Skip Tracing
The practice of locating a person's current whereabouts by piecing together data from many sources, originally to find debtors who "skipped" town.
Full definition
Skip tracing combines public records, credit-header data, utility and phone records, social media, and broker databases to locate an individual, traditionally used by debt collectors, bail bondsmen, process servers, and private investigators. Modern skip-tracing tools are powered by data brokers and people-search aggregators. The same infrastructure that helps a process server find a defendant also helps a stalker find a victim, which is why removing yourself from people-search sites disrupts skip tracing aimed at you.
Go deeper
Opt out of people-search sites →Related terms
People-Search Site
A subtype of data broker that offers public-facing search of individuals by name, phone, address, or email.
Public Records
Government-maintained records that are open to public inspection by statute, including property records, court filings, voter rolls, and business registrations.
Pretexting
Obtaining someone's personal information by deception, posing as the person or as someone authorized to receive the data.
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