Frequently Asked Questions

Start by doing a preliminary search at our website, then register and create your free NetSleuth account. Once logged in to your account you can complete your preliminary search and our system will return basic "people search" data including name, current address and phone number, etc. where available.

Armed with this basic information on your subject you can choose which report you would like to order. You will then have the choice to pay for the report by credit card or get the report free through TrialPay.

Of course. Below you will find a links to see a sample report of each of our products:

• People Search
• Marriage & Divorce Records
• Reverse Phone Lookup
• Social Networks Search
• Business Background Search
• Professional License Search
• Business People Search
• Property Search
• Background Check
• Criminal & Public Records
• Online Dating Check

NetSleuth's coverage truly is mind-boggling - it connects you to practically every investigative and public records database available online. You get all the data from literally thousands of individual resources, all in one place.

Public records generally come from local, state and federal governement agencies. Examples include real estate records, bankruptcy and lien filings, business records, lawsuits and court dockets, etc.

These types of records are specifically compiled or prepared for the purpose of being made publicly available. The federal Freedom of Information Act and other public access laws require all federal, state and local government agencies to disclose certain records to the general public - either for free or for a reasonable access fee.

"Publicly available" information generally originates with the individual themself - it's information that they have willingly provided to third parties, oftentimes not realizing it will become public information.

For example, when you apply for a credit card if you don't check the box saying you don't want your information shared, it will be sold. When you fill out a sweepstakes form to win a car at a shopping mall, chances are that your name and any other information you provide will be put into a database and sold.

In short, in any situation in which you provide information - to the government, or to a private company - without a binding assurance it cannot be sold or distributed, that information in effect becomes public information.

Many people incorrectly believe that some information, such as mother's maiden name, is not public information. This is not true. Birth records are public record in every state, and birth records typically contain the maiden name of the maternal parent.

But it doesn't stop there - our dedicated team of information specialists also gathers and incorporates data from dozens of proprietary sources on an ongoing basis. With updates at least 2-3 times per week, NetSleuth offers the widest and the most up-to-date investigative and public records data available anywhere.

All of the public records and other data contained in our reports and content comes from 3rd-paty databases - we do not develop or maintain any public records or other such databases ourselves.

NetSleuth does not rent, sell or share any of the information collected by this website with other people or nonaffiliated companies, except to provide products or services you've requested, when we have your permission, or under the following circumstances:

• We respond to subpoenas, court orders, or legal process, or to establish or exercise our legal rights or defend against legal claims;
• We believe it is necessary to share information in order to investigate, prevent, or take action in conjunction with illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person, violations of NetSleuth's Terms of Use, or as otherwise required by law;
• We are required by law to provide the IRS with Tax ID numbers and/or other personally identifiable information about Affiliates who promote NetSleuth and earn over $600 in a calender year.

In short, any information that you provide to us and all searches performed at this site are discreet and confidential. For more information please see our detailed Privacy Policy.

Each of the resources and databases you'll get access to are updated at different times - usually weekly, monthly or yearly. Most basic information such as phone numbers and addresses are updated very regularly.

We update our website and internal databases just about every day, incorporating various data updates and feature upgrades as quickly as possible. In a nutshell, the data contained in our reports and content is as fresh as you'll find anywhere - online or off. You can't get better records anywhere.

All of the information in our reports and content is considered to be a matter of public record, and we're not required to notify any individual or company when you investigate or request information about them.

Your use of the NetSleuth service is strictly confidential - no one will know what you are investigating.

We do not rent, sell or share any of the information collected by this site - including searches, either individually or in aggregate - with other people or any other companies as outlined in our Privacy Policy.

Definitely not - the overwhelming majority of the information found in our reports and content can't be found by searching Google, or any other search engine for that matter. You may be able to find old, outdated "white page" data, but nothing remotely close to the quality, completeness and accuracy of our service.

Technically you could get a lot of this same information at various government agencies in your area - if you were willing to spend the time and money to figure out how and where to request it. It's no fun, take our word for it. And most likely you still wouldn't have all the information you really need.

All of the public records and other data contained in our reports and content comes from 3rd-paty databases - we do not develop or maintain any public records or other such databases ourselves.

