101 Investigative Links For Digging

2/22/2018 101 Investigative Links for Digging Up Information on People
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101 Investigative Links for

Digging Up Information on
People
MARCH 27, 2014 BY BRIAN WILLINGHAM
http://www.diligentiagroup.com/due-diligence/101-investigative-links-for-digging-up-information-on-people/ 1/19
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SHARES
As private investigators, it’s safe to say that we use thousands of

online websites and databases on a monthly basis. While the types
of websites that we visit depend on the case that we are working on,
below we have outlined some of our “go to” resources.
While there are many sites that o er free access to information, the
best sites usually have some sort of fee. In some cases, access is
restricted to private investigators, but in most cases, the information
is available to the public.
[You may notice several New York based links, which is a bit bias, but
it’s where we are based and it happens to be the nancial capital of
the world.]
Without further ado, here’s our list of 101 research and investigative
links for a private investigator (or amateur sleuth), in no particular
order:
Professional Investigative Databases

1. Accurint / IRB ($): Database for investigative professionals which
has “billions” of records from numerous public and proprietary
sources. The gold standard in investigative databases.
2. TLO ($): The new kid on the block for investigative databases. They
have a user friendly site, with fresh information and is highly
recommended.
3. Tracers Information Specialists, Inc. ($): Con rmation of database

search results is often necessary; Tracers is a reliable alternative.
4. Skip Smasher ($): While I never rely on Skip Smasher as a primary

source of information, having options is key and Skip Smasher is one
of those.
Court Searches / Public Records

5. LexisNexis CourtLink ($): Provides docket research and access to
the one of largest collections of federal, state, and local court
records.
6. LexisNexis ($): The industry standard for public records searches.
7. Westlaw ($): Always the second ddle to LexisNexis, but make no

mistake, they can go toe-to-toe with them.
8. PACER ($): Provides civil, criminal and bankruptcy case and docket
information from federal appellate, district and bankruptcy courts.
9. BRB Publications, Inc.: BRB’s has more than 3,500 vendors who
maintain, search or retrieve public records.
10. Free Public Records: A treasure trove of more than 55,000 links
to free public record databases online by type and location.
11. Los Angeles Superior Court ($): An index of defendants in

criminal cases in the Los Angeles Superior Court.
12. The United States Tax Court: If the IRS has determined that an
individual has a tax de ciency, the taxpayer can dispute the
de ciency in US Tax Court.
13. Connecticut Courts: Access to Superior Court records for

Connecticut dating back 10 years.
14. Court PC of CT ($): Third-party resource for Connecticut Court

records dating back to the 1980s
15. Virginia Courts: Access to General District and Circuit Court

records for Virginia
16. Wisconsin Courts: Access to public records of the Wisconsin

Circuit Courts
17. Maryland Courts: Maryland judiciary case search
18. Missouri Courts: Case management system for Missouri state

courts
19. Texas Secretary of State ($): Texas corporate records and UCC
lings
20. Georgia Property Records ($): Property records throughout the

State of Georgia
21. Search Systems Criminal Record Search ($): Searches more

than 450 million criminal records in the U.S.
Search Engines
22. Google: Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information
and it is a pretty good place to start any investigation.
23. Bing: Not ever search engine is created equally. Bing provides
alternative search results so be sure to search here.
24. DuckDuckGo: For anonymous searches and unique search

results. DuckDuckGo is a great source.
25. Google Search Operators: Because typing a straight search

string is not enough.
26. Spokeo: The people search engine organizes whitepages, public

records and social media networks all in one place.
27. TinEye: Image search engine
Employment / Degree Veri cation
28. National Student Clearinghouse ($): National Student

Clearinghouse provides a service to verify students majors, degrees,
dates of attendance, and dates of graduation.
29. The Work Number ($): Need to verify employment history? This
is a good place to start.
Financial and Government

Regulatory
30. Investment Adviser Search: Information about current and
certain former Investment Adviser Representatives, Investment
Adviser rms registered with the SEC and/or state securities
regulators.
31. FINRA Broker Check: Provides information on the background of

registered investment professionals.
32. FINRA Arbitration & Mediation: Records on arbitration and

mediation awards for FINRA Cases.
33. North American Securities Administrators Association: Links to

all 50 state securities regulators
34. National Futures Association: Self-regulatory body for the U.S.

