Attention Private Investigators "The Dossiers They Keep On You"

Connecticut Hacker Newsgroup - Issue 8

eZine lover (@eZine)

Published in 

Connecticut Hacker Newsgroup

 · 2 years ago

by -Q-

Foreword

This article deals with the field of information and records, or to put it more accurately; "DOSSIERS". I do not want to get into a whole 1,000 page discussion about this, and believe me, I could. The field of records, and dossier information is enormous. They say that in the United States... Their is almost more dossier info kept on you, than in all the books and magazines in libraries across america!

Rather, I'll just get to the "meat of the matter":

• What information they have on you?
• Where you can get it?
• What are the major database companies?
• What do they charge to let you access records?
• Who do they let access records?
• Whats in the records?
• Do these companies violate ethical standards, or do they give out private info that is illegal to disclose?
• Who regulates these companies?

WHAT INFORMATION CAN BE EASILY OBTAINED LEGALLY or ILLEGALLY?

• Social Security Numbers
• Date of Birth Records
• Death Records
• Change Of Name Records (Did you change your name to get away from "mafia hitmen"? Well, they can find you quite easily!)
• Marriage Records
• Divorce Records
• Arrest Records (even if you were never ever convicted, even if the case was droopped 2 minutes after you were arrested, even if somebody else was convicted and you were totally cleared an innocent, you are STILL guilty in the eyes of virtually everyone!)
• Conviction Criminal Records (state or federal) sealed or unsealed felony or midemeanor
• Warrants of Arrest (Do you have any warrants of arrest out on you?)
• Order of Protection (Are you ordered to stay away from somebody?)
• Probation Records (Are you under probation, or under the current "Megans Law" are you a rapist who is supposed to register himself everywhere he lives?)
• Tax Records
• Property Tax Records
• Utility Bill Records
• Current Address
• Drivers License Information
• Car Insurance Records. (What you pay? What you drive?)
• U.S. Postal Service Forwarding Address Records
• U.S. Postal Service PO BOX Records (Who owns them? Their address?)
• Magazines or Newsletters that you are the owner of. (Postal Records)
• Bulk Mail Permit records (US Postal Service)
• Magazines that your subscribe to
• Books that you owe at the library
• Junk Mail/Catalogs that you get.
• Credit Card Records (What cards you have? What the #'s are? What you owe?)
• Credit Records (What you have payed, what you havent, who you owe money to. This is the most extensive and damaging information of all)
• Bank Records (How much you have? What kinds of accounts? Your confidential checking/savings account numbers)
• MVR Reports
• Mental Health Records (Were you ever an insane schizophrenic?)
• Military Records (Your Discharge Type. What branch and rating (job) you were? Dates of Enlistent? Reasons for Discharge can also be obtained, but thats difficult)
• Hospital Records (were you ever in a hospital? Which? For what? Did you pay your bill? What tests did you have?)
• Your Telephone Number (criss-cross directories can find exactly where you live by just a partial name)
• Unlisted Phone Numbers- (Unlisted phone numbers mean nothing!)
• TAG & VIN Traces (You can be tracked down by your license plate or by the VIN number on your windshield)
• License Plates (Your name and address can be found by doing a license plate search)
• Driving Records (have you been speeding alot? Violating Traffic Laws? The DMV has publicly available records of your crimes)
• Social Security (Do you have a phony social security number? well it can be traced)
• Illegal Aliens Beware (are you an illegal immigrant? Well, beware because INS has a public accessible database)
• Government Jobs (Have you ever had a government job? Detailed dossiers are kept on some civil employees)
• Civil Court Settlements (have you ever sued somebody? Ever been sued? well your case is public domain info!)