NetSleuth does not rent, sell or share any of the information collected by this website with other people or nonaffiliated companies, except to provide products or services you've requested, when we have your permission, or under the following circumstances:

• We respond to subpoenas, court orders, or legal process, or to establish or exercise our legal rights or defend against legal claims;
• We believe it is necessary to share information in order to investigate, prevent, or take action in conjunction with illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person, violations of NetSleuth's Terms of Use, or as otherwise required by law;
• We are required by law to provide the IRS with Tax ID numbers and/or other personally identifiable information about Affiliates who promote NetSleuth and earn over $600 in a calender year.

In short, any information that you provide to us and all searches performed at this site are discreet and confidential. For more information please see our detailed Privacy Policy.

Information that you provide when using this site (such as your registration information) is strictly confidential.

All of the public records and other data contained in our reports and content comes from 3rd-paty databases - we do not develop or maintain any public records or other such databases ourselves.

NetSleuth does not rent, sell or share any of the information collected by this website with other people or nonaffiliated companies, except to provide products or services you've requested, when we have your permission, or under the following circumstances:

• We respond to subpoenas, court orders, or legal process, or to establish or exercise our legal rights or defend against legal claims;
• We believe it is necessary to share information in order to investigate, prevent, or take action in conjunction with illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person, violations of NetSleuth's Terms of Use, or as otherwise required by law;
• We are required by law to provide the IRS with Tax ID numbers and/or other personally identifiable information about Affiliates who promote NetSleuth and earn over $600 in a calender year.

In short, any information that you provide to us and all searches performed at this site are discreet and confidential. For more information please see our detailed Privacy Policy.

NetSleuth accesses numerous third party databases to gather information for our website. We do not maintain the databases used in our searches; rather we access separately maintained third-party public records databases to collect information for the search results and content we provide.

We have absolutely no control over, or the ability to modify or remove, any information about you as all of the information that can be found via our site is part of the public record, or publicly available information.

NetSleuth does not compile, rent or sell mailing lists so we can't help you directly. However, we can point you in the right direction and provide you with some tips that will help ... If you are concerned about unwanted mail or telephone solicitations, or about the collection of marketing data about you, your first step should be to visit the Direct Marketing Association website. They maintain a list of people who do not want to receive telephone solicitations, advertising mail, product offers and catalogues.

Please note that information used for marketing purposes originates from many common transactions that you enter into every day. For example, marketing information about the names, ages and clothing sizes of your family members may originate with catalog orders placed by you, children's magazine subscriptions, promotional surveys and product registration cards. Compilations of marketing data generally are updated on an almost-continuous basis with information gathered from numerous sources, based on information that you provide.

New information is generated each time you or a family member enters into a routine transaction such as using a frequent shopper card, entering a contest, ordering from a catalog, etc. This new information finds its way into the publicly available sources through the constant updating. Accordingly, it is wrong to think of marketing data (or publicly available information in general) as being contained in discrete, static databases from which particular records can be deleted or suppressed. Rather, the information is continuously updated and supplemented and is capable of being cross-referenced with other compilations of similar information.

In addition to subscribing to the DMA's Preference Services, there are steps that you can take to help limit the amount of personal information about you that is collected for marketing purposes:

• Do not disclose your residential address or phone number to others.
• On your personal checks, use a post office box or business address and a business phone number.
• If you have to provide your residential address and phone number to any business, ask how it will be used and how you can restrict any further use.
• Tell businesses that you do not wish to be on their mailing lists and that you do not want them to provide your name, address and phone number to other companies.
• Have a non-published telephone number (neither available in the printed directory nor from directory assistance) or a "non-listed" number (not printed in the directory but available from directory assistance).
• Do not complete street directory information forms (e.g., a request to complete street address information for a commercially published directory other than a telephone book). These directories include alumni directories, church directories, employer directories, etc.
• Avoid ordering products or services by telephone. If you do, inform the merchant that you do not want your name, address and telephone number given to others. Not only do the national catalog retailers capture and store your personal information, but local retailers such as pizza delivery services capture your phone number and generally have your name and address too.
• Avoid completing warranty or registration cards, surveys, preferred buyer promotions, etc.
• Avoid using preferred shopper, store discount or check cashing cards. These cards generally permit the retailer to compile lifestyle information - number, ages and sex of people in the household, income level, and similar information - which is then used to compile targeted mailing lists and sold.
• Use Caller I.D. blocking to prevent your phone number from being displayed when you call companies or order products. Also be sure to add your number(s) to the Federal Do Not Call Registry.

