Dec 31, 2007  I have tried some websites but they keep sending me to Intellius (sp?). You have to pay for that service. As a matter of fact, I already paid for the search of the person I was looking for, but I need more info. So, with that said.does anyone know where I can get more info on a person that is FREE? I have her name and I know what area she lives in. Our up-to-date people finder database contains billions of public records compiled from thousands of sources that span over 20 years of historical data. A free online summary is included for all searches, so you know what you're getting if you decide to buy. Get current address, phone & more. Easy to use, search for free!

There are lots of free sites for finding public records online. When you run a public records search, you can find everything from marriage and divorce records to public birth and death information, criminal records, and more.

Some public records finders will locate all of that information at once, but others are built specifically for one type of record. For example, you might use one website for locating death records and another for birth records, but some public records include both.

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Below are the top free ways to find public records depending on the type of information you're after.

These resources only cover publicly available records, meaning that they're only what's been made available online. Some public records aren't released online and must be accessed through your local records office. Sometimes, information you find through these public records resources aren't true or even remotely accurate, so you can't always rely on what you see.

Public Records Search for People

If your public records search is aimed toward finding what's publicly available on a specific person, use a people search engine. You can type a name and location to see more information about the person, like their phone numbers, email addresses, usernames, physical addresses, relatives, education history, and more.

TruePeopleSearch is an example of a free website for finding people online, but others that cost, like BeenVerified, are sometimes more exhaustive.

You can remove your own information from these websites if you wish to.

Free Public Criminal Records

You might have luck using a people search engine to find criminal records (BeenVerified does a good job at listed those records), but you can also search for criminals with a prison inmate locator such as the one available at Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Family Watchdog is a good public records finder if you're looking for sex offenders in your area. You can search by location or school to find nearby sex offenders, or find a specific criminal via name. You can also use the National Sex Offender Public Website for the most recent information available from all 50 states, The District of Columbia, and U.S. Territories.

Online newspapers are considered public records, too, and they're updated frequently to include recent criminal reports.

Search Obituaries for Public Death Records

Obituaries that are listed online is another way to search public records on the web. It's one of the best ways to learn if someone has passed away.

A similar public records search is for gravesite records. Websites like Find A Grave provide millions of memorials you can search through to confirm a death record, and many even have photos of the gravesite for extra proof.

Find Birth Records Online for Free

Most if not all birth certificates aren't public information, but there are ways to search for birth record information online for free through other public records.

For example, a genealogy website often includes birth details such as when and where people were born, who their parents are, whether they were adopted, etc.

Local newspaper sites are another solid way to search public birth records. Not everyone releases a birth announcement, but some people do.

To order your official birth certificate, you can use a service like VitalCheck.

Use a Family Tree as a Public Records Search Tool

Family trees are online listings of how people are related within a family, so they're a great public record of who's married to whom, whether someone has passed away, how many children someone has, and maybe even where people are currently living.

FamilyTreeNow.com is one example of a free family tree service where you can browse public family trees and search for people by name, birth and death date, and other criteria.

Where to Search Other Public Records

If you still can't find the public records you're searching for, consider using a regular web search engine like Google or Bing. They serve as excellent general search tools that can look across lots of websites at once instead of the specific ones listed above.

However, here are some other resources for finding public records:

• Census.gov lets you search publicly available information about the United States that's been gathered by the U.S. Census Bureau. Records include details on population, housing, economics, and geography.
• Realtor.com is one example of an easy way of finding public records regarding properties for sale and rent, and the results often include other details, too, like home value estimates, pictures, tax details, and square footage.
• USA.gov has all sorts of public records from the United States government, state governments, and local governments. Every agency that handles public information in the U.S. can be found somewhere in this huge database.
• Veterans History Project is an example of a website that helps you find military records online.

Some people finder sites are 100 percent free to use. You can use them as a people lookup search engine to dig up information on people you know, strangers, and even yourself.

When you run a free people search, you can find all sorts of data on the person, from their full name and list of relatives to phone numbers, email addresses, online usernames, work history, friends, and more.

Each website mentioned below has been vetted for quality and consistency. They're all completely free for at least some form of basic information on the person because the data they find are in public records.

There are also people search engines available that cost, but the only real benefit is that you get all of the information on the person in one place. If you don't want to pay to find someone, you can use the sites below, but you might have to use more than one to get a total picture of who the person is.

