The days of personal privacy being a guarantee have been gone for close to a decade now. If you want to keep your information private, you have to deliberately go out of your way to protect your personal life. For many, this is a terrifying reality, particularly if you don\u2019t know how to minimize your digital footprint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you are looking for someone, however, you are in an age where a person can be located in a matter of minutes with nothing more than a name. We strongly suggest you do not take advantage of this to stalk, harass, or intimidate people you know, as there can be very serious legal consequences for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you want peace of mind on a new person in your life, or you want to know more about who you are doing business with, then we can help. This article will comprehensively cover how to find information on someone and how to protect your own privacy should you be concerned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thanks to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA<\/a>), you are legally allowed to look through publicly available records about a person without their written consent. This does not mean you will pull up a comprehensive background report, but you can get very close. You also cannot use records to determine eligibility for employment, renting an apartment, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is best to learn the guidelines<\/a> of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA<\/a>) before you commit to using public search databases to ensure you are above board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A people search engine<\/a> allows you to scour through massive public databases to pull any relevant information related to the details you entered. For the most basic search, a person search\/lookup, you will enter the name and general location of an individual, and give the search engine a few minutes to pull results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Always be skeptical when using people search engines, as several have pop-ups, malware, and less-than-stellar reviews that will make you think twice about giving them your credit card info. Stick to trusted names like US People Search or other trusted businesses to make certain that you are not sharing sensitive financial information with scammers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once the search has been completed, it will pull from a list of people that matched the name and location of the person you entered. If you entered a fairly common name in a place like Baltimore, you may have to look through a few pages of results. Conversely, for those with unique names or people in remote areas, the results can be incredibly specific.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While every people search engine will be different, ours offers a wealth of detail surrounding a person with little required from you. A typical people lookup will bring back a person’s birth records, criminal records, whether they are in the sex offense registry, social and dating profiles, and much, much more. This information can be used in further searches later on as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you are concerned about your own information being accessed, refer to our guide<\/a> to remove your personal data. We omitted private investigators as they are very expensive and likely an idea you have already thought of, but it is worth considering if these solutions do not give you what you need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you only have a number to go by, it can feel like you are swimming against the stream, trying to find any relevant details. Putting a number into a Google search will rarely yield relevant results, and there is no guarantee that the phone number is attached to a social media profile. Because of this, we highly recommend using a reverse phone lookup for the best outcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reverse phone lookups are simple: you enter the individual’s number, and you click the search button. The system will run through a list of databases and bring back anyone who has ever been publicly registered to that cell number. Pick the name or city that is a match, and get more information than you ever thought possible from a cell phone number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The last tool of a people search engine, address lookups are useful tools that can tell you exactly who lived in a residence. If you are concerned about the history of a home you recently rented or purchased, or only have a specific location to go off of, the address lookup tool can be invaluable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Enter the street details, as well as the city and state, and then allow a few minutes for the search to compile results. Once it has, you can get a fairly detailed list of the people who legally owned the property, as well as anyone who listed it publicly as a primary address. For obvious reasons, we should reiterate that you legally can not use this tool to spy on or harass people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you want to keep your information private, you should get rid of social media or severely restrict what information goes public. If you want to find information on someone, regrettably, social media is one of the best places to look. While it is easy to understand why people aren\u2019t overly concerned with their information being out there, it can reveal more than you think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n People will regularly leave GPS pins of places they are, have been, or will be on social media posts and updates. They will tag their personal phone to their public profile, even listing their place of employment down to the individual location. They will show you their family, friends, favorite places to socialize, and reveal shockingly intimate details of their personal lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Naturally, you can use this to your benefit if you need more information on a person. If you do not know the person well, you should tread very carefully here. While it is okay to try to get an idea of who a person is, you should never use this information to monitor someone or cyberstalk them. These are not moral instructions, but legal guidelines<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Try entering their full name or phone number into the search bar if you have it. Depending on their privacy settings, one or both will yield the profile you are looking for. This is where you may need a bit of luck, as a more reserved person will likely keep most details hidden from strangers and reserved for those they are friends with or following back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Consider adding them as a friend to learn more, and if you feel uncomfortable asking for a friend request, you may want to settle for the information you have or try other social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some people will be tight-lipped about their personal lives. However, if they have a public-facing career, they will have a wealth of information on their LinkedIn. Try to look through alternative social media if you don\u2019t find any results on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Instagram. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you know a person has served, then it is always worthwhile to look through military records. These can be accessed in the National Archives<\/a>, though you will need to be next of kin or a veteran yourself to access this information. These records go back well over a century and are exhaustive, though they may be difficult for certain individuals.<\/p>\n\n\n\nPeople Search Engine<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Reverse Phone Lookup<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Address Lookup<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Social Media<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Check Public Records (Military, Sex Offense Registry, Criminal, etc.)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n