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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Posts
    12

    Default Looking for Lost Family Members

    I have a question. I am looking for some family members that I have lost contact with who reside in Sotuh Carolina and New York City. I have been searching and everytime I find something on the person(s) that I am looking for it takes me to some site such as intelius and wants some form of payment to get more information on the person(s) that I am trying to contact. I know its them but I wanted to know if anyone had any experience with this website and if anyone knows of any websites that are legit (not scams) and do not have outdated information that will provide me with the information (phone numbers in particular) for the family members that I am looking for. Has anyone had experiences with these websites? I do not mind paying if I have to, I just want to pay for something that is legit.

    I have tried whitepages.com yellowpages.com etc... they all keep leading me to paying websites.

    I am just searching for their phone numbers and possibly addresses. Can someone please help me?

    Thanks

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Toledo, OH
    Posts
    14,583

    Default Re: Looking for Lost Family Members

    I've had occasion to use Intellius and have found them fast and professional.

    They're not a scam, but rather, a well recognized information broker.

    You might consider checking ZabaSearch to see if what you want is available for free, though.
    I'm not a lawyer, but I play a researcher on the internet!
    Caution: I bite. WARNING: Do not send questions or complaints by PM. I'm likely to post them publicly and embarrass you half to death.
    I'm training for the MS Society's Bike to the Bay - and blogging about it!

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Posts
    12

    Default Re: Looking for Lost Family Members

    Thanks for responding I really appreciate it. I have tried Zabbasearch already. I have tried every free search I have ever heard of. All of them either do not have numbers or if they "claim" they have information then they require payments. I have heard many stories, which is why I wanted to know of someone who has you intelius or ussearch or one of these sites and have found them reliable with finding updated information on family members.

    I have written to one of the people I have been looking for lately, all I found on him was a PO BOX so I took my chances and decided to write. I am not sure if it the PO BOX is still active. I has been like one and a half weeks already so I am not sure what to expect in these few weeks. However if my luck goes bad on this one I have one more free way before trying the paying sites. I am going to call every single person with the last name of my family members on that side of my family that lives in the States SC and NY. If none of them happens to know or be my family members then I have to pay for any information I am looking for. I just want to make sure I am getting updated information.

    One more thing I have been noticing. I found public phone number for one of my cousins but when I call it is out of service. Are all the numbers listed in the whitepages and other sites out of service? There was someone elses number that I had well a different person and all of those numbers were out of service, when I found a different number on Zabbasearch just now, that number was out of service too. I have also found another phone number for a different person in SC and that number was out of service. Is this some type of pattern with the unreliability of all of the free people searches?

    I know they have different packages which ones did you use to get the phone numbers? And what if numbers are private?


    Thanks

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Dauphin County, PA
    Posts
    439

    Default Re: Looking for Lost Family Members

    Using a free service will always most likely try to get you to pay for some part of the service no matter what.

    I have heard bad reports on Intelius and USsearch both have been about how the company will take your money and not provide anything, or they will continously charge you even after the initial payment is made.

    Net Detective is another bad one as well.

    There may a lot of different reasons as to why you're getting numbers for disconnected lines, some may be that your friends have changed their phone numbers or possibly moved or it simply wasn't there number to start with.

    Since you've tried just about all the free services out there and haven't been getting any hits obviously that's not working out. If you do decide to go with a pay company make sure you check them out before doing so. Go to ripoffreport.com and type in the company name or even try [a] site for reviews of best pay sites.[]

    Another last resort you might want to try is if you know of the area/county in which they live or any of their family members live see if you can order a phone book for that region.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Louisville, KY
    Posts
    1,157

    Default Re: Looking for Lost Family Members

    have you tried anywho.com? It's generally more helpful to me than the other free searches.

    Good luck.
    ~Christina

    Unless a source is cited, anything posted here by me is only my opinion, and is not meant as legal advice.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Posts
    12

    Default Re: Looking for Lost Family Members

    Hi there, ummm I have also tried anywho.com. It does not bring me anything. Not even the names of the people I am looking for. I am not sure whatelse to do. Hire a PI? But that is going to cost me a good amount of money that I don't have at all. Its like I am afraid to pay for services because I have heard a lot of complaints about those sites too. I have heard that they have outdated information. They keep soliciting you to buy more stuff. They continue with the bait and switch. Does anyone have anyother suggestions besides free searches that lead me to paying websites? If it is a paying website where I can run a background check or try to get an address or a phone number (mostly a current phone number is all that I need), I would try it as long as its legit.

    edited to add: If this does lead to searching for a private investigator, does anyone know of a really good one that is not too expensive well that can give me a flat rate for finding the phone numbers and only the phone numbers that I need. Truth be told all I need is one of their phone numbers. Does anyone have any information on this?

    Meanwhile I will prepare myself this weekend to call everyone with that last name in New York City, and I guess its Cowpens or Charleston south carolina.

    Thanks so much

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Tennessee
    Posts
    1

    Default Re: Looking for Lost Family Members

    I am a licensed Private Investigator.
    Looking for a person/people by using regular internet databases/sites will generally end up with mass frustration.
    Private Investigators have access to databases that can only be used by P.I.’s, skiptracers, law enforcement, insurance companies etc.
    Sometimes we can gather the needed info from the free sites, but if we exhaust those, then we move on to our member databases.
    A lot of the free sites will just jerk you around, and will leave you feeling frustrated. I have personally looked into every free site, and I have a list of the ones that work decently. (No, im not trying to sell you a list.
    Often, we will find some data on the free sites, then other on the pay sites. Generally, usually of our resources, we find what we are looking for.

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