How debt collectors find you...

[GoingDown]

I was surprised about the amount of info I found on me with a simple free search from

http://pipl.com/

I had to delete accounts and webpages I previously thought were safe, and I changed my privacy settings on things like Amazon.com after seeing what other people could find out about me.

Here's a link to the article where I found these search engines...

http://repo-industry.net/forum/showthread.php?t=700

cluuz . com/
123people . com/
wink . com/
yasni . com/
zoominfo . com/
isearch . com/
peekyou . com/

http://com.lullar.com/

Argali

[frogger]

Social networking is an important part of skip tracing.

LexisNexis has just incorporated social networking as part of their data base for searches also.

People don't understand just how valuable social networking is to a skip tracer. Do a search for "face bait".

[wnguyen]

They are notorious (don't know if this word is correct to describe it) in the way of finding you. I won't ask how. My brothers changed their addresses 5 times (yes 5) during the year and they still were able to find them. I don't know how many times when I called them on their phones, I got the msg the number was "not in service" or "no longer available."

[tobee43]

GREAT!! we both checked out our names and we ARE LOST!! we did a really good job of losing ourselves....i guess we are under ground before our time!! wow...i always wondered how criminals did it...i guess since one of us was in the law enforcement field we learned something through out all these years...i now feel like we are in the bankruptcy witness protection program!! LOL!!!!!!!!!!

be careful...they can trace your ip address!!

[wnguyen]

be careful...they can trace your ip address!!

even if you use proxy server from... Comcast

[BigJohn]

I got listed but also listed as being dead 2 different times.

[nomoneynomore]

I tried every one of those sites, all I can say...HOLY CRAP! That scares me like no other. I went in and deleted my myspace acct, not a single thing showed up for facebook though, whew. There was a ton of info about me, but thank goodness, nothing current! Whohooo, and I will be extra careful from now on.

[tobee43]

even if you use proxy server from... Comcast

hahahaha...good one...probably NOT!

I got listed but also listed as being dead 2 different times.

john...u win the prize...LOL!! dead works!

I

tried every one of those sites, all I can say...HOLY CRAP! That scares me like no other. I went in and deleted my myspace acct, not a single thing showed up for facebook though, whew. There was a ton of info about me, but thank goodness, nothing current! Whohooo, and I will be extra careful from now on

you back into those site...including any site you did auto pay or online payment and mess up all the info..it worked for sure!! i did that...we were laughing SOOOOOOO hard on the information they are providing...it is SOOOOOOO far off!

[ryan]

Very interesting - thanks for providing this. I am searchable on some things, but not on others. Most info that is available is accurate - SCARY.

[tay666]

I never really thought about it.
Don't worry about it either, as if anyone wants to find me all they have to do, is a google search. (about 1500 hits for my name, which is rather unique)

Kind of comes with the territory when you have had your own website for 10 years.
And been a prominent member on several large online forums for most of that time as well.

[debtprison]

Very interesting - thanks for providing this. I am searchable on some things, but not on others. Most info that is available is accurate - SCARY.

Hmm. I came up as mostly clean but I wonder if a counter to some of the online profiles is to create a trail of FALSE information. Purposely show fake phone numbers, addresses, throw away emails, etc. Try to create fake profiles showing you in other cities and states. Completely clog it up. Even show fake employment, subtle date of birth differences, etc. You might even try to make it look like you are dead. I don't think there's anything illegal about making a fake facebook account...


One piece of advice I have for people is to not use just a single email. Ideally each account should have it's own email. I know it's a pain but you can always forward it. One email potentially destroys your privacy quickly.

[tobee43]

Hmm. I came up as mostly clean but I wonder if a counter to some of the online profiles is to create a trail of FALSE information. Purposely show fake phone numbers, addresses, throw away emails, etc. Try to create fake profiles showing you in other cities and states. Completely clog it up. Even show fake employment, subtle date of birth differences, etc. You might even try to make it look like you are dead. I don't think there's anything illegal about making a fake facebook account...


One piece of advice I have for people is to not use just a single email. Ideally each account should have it's own email. I know it's a pain but you can always forward it. One email potentially destroys your privacy quickly.

that's exactly what we did....it really messed them up...

although, because i have published works and have been around i'm still on the net...but not my address and location...just if you type in my name you will see 3 books i'm in...and some other cool things i use to be wonderful at...LOL!!! way in another lifetime...but i'm not really wanting to get rid of those nice things anyway...but it get's NO personal info...such as address phone....cell number etc. too cool...i know we really messed them up good!!

also leaving the state with no forwarding address didn't hurt...LOL!!!

[BrokeIn2010]

Mostly clean, except for a few old profiles on some small-business advice websites. Nothing of any real value to anyone looking for me. And my name is so common, that if they did a MySpace or Facebook search, they'd hit thousands on thousands of people with it; and even in my region of my state they'd hit a few hundred most likely.

[GoingDown]

One thing I noticed is that the most damaging information was always associated around an old land line phone number.

Since I stopped using a land line phone and now just use pay as you go cell phones and Google Voice, there is no recent accurate information about me.

I was able to clean up a lot of the information on there by closing and deleting accounts, webpages, and changing the privacy settings on accounts I wanted to keep.

But the old outdated land line phone info just stays on there no matter what I do, and it unfortunately leaves a trail right back to my other relatives. That's unfortunately, how they track down a lot of people... through their relatives. In my case, they already know about my problems and they know to not give out any information to strangers calling about me pretending to be my long lost friends, etc. But with a lot of people, that strategy might just work.

I will never have a land line phone again, and I will be extremely cautious about anything I put out there on the internet from now on.

[ryan]

One thing I noticed is that the most damaging information was always associated around an old land line phone number.

I just tried some old, and I mean real old land line numbers, and nothing is coming up at all.

I DID notice a relative who has been deceased for almost 15 years as a current contact with phone number! weird....and a very alive relative who would be an easy way for creditor to get to me.