Finding people is part art, part science. We provide the science through data and tools to help in your searches.
Our
proprietary database engines combine data from hundreds of sources providing
the most comprehensive collection of information about people in the
This guide provides you with techniques to hone the "art" of searching. This helps you conduct effective and efficient searches. Effective searches return the information you need and efficiency reduces the cost of these searches.
Topics in this help are listed below:
First, try to locate the subject using one or more of the following search techniques:
A Social Security Number, if you have one, should be the first search you try as it yields the best results. On the Person Tab on the Find People screen, type in the Subject's SSN in the SSN field. It is not necessary to type the hyphens.
Even though SSNs are the most reliable identifier for an individual, they are not 100 percent dependable because some records may not contain a subject's SSN. Therefore, a record for an individual may not appear when searching using SSN only. Conducting a second search using Name and State provides additional coverage.
On the Person Tab within the People menu, type in the Subject's Last Name in the Last Name field, then CLICK on the Search button. If more records are returned than are practical to review, refine your search as described below.
On the Person Tab within the People menu, type in the Subject's full DOB and First Name, then CLICK on the Search button. If more records are returned than are practical to review, refine your search by adding a State, County, City and State, or Zip Code. A radius search can also be performed when the City and State or Zip Code are used in your search.
If you are unsure of the
exact city, supply the closest city and specify a radius (no more than 100
miles). This expands the area considered to a circle extending the specified
number of miles from the center of that city.
For an address search, the City and State fields are required, but no name
is required. If you do not include a name, the radius option is not allowed.
To search all houses on a street in a certain block, enter the block number
and an asterisk (*). For example, to search the 1200 block of
On the Person Tab within
the People menu, type a telephone number. You may search by a telephone number
with or without the area code. If you do not know the area code, you can search
using only the seven digit telephone number with or without the State.
When available, the search results may include the abbreviation for the Time
Zone corresponding to the phone number. This additional information is helpful
for pre-call planning.
The nine standard time zones for the United States are: Atlantic Standard
Time (AST), Eastern Standard Time (EST), Central Standard Time (CST), Mountain
Standard Time (MST), Pacific Standard Time (PST), Alaskan Standard Time (AKST),
Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time (HST), Samoa standard time (UTC-11), Chamorro
Standard Time (UTC+10).
From the second Sunday in March through the first Sunday in November abbreviations
for the areas on Daylight Saving Time will change in each time zone change
along with Daylight Saving Time. Eastern Standard Time (EST) becomes Eastern
Daylight Time (EDT), and so forth.
Adding criteria not already used, such as first name, middle name or initial, DOB, city, county, state, ZIP code, or age range, refines a search. The more criteria you provide the more precise (narrow) the results will be.
Keep in mind that some records may not contain a middle name or initial, so providing one could eliminate records you may want included.
If you are unsure of the subject's proper first name, try using a variation of the name. Accurint's intuitive automatic nickname feature will return results matching the subject's proper first name.
If you are unsure of the spelling of a person's name, try checking the Search for other possible name spellings box which will search for variations of the subject's name if no exact match is found.
A DOB
may be entered in several formats: mm/yyyy, mm/dd/yyyy, or yyyy alone.
For Example:
1). Month and Year: 04/1963
2). Month, Day and Year: 04/23/1963
3). Year Only: 1963
In the event that a Subject's complete DOB is unknown, searching by mm/yyyy
or yyyy format may prove helpful.
If you do not know a Subject's city but know the general vicinity, you can use the radius option. Enter a ZIP code or a nearby city and state and provide a radius (in miles) in the Radius field.
If your search returns the following message: Search completed. Too many records found. There was No Charge for this search, it means the search resulted in more than 1,000 records. Try narrowing the list of results by adding search criteria.
If a list of results is displayed but more records were returned than are practical to review, try narrowing the list of results by adding search criteria.
If your results are returned with a red "D" to the left of the subject's name, that subject has been reported deceased. Move your mouse over the "D" to view the date of death. For deaths reported since 2001, there may also be a "P" which would mean that proof, such as a death certificate, has been filed with the Social Security Administration or a "V" which would mean the death has been verified, usually by a family member.
If an address returned for your subject has a potential risk, we will display a yellow flag below the address with one or more of the following risk indicators:
If your search returns a long list of results, we recommend adding the following criteria, if known, in this order:
1. First Name or First Initial - If you are not sure of the entire first name, type an initial or the first few letters in the First Name field. If you are not sure of the subject's proper name, try using a variation of the name.
2. State - Entering a state narrows the results to subjects living in that state.
3. City - Entering a city, in addition to the state, further narrows the results to subjects living in the specified city and state.
