How Trackable Are We Really?

I'm posting this under this section because I'm looking more for a general discussion on this for those that have knowledge or are interested in this topic. Mods if you feel it belongs somewhere else, please move.

I recently became interested in this topic because someone came into my life (online) that was requesting to be put into a position of trust with me. I don't know about all of you, but trust is something that has to be earned with me, and my life experience has taught me to dole out trust carefully. Likewise, I would never expect anyone to just trust me without myself earning it and proving through my actions that I could be trusted. Unfortunately, that is the world that we live in. There are many good people in this world, but there are many more who have ill intentions and cannot be trusted.

To make a long story short, I had an intuition that this person was not being completely honest with me about some things, so I started doing a little searching around online. I had absolutely no idea that there were so many resources online for finding information on someone. There are many that are free, while there are many more that are not free. Also, if you do this, it pays to do some research online and make sure that the paid info sources are not going to rip you off before you give them your credit card number. I reccomend just doing consumer review searches on them, and also the Better Business Bureau has a website at bbb.org that I highly reccomend. Also, you should understand that doing these type of searches takes lots of time and persistence. The less you want to pay for, the more time it will take you.

Back to my experience. I trully believe in each individuals right to privacy, but that was not what my search was about. You see, I had the feeling that I was being lied to, and therefore it became my mission to find out. After a number of days and searching etc., I came to find out that the person communicating with me had given me a false name. Once I discovered the persons real name it became much easier. How did I do this?... reverse cell phone search. I had to pay a little for it, but it was well worth it. After I discovered this persons real name, my search became much easier. I have learned some lessons in all of this. One is that you should never assume anything. One thing that put me offtrack for a while is that the cell phone number came back to a different name than this person had given me. So for over a week I was on a wild goose chase because I was thinking that the reverse cell lookup info was wrong. Once I actually began to consider that I was being lied to.....bingo! It got much easier from then on out!

There are some free sites that I found very helpful. Some claim to be free, but only the initial search is free and then if you want info, you have to pay for it. Another lesson learned.....the search may not tell you anything at all....but you still have to pay for it because you are paying for the search, not the information. Yep! A complete and total ripoff! One sight that I found to be very helpful is www.virtualgumshoe.com... They have alot of links to different online resources. They are very clear in showing you which ones are paid and which ones are free. Also, I discovered that many state and county websites offer public records online free, such as property records, birth records and marriage records. In addition, there is lots of information out there about how to track the location of someone by using their ip address. This is easily done if they have sent you an email. Don't pay for this. If you google it, there are tons of websites that offer free information on how to track a location by an ip address and some even offer a free ip locater. Also, social sites have a ton of info, and if you are in a detective frame of mind, you can very easily pick up on things that someone has wrote about their life, that can give you clues.

One of the biggest things that I learned from my little journey is just how easy it is to track someone down and find out personal information about them. In order to be completely untraceable, you would have to live completely off the grid (no bills at all), own no property, not have a phone, and never ever use the internet anywhere that would reflect your identity. This also means that internet cafes and libraries are out if you have to show id and be given a username in order to use the internet there. As far as hiding, using an assumed name wouldn't even work if you were not completely off the grid. If I could so easily track down someone who gave me a fake name, being a ordinary person, how much easier would it be for those higher ups who have more money and resources?

I am in no way advocating violating anyone's privacy. However, if you feel you are being mislead or scammed in some way it is your right to protect yourself by verifying that the information that has been given to you is correct or incorrect. After you have determined that, then it is your choice as to how you will proceed, since you are now fully informed.

My little journey made me realize how trackable we all are. One of the biggest mistakes that the person who was lying to me made was that he or she (not saying) gave me their real first name but a fake last name. If they had lied about both names, my task would have been more difficult. Also, they had alot of posts on a public internet site that I was able to get clues from that really helped me with the location search, or in other words just kind of helped confirm that the ip address was correct.

I would love to hear from anybody that has personal experiences to share of either doing their own detective work or that have had someone track them down via the internet. If any of us are ever in a situation of truely needing to hide, I would reccomend a situation where you don't use internet or cell phones, and living completely off the grid would also help. Most of us are far more trackable than we have ever realized! By the way, just a little conclusion to my own story. I have not called this particular person out on their lie. They already know they lied, and now I know they lied. I have drawn my own conclusion about why they lied, but once again, that is an assumption, and sometimes assumptions are wrong. However, I now know that I can't completely trust this person and i'm glad that I found that out before I found out the hard way.

This is a pretty good series on the subject in the op ! Shows the tricks of the trade and what you can do , to avoid them . Live off the grid , etc .

im just really interested in your story if in fact it is true........

what was the reason behind the fake person, did u know the real person , what did u do when you had them sussed........?

