Call Today!Skip tracing involves locating someone. Most entrepreneurs, debt collectors, and investigators apply it regularly. Typically, private investigators handle numerous skip-tracing lawsuits each year. Read on to learn more about skip tracing, its benefits and how to conduct it.
The Basics of Skip Tracing
Skip tracing is the process of locating someone who has vacated to another town mainly to debts. A private detective tries to find an individual's contact, address, and real-time location. Nevertheless, most investigators tend to group skip trace cases with lawsuits involving finding people on behalf of clients. They refer them as locate cases.
A skip trace lawsuit resembles an ordinary locate case. Often, the person being traced, the person of interest (POI) doesn't wish to be discovered. A private detective can only disclose the POI's personal information to another person if there is a viable reason. They usually use public information, open-source intelligence methods, property deeds and specialized databases to trace a missing person. It enables them to locate people within a specific timeframe.
Who to Look For In Skip Tracing
Most persons of interest don't wish to be located. There are different people who a private investigator can trace including:
- Missing estate heirs
- Key witnesses in lawsuits
- Debt defaulters
- Fraudulent clients
- Absent defendants
What Information Can You Find Through Skip Tracing?
The main aim of a skip trace case is to locate a POI. After a private detective finds them, they can contact the POI, arrest them or share the information with interested parties. The investigator's final report contains vital information such as:
- Phone number
- Current address
- ID number or Social Security Number (SSN)
- Current workplace
Initially, the investigator looks for the POI's address. If it is unavailable, they look for any useful information such as their old addresses to locate them. A detective can use various resources to find POIs including interviews, investigator databases, canvassing, surveillance, and in-depth web research.
In skip tracing, a private investigator analyses a person of interest's personal information to determine their current location. They disclose it to third parties if they have a legitimate reason to use the data. A family can locate missing relatives through skip tracing.