4. County- Entering a county and state, further narrows the results to subjects living in the specified county. If you just enter the county name, the results will include subjects living in the requested county for all states.
5. Middle Name or Initial - If your results return multiple listings with the same first and last name, add the Subject's middle name or initial. Remember that some records do not contain middle names or initials and will be excluded.
If too few or no results are returned, loosen the criteria by removing the most precise or uncertain criteria (e.g., middle name or initial, date of birth, city).
Identify the number of unique persons by examining the SSNs. For each individual, examine their records to determine if the displayed age, geographic regions, middle name or initial, or first name fit what is known about the Subject. CLICK on the SSN of an individual you believe to be the Subject to get the optimal set of results including their current most probable address and phone number.
·
Displaying Report Sections: You can expand and collapse sections
from within a report by clicking the appropriate links (+/-), and all sections
can be expanded or collapsed by clicking Expand/Collapse All links which are available below the subject information.
·
Comprehensive Person Report Printing:
Please note that sections of the Comprehensive Person Report can be printed
by clicking the print icon that appears to the right of each section heading. Also note that hovering your mouse over the
section content (or print icon) will highlight that section of the report
so that you can more easily see what you are targeting for print.
Government/Law Enforcement customers frequently question the credibility of data they are analyzing. They have expressed that the more frequent a data item shows up in a resulting search, the more credibility is assigned to it. Source Documents feature is designed to address this interest by generating a list of sources, number of hits, and timeframe to give the end users a gauge of what level of credibility they want to assign to a result. Based on the source information they will be in a better position to direct their investigation by making more informed decisions as it relates to following up on tips and leads and conducting investigations.
Source Documents information for individuals is obtainable after a Person Search or Advanced Person Search. There is a *View Source link under the Full Name on the search results page. A number, which indicates the approximate number of unique data sources used for this record, is placed by the right side of the link.
Clicking the *View Source link leads to a pop-up box with source documents summary.
Only one pop-up
box is displayed at one time. The box closes automatically when you click the
*View Source link for another subject.
You can do one or all of the followings from the source documents summary box.
on top right
to print the source information summary.
to close the pop-up
source information summary box. after clicking
the plus sign(s) to print the full or partial source details. to close the pop-up
source details box.The following is a list of components included in the Source Documents for individuals:
Note: Depending on the subjects, not all the components may be present. For example, if a person never owns a phone number, the Phone information may be missing.
The list below is the Source Documents information available for each of the components above:
The system utilizes more than 50 data sources, most of which are spelled out for you. For example, Tax Assessor Records. A few are masked per contractual agreements.
After the initial search, you can order reports or search deeper by clicking the name, SSN, address, or phone links.
Ordering Reports
There will be various icons to the left and/or right of a record. You can order different reports by clicking those icons. For more information on the icons please reference the Icon Legend section.
Non-SSN searches do not always return all records associated with the Subject. In order to ensure all records for the Subject are returned, you must identify at least one record that has a high level of confidence to be the Subject's record (see "Find a Subject in the Displayed List"). CLICK on that record's SSN link to return the optimal results; that is, all records associated with the Subject including the current address and telephone number.
If a subject is found but has no blue check mark to indicate the most likely current address, you can try to find a subject through associates, landlords, relatives, or neighbors. Initiate a Report for the Subject by CLICKing on the Run a Report icon on the left-hand side and following the prompts. When a report is generated, scroll down to find the relevant individuals.
You can enter a known address in the search fields or CLICK on the address in a result list or Comprehensive Report to display all the people who live at an address.
This can also help identify
mail drop addresses because it should show the name of a business that provides
mailboxes.
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Reports - This icon can be found on the far left of the search results. Click here to run the following reports: Asset, Finder, Comprehensive, Custom Comprehensive and Pre-Litigation. |
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Finder Report - This icon can be found on the far left of the search results. If you wish to create a Finder Report for any record, click this icon |
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Probable Current Address - This icon is found to the immediate left of the Address column when the data indicates that this is the probable current address. |
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Relavint - This icon can be found in the Asset, Finder, Comprehensive, Custom Comprehensive, Pre-Litigation and Business Comprehensive reports and allows you to visualize relationships between people and their relatives, associates, vehicles, property, and businesses. |
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Court Search Ordering Wizard - This icon can be found to the left of the search results. If you wish to run the Court Search Ordering Wizard for any record, click this icon. |
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Person Alerts - This icon can be found on the far left of the search results. If you wish to set up a Person Alert for any record, click this icon. |
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Motor Vehicle Search - This icon can be found on the right of the search results. It is displayed if the subject owns motor vehicles. Click this icon to search for the related information. |