Futures Industry
35. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission: Regulatory body for

investment industry protecting individuals interests
36. Governmentattic: Provides electronic copies of thousands of

interesting Federal Government documents obtained under the
Freedom of Information Act.
37. U.S. Department of Treasury: Specially Designated Nationals

and Blocked Persons List
38. Bureau of Industry and Security – U.S. Department of

Commerce: Denied persons list
39. System for Award Management: Access to information for

federal government awarded contracts and contractors, among
other things.
40. US Department of Labor Whistleblower Search: Search for a

whistleblower complaint
Political Contributions
41. Open Secrets: Third-party resource for federal political
contributions.
42. Federal Election Commission: Federal political contribution

records directly from the source.
43. Follow The Money: Search state political contributions records.
44. Secretaries of State: Find Corporation Information and Online

Searchable Databases.
New York Speci c Links

45. New York City Department of Finance – O ce of the City
Register: Property records for the ve boroughs of New York City.
46. New York City Property: Provides up to date tax information for
properties in the ve boroughs of New York City.
47. New York State – Department of State Division of

Corporations, State Records and UCC: Search for New York State
business and not-for-pro t corporations, limited partnerships,
limited liability companies and limited liability partnerships, as well as
other miscellaneous businesses.
48. New York State Campaign Financial Disclosure: New York State
political contribution records.
49. The New York City Campaign Finance Board: New York City
campaign contribution records.
50. The New York Uni ed Court System (UCS): Access to eCourts,
which provides access to information on future court appearances in
New York and limited historical cases.
51. New York State Supreme Court and the County Clerk of New
York: Online access to County of New York Supreme Court cases.
52. Westchester County Clerk ($): Access to legal records and land
records for the Westchester County, New York.
53. New York Attorney Search: Verify the license of a New York
attorney
54. New York Professional License Search: Search for professional

licenses in the State of New York, like doctors, accountants and
architects.
55. New York Department of State, Division of Licensing Services:

Search for other professional licenses including notary public,
security guard and private investigator.
56. New York Real Estate License Search: New York real estate
licenses
57. New York Inmate Locator: Searches New York State Department
of Correction records.
International Investigators
58. Council of International Investigators : For over 50 years, this
established and well respected international association of over 300
professional private investigators and private detective meets strict
membership criteria maintaining the highest quality professionals

within the private investigation business.
59. World Association of Detectives: Started in 1921 and was

formed as a joint venture by the combined membership of the
World Association of Detectives and the International Secret Service
Association.
State Criminal Record Checks

60. Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Computerized Criminal
History (CCH) ($)
61. Connecticut Department of Public Safety ($)
62. Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) Criminal

History ($)
63. Georgia Felon Search ($)
64. Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center ($)
65. Idaho State Police Bureau of Criminal Identi cation (BCI) ($)
66. Illinois State Police ($)
67. Indiana State Police Limited Criminal History Search ($)
68. Kansas Bureau of Investigation, Criminal History Record Check

($)
69. Kentucky Court of Justice, Administrative O ce of the courts

($)
70. Maine Criminal History Record ($)
71. Massachusetts Department of Criminal Justice Information

Services (DCJIS), Criminal 73. 72. O ender Record Information
(iCori) ($)
73. Michigan State Police Internet Criminal History Access Tool

(ICHAT) ($)
74. Missouri Automated Criminal History Site (MACHS) ($)
75. Montana Department of Justice Division of Criminal

Investigation ($)
76. Nebraska State Patrol Criminal Identi cation Division (CID) ($)
77. New York State O ce of Court Administration criminal record

search ($)
78. Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation ($)
79. Oregon Open Records ($)

80. South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED), Citizens

Access to Criminal Histories (CATCH) ($)
81. Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Open Records Information

Services (TORIS) ($)
82. Texas Department of Public Safety Computerized Criminal

History System (CCH) ($)
83. Vermont Criminal Information Center Department of Public

Safety Division of Criminal Justice Services ($)
84. Washington Access To Criminal History ($)
Miscellaneous
85. Zip Code Database: Free ZIP code lookup for any valid ZIP code
including nd a city, state, county name, area code, time zone,
latitude and longitude, and more…
86. Internet Archive: An investigators playground. Like a paper

library, the Internet Archive is building a digital library of Internet
sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form.
87. Domain Tools ($): DomainTools o ers an excellent searchable

database of current and historical domain name registration and
hosting data.
88. The U.S. Department of Justice: National Sex O ender Public

Website (NSOPW): National source of sex o ender data
89. Federal Inmate Locator: U.S. Bureau of Prisons inmate locator
90. State of Delaware – Department of State Division of

