Tracing Agent Advice On DIY People Tracing
Tracing Agents advice and tips to trace a person
How To Trace A Person
Tracing a person from scratch can be much trickier
than people think. Not everyone’s on Facebook and we don’t all pop up on a
google search. So, People Location have done an article on tracing someone for
the novice AKA “DO IT YOURSELF PEOPLE TRACING” a simple guide to low level
people tracing.
In this short article we will give you some
ideas on how you can go about tracing a person who you have lost touch with. We
are giving away all the trade secrets. You will need some information to work
with so don’t bother reading on if it’s someone you met at a party and never
got their name or a person who winked at you on the train last weekend. You will need an idea of the name they are
using today or an idea of the name they had before they were married.
So, you think you may be the next Columbo? “just one thing” there are some pro’s
and cons to doing the search yourself. If you want to trace the person and you
have plenty of time on your hands and maybe some budget, then you might be able
to pull it off!
The main upside to doing your own people tracing is, reduced cost, but there may well be costs that you might want to
keep an eye on. so, if costs are your only concern you may want to check with
us on how we can possibly save you money on your tracing. And the other main pro
of doing your own searches is that great sense of accomplishment once you each the
end goal.
The downsides are, as above, costs, they
can quickly build up and before you know it you could have spent £100’s and got
nowhere. Time. It can take up a lot of time, but if it’s something you enjoy
doing it may well be time well spent. You may end up following the wrong lead,
and it can be a lot of time and effort lost. You could end up contacting the
wrong person completely. This can result in you having to go back to the beginning
of your search and start from scratch. Spending time and money tracking down
the wrong person can be frustrating, to say the least. You may end up with
nothing at the end of your search and end in you simply giving up hope of ever
finding them. We have had many people come to us after spending weeks, months
and even years doing their own research only to find a brick wall at every
turn.
When clients come to us with their own case
file and search results we often see, relatively quickly, where they are going
wrong. In some instances, it can be down to s simple search error in the
beginning of their research that has led them completely off trail. It’s
usually down to an assumption of located data being the person they are looking
for, a middle name, birth details or marriage details that simply don’t belong
to the person they are trying to trace. They have ended up following the wrong
person. And with miss matching details that are for two different people they
are usually left scratching their head.
And, once or twice, I simply have no idea
where they get the data from! It leaves us all confused!
If your search is what we would call, a low-level
search, you may well be able to solve it. You will need to have some good and
reliable details to work with. You will need their name and if they are now
married and you don’t know what their name is now you will have to solve that
one before you can go on to locate the current address. And you will need time
to set aside to do your research.
You must be prepared for the hurdles that
you may come across during your search. If you are working with a lack of full
name criteria with correct spellings, you will have to overcome this to enable
you to be sure you are on the right track. You may end up having to order certificates
to clarify the name and its spelling. If your trawling marriage certificates
you may need order one or two before you can be sure it’s the right one. You
may also need to go online and use credit paid searches to uncover the name
spellings or married names. Be careful these costs can add up quickly.
If you don’t know their exact birthdate or
age it may also hinder your research. Again, ordering the birth certificates can
be timely and if you have multiple possible births it can also be costly.
Online electoral roll searches may be a way round this but again, they are
credit paid searches and many will only have age brackets or no age details at
all, so keep an eye on what your spending!
The People Location Tracing Agents have powerful
data access that you don’t. So, you will also have a major lack of resources at
your fingertips. You may have full name, birthdate and more but clarifying that
data against a possible match may end up in having to contact them before you
can be sure it’s the right person and not someone else who is around the same
age in the same area. And you may not get a rely at all leaving you in the
lurch, is it them and they are ignoring me? Is it someone else and they cant be
bothered to let them know. And more importantly, who have I just given my
details to?
Its not just a lack of tools you are facing
but a lack of experience. As with all things in life a lack of experience can
leave you slightly bewildered in a sea of conflicting data or needle in a
haystack scenario. Our team have decades of experience under their belts when
it comes to people tracing. But, put one of us in front of a car engine, or
plumbing in a new sink and we are lost! Sometimes you need the right expert for
the right job.
Okay, we have said our piece, told you pro’s
and cons, possibly scarred you a bit! And done the, right man for the right job
speech, lets get to what you came here for, Tracing a person on your own.