• Compensation (Have you ever been awarded workers compensation your award and complaint is public record)
• Auto Insurane Fraud (are you a scam artist who ripps off insurance companies by faking injuries and suing? The insurane companies have a special database!)
• Property Asset Searches (Do you own a property somewhere? you can be hunted down through these records!)
• Hidden Assets (are you hiding assets, t-bills, bonds, stocks, do you have "off-shore" bank accounts, "swiss bank" accounts, your assets and YOU can be found!)
• College Records (Dont even think of lying on your job resume!! college records are almost public domain, free for the asking. College officials are very lax and nieve about giving out this info to anyone. GRADES..Not even your grades (GPA) are safe. What classes did you take? No problem..)
• School Records THIS IS THE MOST SHOCKING INFO OF ALL TIME!! (let me put it this way, I can tell you shit, about school records that would make you want to die.. If you want to know the REAL truth, just ask me, and I'll write a separate article You thought those talks with the school guidance counselor were private... Hell no!! Check your school record. ITS IN THEIR.. And by law, the school has to let you see your record)
• Watching TV. (What do you watch on TV in the privacy of your own home. What do you mean? Their is NO privacy. These new boxes can tell the cable company EXACTLY what your watching, and when, and guess what! The cable company sells that information to mailing list vendors. Have you ever wondered why you suddenly started getting free trial issues of "Hooters" or "S&M" Magazine? probably cause you watch Playboy alot, and the cable company put your name on the appropriate mailing list!)
• DOSSIERS (Are you a member of any subversive groups? Been making lots of trips to the USSR, Germany, China, Columbia. The FBI may very well just have a file on you, and this is hardly a joke. Have you ever threatended the president in public on the Internet? Your name is in a Secret Service (Dossier!)
• Professional Certification (Dont even think of lying on your resume by claiming that your a member of various professional trade associations, or that you received "certification".)
• Business Conduct (Has a busines been ripping you off, have you been ripping other people off by using various cons, and scams? EVEN IF, your scams are legal, your business's name will still go into the files of the Better Business Bureau.)
• Bankruptcy (Ever been bankrupt? Well, its all in the records.)
• Catalogs (Do you order alot of catalogs? Well your name is most likely on dozens of mailing lists (if not hundreds). This DOESNT just mean that you'll be getting lots of junk mail. It also means that ANYONE can hunt you down.)
• Employment (Where have you worked in the past? All public records! You can be tracked down in a dozen different ways.)
• (Find out if a person actually worked, where he claimed? Find this persons address from his work records! Find the employers address/phone through various records.)
• Licenses (Do you have some kind of license? Be it, federal or (state? It can be checked, and you can be tracked down. Business licenses, motor vehicle licenses, pilot licenses).
• Evictions (Have you ever been evicted by a scumbag landlord that wanted to jack your rent up 1,000 percent, and kicked you out cause you refused to give into his madness... Well the scumbags from the real estate companies, as well as many major apartment complexes, have a wonderflly scummy database that gets kept on you, your personality, your payment records, relatives, and family that you have, etc..)
• Voter Registration (Are you registered to vote? Guess what, your entire life, and political affiliation is publicly available and is sold to anyone who wants all of these names!)
• Starting a Business (wether your starting a new business, getting permits or licenses for your business, or if your getting Workers Comp for your employees, or if you filed an "Articles of Incorporation" to make your business a Corp, then you CAN be tracked down.)