Corporations: More than half of the Fortune 500 is incorporated in
Delaware and so are many nancial related rms.
91. Guidestar ($): Records relating to non-pro t organizations
92. Tape Recording Laws: Tape recording laws for all 50 states
93. Knowem: Searches hundreds of social networks to see if a

username may have been used on another social network.
94. Ancestry.com ($): There are hordes of genealogical sites out

there, but Ancestry.com has the most robust database.
95. TheOnion: Because we all need a good laugh once in a while
96. SpyDialer: SpyDialer lets you nd out who is behind a cell phone
number by stealthily capturing a voicemail recording.
97. Newspapers.com ($): Millions of historical newspapers dating

back to the 1700s
98. BoardReader: Message board search engine

99. Historical Military Records: Verify historical military records
100. Active Military Status: Verify active military status with the
Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) Website
101. Legacy.com: Obituary announcements
Filed Under: Due Diligence
About Brian Willingham

Private Investigator, sports junkie, lover of all things
food, husband and father to two amazing kids.
Comments
Michael Morelli says

July 22, 2014 at 6:24 am
Brian,
Thank you for this blog. I have learned so much through your blogs.
I appreciate this information.
Michael
Brian Willingham says

July 22, 2014 at 6:27 am
You are welcome Michael. Glad you found it helpful.
Joe Bruno says

July 2, 2014 at 5:10 pm
Thank You for sharing your expertise !
Jimmy Alvarez says

July 1, 2014 at 5:15 pm
Excellent information.
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2/22/2018 101 Investigative Links for Digging Up Information on People

WHO WE ARE WHAT WE DO WHO WE HELP PI 101 BLOG CONTACT US

101 Investigative Links for

As private investigators, it’s safe to say that we use thousands of

Professional Investigative Databases

3. Tracers Information Specialists, Inc. ($): Con rmation of database

4. Skip Smasher ($): While I never rely on Skip Smasher as a primary

Court Searches / Public Records

6. LexisNexis ($): The industry standard for public records searches.

7. Westlaw ($): Always the second ddle to LexisNexis, but make no

11. Los Angeles Superior Court ($): An index of defendants in

13. Connecticut Courts: Access to Superior Court records for

14. Court PC of CT ($): Third-party resource for Connecticut Court

15. Virginia Courts: Access to General District and Circuit Court

16. Wisconsin Courts: Access to public records of the Wisconsin

17. Maryland Courts: Maryland judiciary case search

18. Missouri Courts: Case management system for Missouri state

20. Georgia Property Records ($): Property records throughout the

21. Search Systems Criminal Record Search ($): Searches more

24. DuckDuckGo: For anonymous searches and unique search

25. Google Search Operators: Because typing a straight search

26. Spokeo: The people search engine organizes whitepages, public

27. TinEye: Image search engine

Employment / Degree Veri cation

28. National Student Clearinghouse ($): National Student

Financial and Government

31. FINRA Broker Check: Provides information on the background of

32. FINRA Arbitration & Mediation: Records on arbitration and

33. North American Securities Administrators Association: Links to

34. National Futures Association: Self-regulatory body for the U.S.

35. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission: Regulatory body for

36. Governmentattic: Provides electronic copies of thousands of

37. U.S. Department of Treasury: Specially Designated Nationals

38. Bureau of Industry and Security – U.S. Department of

39. System for Award Management: Access to information for

40. US Department of Labor Whistleblower Search: Search for a

42. Federal Election Commission: Federal political contribution

43. Follow The Money: Search state political contributions records.

44. Secretaries of State: Find Corporation Information and Online

New York Speci c Links

47. New York State – Department of State Division of

54. New York Professional License Search: Search for professional

55. New York Department of State, Division of Licensing Services:

membership criteria maintaining the highest quality professionals

59. World Association of Detectives: Started in 1921 and was

State Criminal Record Checks

61. Connecticut Department of Public Safety ($)

62. Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) Criminal

63. Georgia Felon Search ($)

64. Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center ($)

66. Illinois State Police ($)

67. Indiana State Police Limited Criminal History Search ($)

68. Kansas Bureau of Investigation, Criminal History Record Check

69. Kentucky Court of Justice, Administrative O ce of the courts

70. Maine Criminal History Record ($)

71. Massachusetts Department of Criminal Justice Information

73. Michigan State Police Internet Criminal History Access Tool

74. Missouri Automated Criminal History Site (MACHS) ($)

75. Montana Department of Justice Division of Criminal

77. New York State O ce of Court Administration criminal record

78. Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation ($)

79. Oregon Open Records ($)

80. South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED), Citizens