Searching for a family member in London who has lost contact, or someone who has intentionally gone missing and wants to remain hidden?
People disappear for many different reasons. Although there may be nothing sinister behind it, being unable to find a person who you need to contact can be one of the hardest situations to find yourself in.
Private investigators can help you find a missing person in London. With many private detective agencies offering debtor tracing, parent searching, and missing person enquiries’ services, you can rely on tracing agents to resolve your problem quickly and professionally.
We explain how private investigators in London find missing persons and the types of open-source data they access:
How Do Private Investigators Find a Missing Person?
Private detectives use a wide range of tools and techniques to locate missing people who have intentionally or unintentionally disappeared.
All too often, a missing person will relocate, changing their name and residential address to escape debt-related matters. Even with limited information surrounding their whereabouts, tracing agents will use all possible resources to track them down, such as open-source intelligence.
What is Open-Source Intelligence?
OSINT involves legally gathering information on individuals or organisations from publicly available sources. These resources are found online to uncover basic intelligence and evidence, such as names of targets and their associates, phone numbers, email/ social accounts, and home addresses.
Open-source intelligence also involves accessing information that is not discoverable from a regular Google search or from other normal search engines. These resources may include database searches, government reports and documents, social networks, and imagery search.
Open-source intelligence is ideal in that it can provide you with an in-depth analysis of the person you are trying to locate, which can be presented in an informational report (also known as a private investigator report).
What is a private investigator report?
A private investigator report is the document that a tracing agent will put together for the client to detail their findings, which may include:
- Subject information – who the missing person is, their appearance, and personal details.
- In-depth details of the investigation – methods used and the results.
- Photographic video and audio evidence, as well as GPS data and any other intelligence on the missing person’s movements.
- Proof of any transgressions found by the tracing agents, such as law breaking.
The private investigator report may be delivered digitally, physically, or both.
Types of World Wide Web Sources
As already mentioned, private investigators use a range of sources on the internet to gather open-source intelligence to trace a missing person. To understand it further, we have broken down the various elements of the World Wide Web that a detective will utilise:
The Surface Web
Also referred to as the Public Web, the Surface Web is publicly available (i.e., online content that is indexed by major search engines, such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo).
The Deep Web
Information on the Deep Web is not retrievable by means of standard search engines (like the ones mentioned above). Deep Web content includes password-protected pages and encrypted networks.
The Dark Web
Occasionally, agents will be asked to undertake research on the Dark Web – a hidden network of websites that require a specialised browser to access them. Many private detective agencies like Global Investigations have agents who are fully experienced with using the Dark Web, as well as being trained to lead Dark Web Investigations.
How Global Investigations Can Help
Whether you are searching for a missing relative, company employee, or customer who owes you money, Global Investigations can help. With over 80 years of combined experience, we have built up a national and global reputation in finding people.
Our private detectives offer a professional and sympathetic service that can help you find a missing person as soon as possible.
Contacting the police for missing person enquiries is not always practical, and that’s where Global Investigations can help. We can trace throughout London and across the rest of the UK, as well as globally.
So, if you need our tracing services in London, give us a call today on 0208 287 7770 to contact a member of our friendly team on how we can help you with your missing person enquiry.