WHERE CAN YOU GET INFORMATION FOR FREE? (or by yourself)

FOIA

Freedom of Information Act was created by the government to allow private individuals to access government held records so long as they are not classified. To submit an FOIA you must contact the FBI in your local area, and send in a written submission. You should get a good manual, or book on submitting FOIA forms before you do so. In general FOIA's are free so long as the information is deemed to be of public interest. If you are digging up a criminal record on yourself, then you must pay a small fee. With an FOIA search you can get information on almost anything! This pertains to government projects, government agencies, govt statistics or crime statistics, government expenditures, as well as information about arrests. You can dig up information about terrorist groups, or assassins, or known "subversive" groups. Basically, if you can think of a topic of interest, you can do an FOIA on it.

You must however properly submit the FOIA for proper results... The FBI takes your request very literally, and they will only give you what you directly ask for, meaning they'll ive you as little information as they can get away with. When wording your FOIA it is best to be very elaborate stating exactly what you want, and also ask for related information that you didntlist, and also ask for other similar cases, groups or events, etc.. Basically you want to word your FOIA request so that you can suck as much information from the FBI as possible. Classified documents will be provided but the information will all be crossed out with black ink in the appropriate areas. Proprietary information to companies will also be blacked out.

FOIA's usually have a return time of 2- 12 weeks. If your FOIA is not handled or processed in a timely manner (especially if its a small FOIA request) then you must write the the FBI and even call to complain (several times!).

DMV Records

DMV records are public information in 49 of the 50 states. It i yours for the asking and their is usually a $10 - $15 processing fee.. Most states cannot provide instant record rerieval and theirs usually a 1 day turn around time. DMV searches will let you check if a person has a license, their address, and phone number, as well as their criminal driving infractions. California currently has a privacy law where a citizen can request that their home address be witheld from the records. This having to due mostly with the fact that California has alot of "Hollywood Actors/Stars". Many times obsessed nutcase fans have tracked actresses down by checking DMV records. In one case a fan actually stalked and killed an actress. However in CA most people dont even know that they can have their address kept private so it does little good.

Court Records

Your criminal as well as civil records are all public domain information. If you have ever been sued for any purpose, if you have ever filed for bankruptcy, if you have ever sued anyone else, or if youeve ever been convicted of either a federal or state crime, wether it be a misdemeanor or felony, or wether the record be sealed or not... it can all be gooten for FREE.. You need only go to the courthouse, and search the archives. Actually you should check the rules in your area on who to contact.

Town Records

If you own any property, if you pay property taxes, if you have a pool or a deck, or a barn on your propertym if you've added an extension to your house, if you've converted your garage into a new room, or basement, etc.. all of this information is in the town records, and can be gotten by any snoop. Even the layout or plans to your house can be gotten!! Friggin wonderfull information for a burgular to have isnt it? A burgular/thief/scumbag can get the blueprints to your house so he knows just how to break in, where to go, etc.. Same with your business.

IRS Tax Records

if your a public official (or even if your not!) your tax records can be gotten along with the most personal information that you can imagine! Technically, only public officials records are supposed to be public, but its possible to get the IRS records of ordinary people.

Newspaper Archives

Newpspapers keep archives and spare copies of all of their papers since the paper began. usually this information is kept in paper format in a vault, but nowadays, the archives are usually electronic based, and can be publicly searched by a computer. Newspapers used to keep newpaper articles on Microfiche filme before computers became popular. You can get info on all kinds of stuff (mostly people) from newspaper archives. You can search birth and death records, wedding announcments, criminal articles. Andy Warhol once said that "everyone is famous for at least 15 minutes in their lifetime"... maybe your target has been arrested once, or has been in the paper for something (not necessarily bad).

Libraries

Libraries usually have microfiche with the newspaper archives for the past 4-6 years.

Government

The government can provide you with unlimited sources of information for investigation. FOIA is the main method, but their are other more detailed methods, but I wont elaborate on this. basically, all you need do, is to contact the appropriate agency that your looking to obtain information from, and they will usually help you out.

Investigate

The last method of free investigation is to simply do things for yourself. Nothing can take the place of a competent professional but, it is a waste of money to have a PI investigate something that you can do yourself merely by doing an FOIA, or by going to the library, or making a call.. Basically, all you need to do is follow your leads to the source. Dont be afraid to call people, to check their references, to check their past employment history, to search the library microfiche newspaper files, etc.. Even by contacting the appropriate government or state entities like the DMV (Department of Motor vehicles) you can save yourself several hundred dollars in detectives record search fees.

WHAT ARE THE MAJOR DATABASE COMPANIES?

