pretty much brings us to the next stage of the Waterfall Tracing Technique where we begin to pay for the data we receive.

Join me in the next issue when we look at the players in the data brokering business and see where the tracer can get the biggest bang for their buck.

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 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..