Although many people believe that their social security numbers are private, social security numbers are in fact available from many different sources. For example, social security numbers are often contained in public records, such as death certificates, driving records, bankruptcy filings and lien documents.

To protect yourself from fraud, avoid using your social security number as your "unique" identifying number unless you are required to so by law. (For example, you will be required to provide your social security number for banking and tax purposes.) You can legally refuse to provide your social security number to private businesses unless it is required for governmental purposes (such as tax withholding).

Do keep in mind though that some businesses, such as utility companies, may require another form of identification or even a deposit if you do not give them your social security number, and some business may decline to extend credit to you unless you provide your social security number to them.

To prevent widespread disclosure of your social security number, do not include the number on your checks or other documents. Similarly, do not use your social security number as your driver's license number or student identification number. In general, do not permit others to use your social security number for identification purposes. Instead, ask businesses to use another number if they need to confirm your identity.

If you have questions about your credit report, please contact the three main consumer credit reporting agencies. They can remove your name from their marketing lists, and provide you with a copy of your current credit report. Each company also has procedures for correcting any inaccuracies that you may find in your credit report.

The three main credit bureaus are:

Experian (formerly TRW) - 1-800-682-7654 connects you to a recording that has instructions for requesting copies of credit reports if you have been denied credit, employment or insurance or you may request a complimentary annual credit report. Consumer Assistance at 1-800-422-4879 connects you to a live representative.

Equifax - 1-800-685-1111 connects you to a recording that directs you to another toll free number in your local area. Your local number connects you to a recording that addresses requests for copies of your credit report and what to do if you disagree with information on the report.

Trans Union - Consumer Relations at 1-800-851-2674 connects you to a recording that addresses requests for copies of your credit report or you may speak to a representative.

Identity theft occurs when someone uses another person's personal information (such as name, social security number, credit card numbers or bank account numbers) to conceal a crime or get credit fraudulently.

Identity theft is a crime. If you believe that you have been the victim of identity theft, there are several important steps that you should take immediately. The sooner you discover the problem and take action, the better.

1. First, report the crime to the police promptly and get a police report.

Second, contact the three main credit reporting agencies (Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union) to get copies of your credit report - fraud victims are entitled to free copies - and ask about the agencies' fraud alert services.

3. Complete the FTC's ID Theft ID Theft Affidavit form.

4. Inform the credit grantors who have extended credit to the thief in writing about the situation and enclose copies of the police report and the ID Theft Affidavit. Keep copies of all letters you send and keep notes of any follow-up calls that you have with credit grantors including the data and name of the person you spoke to.

5. Contact the Social Security Administration if someone is using your Social Security number.

6. Contact your bank and credit card companies if someone is using your bank accounts or credit card numbers.

Identity theft can be a costly and devastating crime for its victims and the credit grantors who are defrauded. For more information about identity theft and consumer fraud, you may wish to visit the FTC's Consumer Identity Theft site at the link above. Additional information can be found at the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.

If any information about you in any database is incorrect, you must contact the reporting agency directly. NetSleuth relies on 3rd-party databases for its data, and we have no power to change or remove it.

I don't know my User ID and/or Password. How can I retrieve it so I can login?

If you're having trouble logging in to your account, please visit the Login page where you can retrieve your User ID and Password. Simply enter your User ID and/or Email address that you used when creating your account and our system will instantly send you an email with your proper login information.

First of all, please understand that we reply to all inquiries within 24 hours or less. Guaranteed. Every single time. Password Reminder requests initiated from our Login Help page are sent to you instantly.

If you are not receiving our emails, chances are that your ISP or email client is blocking our emails for some reason. Most "anti-spam" systems unfortunately also block some legitimate email. Please add our email address support@netsleuth.com to your Address Book or "white list" to ensure that our emails are not blocked.

The only other reason that you would not receive our emails is if you have previously asked us to cancel your NetSleuth account. Once you cancel your NetSleuth account your email address is added to our internal "Do Not Email" list and you can never receive an email from us to that address under any circumstance.