Their are 3 general types of companies that provide information:

1. SuperDatabases - A super database is humongous company that keeps billions of records, but in 1 single specific area. TRW is an example of the aforementioned. They are the largest collector/supplier of Credit Information in the entire world. Their are 5 main companies that supply Credit information, another is Equifax (I believe) and their almost as big as TRW Corp.. NCI is also among the "Big-3 credit corps" SuperDatabases DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES have to supply "only" credit information.. Anything that could be considered information, can be archived and extracted from these companies for a fee. An example is DIALOG CORP. This company is the absolute largest supplier of information, on this entire planet. This company has quite possibly several million TeraBytes of information stored (which is 5 times more than all the information stored in all the libraries in the world). You can call DIALOG up, pay them the fee, and research any single topic your heart desires, and within a matter of minutes/hours, you will get an answer back. Just as a small example, DIALOG has every single newspaper article for the past 30 years, they have every single Internet Newsgroup stored in memory, they have lists of thousands of magazines, and associations, they have every single politicians name in the United States history, they have politicians names for the leaders of any other country (AND their relatives).. Basically, if you can think of something, then DIALOG can get an answer for you.
2. SuperMarkets - A supermarket is very much as the name implies. They are big places, where you can get a variety of information. SuperMarket companies usually have access to several SuperDatabases. This allows you to do a very wide variety of searches without having to pay the outrageous rates that the SuperDatabase companies usually charge. Most PI's are hooked up with SuperMarkets like Datafax. SuperMarkets, keep in mind, are NOT actual databases. Rather SuperMarkets are just "gateways" to the SuperDatabase companies.
3. 7-11's - 7-11's are basically similar to SuperMarkets. You can look up a variety of BASIC information such as credit records, criminal histories, etc.. for a very reasonable price. You dont have nearly as good a selection as to the kinds of information that you get with a SuperMarket, but the prices make it reasonable for a private individual to have an account with a 7-11 type system. In fact alot of 7-11 type systems, will let you do a "single one-time-search".. As opposed to the databases which bind you to a year long contract costing $$$.
   

------ Super Databases ------
TRW - This company really needs no introduction. TRW is the largest holder of credit information in the United States (or in the world for that matter). Of course they also are the greatest providers of false information, and soely responsible for toally and falsely fucking up the credit of hundreds of thoisands of innocent persons in america. And TRW is also the least willing of all the credit agencies to fix erroneous reprts.

Equifax - Another of the major credit collection companies

[Author note: I really am not too familiar with all of the 5 major credit agencies. If you know the names of some others besides TRW I'd appreciate if you could e-mail me with that info. ]

Dialog - Dialog was described above. Dialog doesn't really have dossier information per se, its not all that usefull for private investigators, but its indispensible for the professional writer, or journalist who needs to research a subject. DIALOG has the largest database in the entire world.

------- Super Markets -------
NCI - National Credit Information network used to be one of the big Credit companies, but has expanded into an all purpose information collection company. They access over 300 million credit records, 12 million business profiles, forewarding address postal records, criss-cross telephone directories, social security tracing, and surname tracing (track a person down with only their last name!) Aliases you use, employment history, address, phone number, marital status, you name it, NCI can get it. NCI also offers drivers license records with driving infractions (this has a 1 day turn-around time to access), plus 1 million record telephone criss-cross directory. NCI has a 800 toll free access number to their computer system, and they charge $700 per year to access their system, plus $10 monthly. and a very small fee for each search. This company is a REAL BARGAIN! This company is pretty much the defacto standard for private investigators.

NCI falls under the category of a SuperMarket company since I do not think that NCI actually keeps any records themselves, rather they just act as a gateway to the actual database companies. NCI cannot be accessed directly, rather you must go through one the many smaller companies that give NCI accounts. Datafax is my favorite provider to the NCI system. NCI costs approximately $600 - $850 for a 1 time set up fee, that is good for life. Then you only pay 10 per month, and 10 dollars per search. But the actual price depends upon the NCI provider (see Datafax or Jeff KirkPatrick, below).

U.S. Data Link - NCI has access to over 900Million credit reports (even more than the NCI system). You pay a 1 time set up fee of $975, and then you pay $4.50 to $55 for each search depending upon how long it takes and how much human intervention is required. USDL only charges you for "hits". You dont pay, if the system cant find the information you wanted.

USDL is accessed by a dial-in number or via TELENET. The USDL software allows you to set up a "search script" off-line, so that you do not have to waste time typing once you get onto the system. This saves on access costs and phone bill charges.

