Have you ever seen one of those reality shows depicting a private investigator tracking down somebody who doesn’t want to be found? Such shows can be misleading in the sense that they make things look too easy. In reality, a lot goes into tracking down someone who is purposely trying the hide.
One of the most commonly used tools for doing so is a process known as skip tracing. Some people think of it as a science, but skip tracing is more of an art. There is no black-and-white formula to follow. There is no step-by-step process that guarantees an investigator will find his target every time.
Who Practices Skip Tracing
As a practice, skip tracing is not limited to any particular industry. It is used by a whole host of professionals to find people. Take private investigators. Skip tracing is indispensable in bringing all sorts of cases to a close. From catching cheating spouses to locating the heirs of it deceased client, an experienced investigator can leverage skip tracing effectively.
Here are three more types of professions that utilize skip tracing:
- Process Servers – Process servers are companies or individuals who serve legal papers as officers of the court. It is not unusual for those receiving the papers to make themselves scarce. Servers often need to rely on skip tracing to locate their targets.
- Bounty Hunters – Body hunters are individuals who make a living by tracking down criminal defendants who have posted bail but then failed to show up in court. More often than that, they go into hiding. But a good bounty hunter can use even the smallest clues to find his prey.
- Collection Agencies – Collection agencies routinely deal with people who go out of their way to avoid contact. These debtors either do not have the means to pay or simply refuse to do so. They may leave town in order to avoid payment. Skip tracing can help find them.
Judgment Collectors is a Utah collection agency that specializes in money judgment cases. They say they must rely on skip tracing to find judgment debtors who move away without providing forwarding information. It is imperative that such debtors be found because collection efforts cannot proceed as long as they remain missing.
Leaving to Stone Unturned
At this point, a curious mind would want to know how an investigator would go about practicing skip tracing. I will not reveal all the details here. There is no point giving away secrets that could help people looking to evade debt collection, court service, etc.
One thing I can say is that skip-tracing investigators leave no stone unturned in the search for absconders. They take advantage of every available source of public information. They also have access to private and proprietary databases capable of revealing more information than most people realize.
One example I can reveal is social media. As strange as it sounds, people leave behind a digital trail on their social media pages. An investigator can learn an awful lot about someone simply by scrutinizing social media posts, photographs, links, and even likes and dislikes. The crazy thing is that most people either don’t know how to lock their social media pages down or do not bother doing so. All their information is readily available to anyone wanting to look at it.
It’s Hard to Hide These Days
I mentioned social media because it demonstrates something that clearly works in favor of investigators: it is hard to hide in the digital age. The art of skip tracing can find virtually anyone thanks to a plethora of digital information.
