In this chapter:

Public Records Overview

Telephone Numbers

Addresses

Property Records

Driver Licenses & Motor Vehicle Registrations

Professional Licenses

Criminal Records

Business Records

 

 

 

 

Public Records Overview

Public records are tremendously useful for investigators.  There are many ways to obtain this type of information.  Naturally, the best sources in terms of accuracy are the data collectors themselves.  However, these sources are often not the most efficient or the most cost effective.  Therefore, many investigators make use of acceptable substitutes in the form of third party data providers.  Familiar vendors like ChoicePoint and LexisNexis provide a gateway to a goldmine of public records.  Such services generally require registration and charge fees for service.  However, the Internet has afforded some agencies to become more efficient at providing access to public records and many states, counties, localities, or agencies offer online access to their own data for free or for a nominal fee.  Coverage and availability of such data is unpredictable and sporadic but the cost effective nature of these resources makes them worth a look.  The sections below describe where to obtain information specific types of records.  For a comprehensive listing of all types of public records, categorized by state, visit Search Systems.

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Telephone Numbers

There are hundreds of white page services on the Internet.  Their accuracy and freshness vary but most are useful for checking an address or the reverse search of a phone number.  InfoUSA and AT&T are two of the largest data providers of free telephone and address information on the Web and their respective search services, Switchboard.com and AnyWho.com are particularly comprehensive. 

In addition to white page services, other telephone tools are also available online.  For example, with an area code (NPA) and prefix (NXX) free services like Fone Finder will provide basic geographical information including an area code map.  In many cases these types of services will also indicate if the number corresponds to a wireless service provider.  However, telephone number portability may soon eliminate the value of such tools.

For international directory listings try InfoBel.com or the Australian online white pages which includes a handy world time zone and country/province calling code utility.  Although these services have many countries listed, their depth is limited and many have only yellow page listings available.

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Addresses

Most of the white page listing services mentioned above include address information.  However, there are some additional address services that investigators might find useful.  The National Address Server at the State University of New York, Buffalo allows a user to enter any mailing address and then provides the correct postal standard address for that location.  The free service also provides users with a Portable Document Format (PDF) version of a mailing label with barcode that can easily be printed on an envelope or mailing label.  This can be helpful when processing returned mail or ensuring that a sender has the correct postal address for any location.  For complete zip code information, try the US Postal Service Zip Code Lookup utility.

For additional information on addresses, try Geocode Eagle by Tele Atlas. This service provides latitude, longitude, postal carrier, and census information about US address locations.  For maps and directions try Yahoo! Maps or MapQuest, which also offers aerial photos.

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Property records

Paid services generally provide the most comprehensive property records.  However, many localities have provided web-based access to their property records. As an example, the city of Denver, CO offers a real estate and property tax record search tool based on address or parcel number.  In New York, a non-governmental service called USPDR.com offers property searches.  Unfortunately, there is no centralized group that manages these services nationwide and their availability is hit-or-miss.  However, SearchSystems provides a great list of free public records available on the Web.  By drilling down into their State/County/City hierarchy, users can find these types of property databases.

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Driver Licenses & Motor Vehicle Registrations

This type of information is very limited in availability via the Internet.  Some states will allow users to check a driver license by number but will only display whether or not the license is currently valid and the expiration date.  No identifying information is provided but this tool can be useful to show that the individual still has a valid driver license.  For example, see Florida's Driver License Check utility.

The Drivers Privacy Protection Act, or DPPA (2002) severely restricted the states ability to offer this type of information.  Specifically, in 18 U.S.C. § 2721 (a) the DPPA states that “a State department of motor vehicles, and any officer, employee, or contractor, thereof, shall not knowingly disclose or otherwise make available to any person or entity personal information about any individual obtained by the department in connection with a motor vehicle record."  Therefore, states have not provided access to this type of information via the Internet due to these dramatic restrictions.  However, section (b)(6) states that it is acceptable to provide this data “For use by any insurer or insurance support organization, or by a self-insured entity, or its agents, employees, or contractors, in connection with claims investigation activities, anti-fraud activities, rating or underwriting.”  Therefore, driver license and motor vehicle data is available through other means – most readily through third party data providers like ChoicePoint although some states may provide the services directly for a fee.

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Professional Licenses

Unlike driver license information, data about professional licenses is readily available online and often for free.  Many occupations have state licensing requirements:  Attorneys, Public Accountants, Nurses, Hairdressers, Funeral Directors, Contractors, and Doctors for example require licensure in most states.  In such cases, many states have made this license data available to the general public.  For example, California allows a lookup of licensed Chiropractors.  With such a tool, consumers can verify that an individual or other entity is appropriately licensed – for example, verify physician is actually a licensed doctor and not an imposter.  Investigators can use this information as well.  Often these databases contain detailed biographical information.  A doctor’s record may list school degrees, hospital affiliations, medical groups he or she is associated with, or disciplinary actions against him or her.  Armed with professional license issue and expiration dates, investigators can get a sense of what activities a claimant may be involved in during a given period of time.  Many licenses require individuals to complete training on a regular basis, work a certain number of hours, or attend conferences in order to keep an active license.  The issuing authority will usually list these requirements on its website.  Both paid public record services and SearchSystems are great places to start searching for professional licenses.

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Criminal Records

Criminal history records have not found their way to the web nearly as fast as other types of records.  Most vendors who allow users to request criminal records online do not deliver instant results.  For the most part, the process is still manually completed.  However, there is some data that is available online that may be of use to the investigator.  For example, inmate records may be listed online, often with photos.  The Illinois Department of Corrections Inmate search is a good example of such services.  These records usually provide exact physical descriptions even if photos are not available  which can be especially useful when scheduling a surveillance.  The records provided on these sites are generally for informational purposes only and any information obtained should be verified through other means.

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Business Records

Business records may contain a wealth of information about a claimant.  Involvement in a business may indicate unreported income or functionality inconsistent with the limitations of an alleged disability.  While it is possible that a claimant may be working for a larger corporation, evidence of this may be hard to obtain through business records.  This is better verified via tax or social security earnings records.  If a claimant is involved in a small business, perhaps a sole proprietorship, partnership, or even a small corporation, evidence of this can be found online.  The reason for this is that while employee information is often scarce, data on corporate owners or officers is abundant because their names appear on corporate filings and documents.  The Secretary of State (SOS) is responsible for issuing business licenses.  To find the applicable SOS website, visit the National Association of Secretaries of State which includes links to each Secretary of State website.  Some states offer an online corporate record lookup feature which may list officers, incorporation dates, and contact information.  As always, while it is quick, easy and usually free to obtain this information over the Internet, it is best to validate the data by contacting the source directly.  It can also be helpful to request copies of the actual records which often contain signatures or other identifying features not available from the web-based record.

When searching for businesses, be sure to check other sources for corporate filings as well.  Most public record services offer searches for Uniform Commercial Code filings or other corporate documents.  EDGAR Online offers every document filed with the SEC since 1994.  Other services that have free company lookup tools include Dun & Bradstreet, Hoovers, and Business.com.

Lastly, when conducting name searches for business records, remember to search on the spouse’s name as well.  Often the spouse may have businesses listed in his or her name in an attempt to hide the claimant's involvement in a business.

For information on non-profit corporations, see the Non-Profit Organizations section in Chapter 8.

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Proceed to Chapter 8: Organizations & Associations