The USDL system has 4 separate databases which are as follows:

• Credit Records- The credit record searches were described above.
• PC Profile- Provides links to employment data, criminal histories, driving records, licenses, professional certifications, verification of college degrees from over 5,000 colleges and trade schools. $25 is the average search fee.
• PC Corporate- Deals with business records including Uniform Commercial Credit Reports on businesses and DBA records, office reports, federal filings. This is a must for anyone who is going to buy stock, or invest in a business.
• PC Auto-Provides total complete access to information pertaing to drivers licenses, and driving records, tracking a person down by his drivers license. As well as FAA pilots licenses, boating /captains licenses, etc.. You can do a search on a car and driver by merely inputting a VIN (Vehicle ID Number on the winshield) of by a license plate. 47 out of the 50 states have DMV info public.

US Data Link
671 Bayway Drive
Baytown, TX 77520
1.800.527.7930

CDB Infotek - An all purpose provider of public records. Motor vehicle DMV records, public record filings, fictitious name statements, court records, marriage records, divorce records and proceedings, voter registration, death certificates, credit information, social security traces, postal change of address files, telephone criss-cross directory.

CDB is designed for lawyers, insurance investigators, and detectives. The sign up fee is $280 and searches run from $5 for a DMV search to $35 forcomplex business records searches. CDB can be reached directly by modem at 1.800.992.7889 or in California at 800.427.3747

Tracers WorldWide - This company is run by George Theodore. This company is quite expensive, and has several gateways to the major Super Databases. But where this company differs from CDM Infotek, NCI and US Data Link, is that while those companies are "self-serve"...This company will do custom searches for you that are beyond your capability. The CEO of this company claims that: "if its legal, then he can get that info for you!" This company while it may not be quite as big as the other companies like NCI and US Data Link, the staff has capabilities for research that the average user doesn't have, so you can give them custom information querries and they will get you an answer. Also this company has a very unique database. They have a death records database with well over 45 million names! Why would anyone want death records you may ask? Well, it does have its uses.. trying to track down lost relatives, or even for insurance purposes or for "heir" chases, who want to chase down their families fortune, etc.. This company also has 2 new databases... An extensive DMV records database, everyone who has a license, is on this list, and a voter registration list. If your a registered voter, then you are also traceable!

---------- 7-11's -----------
Datafax - National Association of Investigative Specialists Datafax is operated by Ralph Thomas, a name that should sound familiar to anyone whos done reading in the field of investigation and surveillance. Ralph is a licenses PI who publishes a newsletter and writes for magazines, and puts out a new book almost every week.

NAIS is a trade association for private investigators, its quite prestigious, and the NAIS administers this database system, NAIS members get a substational discount to access DATAFAX and the NCI database.

Basically, Datafax is just a provider to the giant NCI database network. So if you want to get access to the NCI Super Database, then you should go through this company, as opposed to some of the other providers.

NCI Direct Access Package costs $795 for the one-time set up fee for total access including Credit and DMV records. If you dont want DMV or Credit info, then you need only pay $695. You must pay a SMALL $10 per month surcharge, and about $5 - $50 per records search.

All users get a 3 ring binder with an and extensive manual. You can logon to the NCI system for a trial search and further information by calling:

  1.513.521.4420 
  USERNAME: DECK20SB 

                      NAIS 
                      PO Box 33244 
                      Austin, TX 78764 
                      (get the 800 # from AT&T Nationwide Information) 

Jeff KirkPatrick- Jeff is a provider connection point to the NCI 
                  database system. I dont know what he charges. 
                      PO Box 1021 
                      Jackson, MI 49204 
                      1.517.783.4545 

John Russell- Private Investigator, will get you the information that 
      you want. Finding lost children is one of his specialties. 
                      7211 Northdale Mabry Suite 205 
                      Tampa, Florida 33614 
                      1.800.237.2542 

SuperBureau Inc- Accesses a number of national credit bureaus and 
      databases, on a per search fee basis. 
                      PO Box 368 
                      Campell, CA 95008 
                      1.408.559.7603 

