If you’ve ever had to track down someone who didn’t want to be found, you’ve probably at least heard of skip tracing. Skip tracing is a collection of techniques used to find individuals that cannot be located via typical means, for whatever reason, but it is usually so that they can be served with legal paperwork known as process. By efficiently locating elusive individuals, agencies like Accurate Serve of Charlotte helps streamline the justice system and stop cases from becoming backlogged on the court schedule. In this post, we’ll go over some of the most popular skip-tracing techniques we use here in the Carolinas.
What is Skip Tracing?
Skip tracing is the process of scouring over public and private records to attempt to track down someone who cannot otherwise be located. Process servers, law enforcement, debtors and banks, property management companies, and more all rely on skip tracing in the course of their businesses.
Popular Skip Tracing Techniques
Public Records Search
Public records is often the first place a person conducting a skip trace will look. These records include court filings, real estate transactions, voter records, government agency records, and more. All of these records can provide vital information about a person’s whereabouts and recent affairs. They can also shed light on who is associated with the person being tracked down, giving the skip tracer more clues and potential addresses to visit.
Credit Bureau Data
While a credit bureau records pull on a person requires a signed release under the FCRA unless ordered by a court, if the skip tracer can access these records then they’ll have a unique insight into the elusive individual’s financial history. While some people can hide from public records, they are rarely able to avoid having some sort of credit or banking history.
Social Media & Internet Presence
In addition to the wealth of information available in public records, the digital age has also made another form of public record readily available to skip tracers…social media. Through platforms like Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Reddit, YouTube, and more, skip tracers can create a timeline of a person’s online presence that will often yield clues as to their current whereabouts. For example, a person may have location services enabled for their public posts, allowing anyone with an internet connection to see where they were when the post was made. More than one elusive person has been found this way.
Collaboration with Legal Entities
Skip tracers maintain great relationships with other legal entities, such as local law enforcement, local attorneys, process servers, and other skip tracers. By forming this network, the skip tracer will receive news and information that isn’t necessarily made available publicly. This can help the skip tracer locate their targets but also help them make sure they’re operating within the bounds of all applicable laws.
Trust Accurate Serve of Charlotte for Your Legal Support Needs
Skip tracing seems like a simple concept, but is actually much more complex than most people think. This multifaceted process requires knowledge of various sources of information and also all relevant federal, state, and local laws. If you need to find someone in North or South Carolina and have had no luck so far, contact Accurate Serve of Charlotte at 704-858-2952 or send us a work request for skip tracing services online.
