How to get information on someone given what I already have
May 23, 2010 9:31 PM Subscribe
I have some information about someone; I want more. What's the best way to get it?
I know a person's name, birthdate, social security number, and an address that is 2-3 years old. I would like to have: educational background (high school and college), any arrests or convictions, a current address, and a photograph.
Assume my intentions are good. I do not intend to contact the person or use this information in any way except to satisfy my own curiosity.
I live in a different state than this person and have more time than money, but do have a little money to spend if I decide to follow up on this.
What is the best way to find the information I want?
I know a person's name, birthdate, social security number, and an address that is 2-3 years old. I would like to have: educational background (high school and college), any arrests or convictions, a current address, and a photograph.
Assume my intentions are good. I do not intend to contact the person or use this information in any way except to satisfy my own curiosity.
I live in a different state than this person and have more time than money, but do have a little money to spend if I decide to follow up on this.
What is the best way to find the information I want?
The best (cheapest and fastest) way might be to call information in the area to find a telephone number, then call the person and ask them. Why wouldn't that work?
posted by Houstonian at 9:58 PM on May 23, 2010
posted by Houstonian at 9:58 PM on May 23, 2010
Spokeo has much of that info gleaned from public records, but it's often inaccurate or outdated.
posted by slow graffiti at 10:02 PM on May 23, 2010
posted by slow graffiti at 10:02 PM on May 23, 2010
Response by poster: I know that what I want is public record. Court records might be simple enough, but the city this person is from has literally hundreds of high schools, for instance. Assume I am clever enough to have already checked Facebook and MySpace and to have googled this person. I don't really care about what high school the person attended, except that I thought knowing the high school might lead to photos.
As far as people search sites go, are any of them worth paying the fee? A "free" search claims that information has been found, but I would have to pay to access it. I wonder what people's experience with that has been.
Houstonian, since you ask: assume that I have legitimate reasons to want this information but that calling the person is not an option. I have ties to this person but opening up contact is not a good idea. There's no urgency about this but there may come a time in the future when it could be very useful for me to have this info, for the sake of someone I care about very much.
posted by not that girl at 10:14 PM on May 23, 2010
As far as people search sites go, are any of them worth paying the fee? A "free" search claims that information has been found, but I would have to pay to access it. I wonder what people's experience with that has been.
Houstonian, since you ask: assume that I have legitimate reasons to want this information but that calling the person is not an option. I have ties to this person but opening up contact is not a good idea. There's no urgency about this but there may come a time in the future when it could be very useful for me to have this info, for the sake of someone I care about very much.
posted by not that girl at 10:14 PM on May 23, 2010
You might try calling the city's public library and asking for help on looking up the public records. They're usually pretty well informaed about that kind of thing.
posted by hattifattener at 10:57 PM on May 23, 2010
posted by hattifattener at 10:57 PM on May 23, 2010
depending on the state you live in, legal records are available. if they received any traffic violations or other legal infractions, all of that is available on your state's website for free. as far as digital doppelganger, there is spokeo.com and pipl.com.
posted by penguingrl at 11:56 PM on May 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by penguingrl at 11:56 PM on May 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
I have done something similar in the past; searched for a person's info without bad intent. Here are some of the things I did:
Searched city/county court websites for arrests/convictions
Searched for their name slightly misspelled (person had an unusual last name)
Searched for their family members
posted by shino-boy at 9:37 AM on May 24, 2010
Searched city/county court websites for arrests/convictions
Searched for their name slightly misspelled (person had an unusual last name)
Searched for their family members
posted by shino-boy at 9:37 AM on May 24, 2010
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posted by MsKim at 9:43 PM on May 23, 2010