NightHawk Ent- Business, consumer credit, DMV, assets, plus special info 
      unique to Oregon. Fifty buck sign up, or add $15 onto the regular 
      price as a non-subscriber. 
                      5311 Miller Ave. 
                      Klamath Falls, OR 97603 
                      1.503.884.7400 

 
Investigations Unlimited- Access to NCI searches for an average of $20 
      per search, no sign up fee. 
                      200 S. Meridian #320 
                      Indiana, IL 46255 
                      1.317.639.4638 

Research Desk Inc- A most interesting full-service company. RDI 
      has access to some of the investigative credit type databases, 
      but also specializes in business records. RDI has a variety 
      of data banks, each with unique information. Find out who 
      the man behind this business card is. Is he just an employee 
      or a corporate officer. Newsletter, newspaper, journal searches. 
      This company will do custom searches for you to dig into deep 
      information that cant be accessed by yourself on-line. 
      This company offers reasonable search rates, and the company has 
      a sort of motto: "We keep search rates down, because somebody else 
      may already have the answer to your question". 
                      PO Box 92741 
                      San Francisco, CA 94119 
                      1.415.956.4131 

ION Network- (Investigators ON-line Network) 
      Provides unique services for the investigator who has a computer. 
      The system has a number of sub-groups including the "Resource Line" 
      which is offerend nationwide at no cost to clients who need to 
      identify and contact an appropriate investigator in an area. 
      The ION system has over 5,000 investigators names in their database. 
      ION gets paid by the investigator who is asked to pay a referral fee 
      of 20%(percent). No membership is required to receive research line. 
                      5303 S. Rural Road, Suite 1 
                      Tempe, AZ 85283 
                      1.602.730.8082

REGULATION & ETHICS!

Fuck It! This article is long enough. I'll be damned if I'm going to write anymore.

Basically, read the article carefully and make judgements for yourself about the ethics of all this dossier keeping. If you thought that the Internet was big.. Welp heres news for you, these investigative database companies probably have 500,000 times more information in their files than on all the Internet computers in the WORLD!

This information brokering is BIG MONEY! hint.. hint... If one ever had a hankering to be a private investigator, you'd make a killing providing information to people. Although the real money is made by the major database companies.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1987 requires that the Credit Agencies provide you with a credit report every time somebody accesses your records and all the companies usually comply with that rule 100 percent of the time.

Also the FCRA states that Credit Agencies can only disclose your records for legitimate credit purposes... INVESTIGATING somebody just for the general sake of being a snoop, is NOT a legitimate request for a credit record. But unfortunately, that does not stop a PI from getting your information because they often will simply lie by claiming that the search is for a legitimate credit check.

Lastly, the major credit bureaus such as TRW are totally unscrupulous as well as careless in their keeping of records. TRW quite often has erroneous records (this is EXTREMELY common...) and it is IMPOSSIBLE to fix your credit once TRW fucks it up.. If you dont believe me.. then try calling TRW and telling them that your record is screwed up.. Watch how fast the nice TRW lady "brushes you off" and tells you that their records are never wrong, or actually now, they will fee you a line of bullshit about how to go about correcting your credit. This process is totally impossible to accomplish as you must have total and complete records to exonerate yourself. (I hope you didn't throw out that cancelled check from 10 years ago, to prove that you payed your phone bill 10 years ago... cause if you dont have exact documentation, receipts, cancelled checks, etc.. then they will reject your submission).. In addition, the worst part is... once your submit your proof so that they can fix your credit record.. 90 percent of the time, the record never gets fixed.. Who fucken knows what they do with the records you submitted, but its proven fact that you will have to submit 5 times, and make 30 phone calls to TRW telling them to correct your records.)

ASSHOLES is the only word that I can think of when I think of TRW.

About the Author: The author owns a small security consultation firm based in New York dealing with communications security, surveillance & TSCM. The author also has a maintains a mail order resale company that specializes in surveillance and telephone equipment.
Electronic Securities Ltd.
E-Mail: sahoffman@dockmaster.ncsc.mil