Write down all the vital
information you know about
this person. Trying to find
somebody using their name alone
will probably cast too wide a net.
Make your hunt more targeted by
including information such as:
Full name and nickname
Age and date of birth
Schools attended
Hobbies, likes and dislikes,
team sports (especially at
schools)
Places of work
Old addresses and phone
numbers
Friends, family members,
and neighbors
Search for variations on the
person’s name and/or
nickname. Every time you find a
page or clue that suggests other
parts of the profile, write it down
in the profile. For example, you
might find "Bea Harrington"
mentioned in a newspaper in
Albany, NY and a “Beatrice R.
Harrington” in a brochure in
Dallas, TX. Write down both of
those locations in the profile with
question marks. If you find
another indication that the
person with that name is in one
of those locations, put a tick next
to that location every time.
To pull up exact matches
only, put quotation marks
around each version of their
name. (If you’re unsure as
to spelling, don’t use
quotation marks.) Plug it
into major search engines
(Google, Yahoo, etc.); the
more variations and engines
you try, the more info
you're likely to find.
If you suspect that the
person has gone to another
country, especially one
where a different language
is spoken, try a foreign
search engine. Many major
search engines have
different versions for
different countries
(Australia, China, etc.). Try
those.
When searching for a woman
who might have gotten
married and changed her
name, try adding "né" in the
search box with every
variation (née is a word used
to indicate that the person
is using their maiden name)
Vary your online searches by
including other details about
the person. After you’ve done a
full sweep on the person’s name
and nickname, do a second with a
slight modification such as their
hometown, age, high school,
former workplace, etc. Repeat as
necessary.
If you know of a particular
website this person may be
associated with, you can
search within the site on
Google with something like
"site: stanford.edu Beatrice
Harrington" to focus on
those results.
Use a search engine designed
specifically to find people.
These allow anyone to perform
people searches. Try
ZabaSearch.com or Pipl.com, for
example. Use filters to narrow
your results when applicable.
Lost Trekkers is another
place to find lost people.
Choose the country, mode of
transport or other option,
and leave the details in the
relevant forum. You will need
to register to place an ad.
You can search through
existing posts to see who
might be looking for you or
the same person you're
looking for.
Search for the person’s last
known cell phone number.
Since cells are mobile and their
numbers can be transferred to
new phones or providers, people’s
cell numbers are much less likely
to change them their home
numbers. Though reverse-tracking
a cell phone number usually costs
money, you might get lucky by
simply searching for the number
on various search engines. If the
person has listed or advertised
their phone number anywhere on
the Internet, it's likely to turn up.
Put the entire phone number in
quotes and experiment with
hyphens, periods, and parentheses
to separate the numbers.
In the US, a phone’s three-
digit area code can be
traced back the location
where a cell phone was
issued, which might help you
pinpoint another area where
the person has lived or
worked. The next three digits
of the number are the
exchange area; most
exchange areas cover a small
town, or a section inside a
city, say a 10 x 10 block
area. You can contact the
phone companies in that
area, or get a phone book
from the area, and make a
map of the exchange area,
based on like exchanges in
the book. If you have a
phone number and ZIP code,
you can cross over the maps
and get an even smaller
area to search.
Search social networking
sites. Some people specify
that they don’t want their public
profiles to appear in search
engine results, in which case you’ll
need to go straight to the source.
Try searching things like Myspace,
Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google
profiles. If given the option, be
sure to narrow down the results
by specifying a hometown or
school, etc. To search all the
major social networking sites
simultaneously, use a search
engine like Wink.com.