Here’s our short-hand advice on how you an
undertake a “do it yourself person trace”
Get all your details together.
You will be best writing everything you
know down on a piece of paper or typing it up on your computer. Make sure you
add everything you know about that person. This is your case data and you may
end up going back to it over and over again. This will be your worksheet as well
so as you progress you can add details to it and cross off things you don’t want
to do twice.
Name, any nicknames, married names and
birth name
Get an idea of their age down or if you
know it their full birthdate
Addresses they have lived at or been
connected to
If they are married make a note of it. If
you know who they marred and where they married
List down anyone else they may live with.
Any children if they are over 18 they may well be on data sets
List down any jobs or type of work they do
List any old phone numbers email addresses
or mobiles
Note down any other linked family or
friends they may be in touch with now
Add anything else to your notes that you
may think will be helpful. Things like hobbies, places they have connections to
or anything you may feel is relevant.
Time to get searching!
Online
Go online and search under the name and
area’s you know. See if any of the results mentions anything else that you know
about the person.
So you may get something like “JOHN DOE
RACE CAR FANATIC RAISES 2K FOR CHARITY” is this you person did they have a
race car hobby? Does the page mention any circuits they may have used? Is it close
to the area you last knew them to be in. Contacting the racing circuit may be
useful they may be able to pass on a message.
You may also get something like “JOHN DOE
MOBILE MECHANIC SERVING BRISTOL AND SURROUNDING AREA” Does this sound like him?
Is there a contact number or website? Does the website have an address or
contact from?
The general idea is to match the known name
to any part of the other data you have on your case file.
You may also want to specify the details by
going to the search settings and clicking on “advanced search” this can really
specify what you are looking for and filter out unwanted results.
You may also want to variate your name data
so remember to use nicknames and abbreviated names, like John and Johnathon, or
Pete and Peter.
Social Media
So many people are on social media, so you will
want to check here. Facebook has over 1 billion users and 99% of the UK will
know someone else who does use Facebook.
Again check under nick names or abbreviated
names
Trawling through the profile avatars can
help you spot them by their face. If they don’t show on there or there simply
too many matches you may want to try and look for a wife, brother, sister or
mum and dad, anyone else who they may know. You may be able to find the person
your looking for on a friends list or they may be able to pass on a message for
you.
Electoral
register
Looking on the voter’s roll can be done on
the internet or at your local reference library or council. Don’t forget to
cross the check the data. Check the other occupants at the same address and see
if any of them appear to be a spouse or grown up child. Remember the electoral
roll is split into two versions, edited and full and many of us are no longer
on the edited version, we are all sick of marketing, so if they don’t appear on
the electoral roll it may simply mean they have opted out of the edited copy.
GRO searches and certificates
Its more in-depth and may be best left to
the moderate tracer. If you need to check for marriage, then searching the
indexes may be enough. If you are looking at multiple possible matches, then you
may need to get the certificates to ensure you are on the right trail. Getting
the certificates can take time and it can, in some cases get quite expensive.
You may also want to check over the death indexes. I know it’s a morbid thought
but its an area you can not always ignore. Be prepared for all scenarios!
Wills and probate searches
This will help in seeing if there is a likely
death. Wills are more up to date than the indexes, so a more recent death may
show on here. Again, you may well need to get a copy of the will to ensure it’s
the right person and if there are multiple name matches you could end up spending
quite a lot. Its also worth looking for anyone else who may have dies who may
have added them to a will. So if there parents have passed away they may have
mentioned them in a will which may have an up to date address.
Companies House Searches
If you know or think the person was or is a
director, they will be on the register of appointees. The register does give you
some information such as a year and month of birth as well as a contact
address. The address on file could be an accountant or a serviced office or
registered office. Many of these places will pass on letters if they have the
ability to do so.
Look or people they know
If you are not having any luck tracking
them down, you may want to think about redoing the search for someone else they
may know. Looking for a sibling or parents can give you care of contact or help
you get a message to them.
We hope you have found this article helpful
and if you think anyone else may benefit from it why not pass it on or share it
with others.
We love Social media, LinkedIn and twitter so
feel free to link to this page
We wish you the very best with your search
and remember, if you have tried all this and still can’t get in touch then
contact one of our experts here. We will be happy to get you back in touch in
no time at all!
Tel: 020 8390 1703
posted by Unknown @ 10:48
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