Originally posted by theruthlessone
im just really interested in your story if in fact it is true........

what was the reason behind the fake person, did u know the real person , what did u do when you had them sussed........?

It is true, and it is very recent. I only knew the person from online and speaking to them on the phone. I met them online. If they were not requesting to be put into a situation of trust with me, I could've cared less about who they really were. Since they were desiring that, it then became my business to make sure that they were being honest with me. As we all know, anybody can be whoever they want to be online. I haven't told them that I know who they really are, or where they live, or a number of other details that don't match up to what they told me. I am thinking about sending them a link to my post and seeing if they can figure it out. Should I?

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that people shouldn't lie to an ATSer. We're on this site for a reason.

reply to post by britelite1971


oh no i wouldnt give the game up just yet id play with them for a lil while, what kind of trust are the requiring.....?

Yeah it sucks to be lied to. I thought I was being lied to and after hours of research, found out that everything checked out unlike your case.

Here's my story, I put this up just yesterday to be exact:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by seedofchucky


Hey thanks for that video! I have watched some of it and it is very interesting. I am going to watch the full thing later tonight when I have more time. One thing my search made me realize is that I too am very very trackable.

reply to post by MegasAlexandros


What an odd coincidence! I saw your post title yesterday, but I thought it was a sports post because of the title. Since I'm not really into sports, I didn't read it. I am glad that everything checked out for you. She looks like a nice young lady and you sound like a nice young man. I hope that everything goes well for you guys. Regardless of what others say, there are good looking girls and guys out there that are not escorts or scammers. You just have to be careful about who you meet online, and check things out. Which you did by the way. Great job!

reply to post by theruthlessone


This individual was wanting me to do some investing persay. So, if you were me, when would you let them know that you know their true identity? By the way, I didn't find direct evidence of them actually scamming someone, but I did find that they did not tell me the truth about who they were and some of their stories were greatly exagerated. (asset and property ownership etc.)

Well for one Better Business Bureau is not that great a resource. I did the book keeping for a business for years and the BB relied on whatever i told them in an annual report which was not correct and they don't check.

Second if anyplace is really gathering info on us all places like ATS sure is the place to do it.
I was thinking, i they have a computer to keep track of all our posts..which they do...what would they know about you from one website. JUST A FEW I CAN RECALL...

My age
My sex
married...marriage troubles
Political views
moral values
whether I have weapons
whether I am racist
have kids
weight problem
health problem
hair color
eye color...from thread on hair color and eye color
my general attitude
UFO belief
occult belief
capital punishment belief
child discipline beliefs

as far as I know I cannot even delete my past posts
check someones posts and you know everything about them! Someone ought to do a thread on this...

reply to post by Char-Lee


So true, all of it! Everytime we post anything online we are revealing info about ourselves, even just by visiting websites. No doubt, information can be pulled off of ATS and all other sites too. Personally, I think Facebook is one of the worst because not only are you revealing personal info about yourself, but you are also posting pics of your entire life including family, friends, coworkers. I'm not even on Facebook, but I guarantee you that there are pics out there of me on it because I have family and friends who belong to Facebook. We have handed over every aspect of our privacy to the government and everyone else, willingly.

I did find your info on the BBB interesting though. Are you saying that businesses report their own data as far as complaints etc. themselves? (I'm assuming this is if the complaint wasn't officially filed through the BBB)

Originally posted by britelite1971
reply to post by MegasAlexandros

 

What an odd coincidence! I saw your post title yesterday, but I thought it was a sports post because of the title. Since I'm not really into sports, I didn't read it. I am glad that everything checked out for you. She looks like a nice young lady and you sound like a nice young man. I hope that everything goes well for you guys. Regardless of what others say, there are good looking girls and guys out there that are not escorts or scammers. You just have to be careful about who you meet online, and check things out. Which you did by the way. Great job!

Thanks for your support and blessing

id go along with it right up until i was investing into something then i would say there is a lil problem and so on see how long u can drag it out before they get bored and move on to there next mark/trick

reply to post by britelite1971

No on BBB not the reports they may receive of complaints..I meant the amount the business makes and the good standing with creditors and who the business owes or does business with, all just a form you send in yourself. being in good standing with them does not really mean much.

I also don't belong to facebook but I see giving info on any online place will still accomplish the same. I can pull pictures of almost anyone i know and no way to remove them after you put them on.

reply to post by theruthlessone


Thanks for the input. It's a shame that there will be a next mark, but there almost always is in these cases.

reply to post by Char-Lee


I appreciate the info on the BBB. I've always assumed that their ratings were spot on as I'm sure that most people do. It's good to know the truth!