Before hiring a private investigator to find a lost or missing loved one, consider performing a basic search operation on your own first. If you get the results you want, great, but if you don’t, whatever data you come up with will still be of use to the private investigator you’ll hire to help you out.

Skip Tracing
Anyone can learn the basics of skip tracing. The skills for skip tracing are simple and time and diligence is all you need to hone them. Skip tracing is not only used for finding missing people, whether they’re living or deceased. Skip tracing can also be used to unearth falsified accounts and recover lost or stolen money and other assets.

Skip Categories
“Skip” is the colloquial term used for the object of your search. In skip tracing, the first thing you have to do is categorize the skip by determining the most probable reason for his absence. There are two kinds of skips: intentional and unintentional.

Unintentional Skips
There are often unfortunate reasons behind unintentional skips. An unintentional skip could be the result of kidnapping or a serious accident. These people had no particular reason to disappear and because of that, they are more easily traceable as they won’t have any motive or desire to cover their tracks and conceal their location.

Intentional Skip
An intentional skip is someone who has deliberately gone missing for whatever reason. This person will, if he’s knowledgeable and skilled enough, do whatever he can to cover his tracks and prevent other people from following him.

In most cases, intentional skips are running away from the law. They may not be willing to take the leap and change their identity entirely, but they’re determined enough to stay missing to the extent of removing any means for other people to keep in touch with them.

If you are after an intentional skip, the most you can do is be constantly alert for clues and hope that the person will accidentally give you a lead.

Aliases
Think of names that the person might use as his alias. Married names may also be changed to a person’s maiden name or vice versa.

Last Known, Last Seen
Make inquiries in the person’s last known address and workplace.

Identifier
These are pertinent information that distinguishes the intentional skip from everyone else. This includes but isn’t limited to the person’s date of birth, social security number, and drivers license number.

If none of your efforts yield results then it’s time to hire a private investigator and find the person you’re looking for before anything untoward may happen.

image credits to sxc.hu

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