Use Multiple Sources

Like you read above, it's highly recommended that you use more than one site in your people search quest since it's improbable that you'll find everything you're looking for after just one or two searches.

If someone has left a trace online—whether that be via public records, social media, etc.—at least one of the resources mentioned in this article will help you track it down.

While the internet is an amazing resource, if the person you're looking for hasn't been active online in some way, then it follows that their information might not easily show up in your search. Unfortunately, there's no magic bullet search that will help you find who you're looking for if the person hasn't left any records of who they are in the public domain.

General People Search Tips to Consider

Knowing how to use a web search engine like Google is one of the best ways to quickly find people for free. Employing a search engine like that will broaden your search across multiple sites at once and raise the chances that you'll find something useful.

Here are some resources to help:

• How to Use Google to Find People Online: Learn how to use the world's most powerful search engine to find someone.
• Web Search Tricks Everyone Should Know: General tips for how to search the web, which you'll need when looking up names and locations.
• Best Search Engines List: Google isn't the only search engine that can find people online. Use another one if results from Google aren't helpful.

Use a People Finder for Basic Information

Most free people search sites offer a quick grab of the most easily accessible information they can find; this can potentially include addresses, phone numbers, first and last names, and email (depending on what the person you're looking for has shared publicly online).

• TruePeopleSearch: One of the best and fastest people search tools you can use for free, this site lets you find people by name, number, and address, and includes those details plus email addresses, associated names, possible relatives and associates, and more.
• ZabaSearch: Another way to search for people for free by name, physical address, or phone number, is through the ZabaSearch people search site.
• Family Tree Now: A free site launched in 2014 that requires no registration, FamilyTreeNow.com offers free access to census records, birth records, death records, and living people information.
• Your Family: Online since 1996, this people search tool lets you find missing family members and start genealogy research.
• FamilySearch.org: An extremely comprehensive site put out by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Their family records database is one of the largest on the web.
• Facebook: Believe it or not, Facebook is a great way to find people online. It lets you find and connect with people you know or used to know, friends of friends, and complete strangers.

• PeekYou: Search someone's online presence, find people by username or phone number, and verify someone's age.

Find People Through Phone Directories

Most of the time, simply typing a phone number into your favorite search engine (area code included) can turn up accurate results, whether it be for a business or residential phone number.

However, sometimes a phone directory—a specialized site that offers vast indexes of published phone numbers with accompanying information—can really come in handy.

• WhitePages.com: Search by first and last name to find a phone number, or run a reverse search for a phone number to see who owns it.
• FastPeopleSearch: Run a fast people search on this site, by name, phone, or physical address. It finds those details and others like whether the person is married, where they used to live, past cell numbers, birth date, email addresses, and more.
• DexKnows: Search for business phone listings.
• Although not technically a phone directory, you can also use Google to find phone numbers. If you already know the number but you want information about it, such as who it belongs to, Google can also be used as a reverse number lookup tool.

Death and Obituary Information

Finding an obituary online can sometimes be tricky because physical newspapers publish obits and they don't always get uploaded to the web. However, with a little bit of searching, the following websites can potentially help you track down exactly who or what you're looking for.

• Ancestry.com: Start your basic research here, but know that this site does require paid access for more detailed information. This is an excellent place to begin because it's one of the largest family history databases on the internet.
• The Obituary Daily Times: A searchable database of obituaries; also available in a free emailed newsletter format.
• ObitCentral: Obituary Central is an obituary database for finding obituaries and performing cemetery searches.
• New York Times Obituaries Page: Obituaries here go back to the 1800's.

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Business Information

Most businesses offer an amazing amount of information online, but it's only helpful if you know where to look. All kinds of data is available, from phone numbers and addresses to board member biographies.

• LinkedIn: LinkedIn is an online network of millions of experienced professionals from around the world, representing dozens of industries.
• inter800.com: Find out who owns an 800 number with the Internet 800 Directory.
• Superpages: Search for U.S. businesses in the online yellow pages.
• US Securities and Exchange: Find lots of good information about individual businesses here, including salaries and stock holding information.

What to Remember When Looking for People Online

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You might not think much about it when trying to find people online, but there are several things to remember during your search:

• There's no magic bullet: While there certainly does exist a wide variety of information on the web, there's no one site that's going to deliver all of it to you, nor is one simple search query going to do it. Finding someone online, especially someone who you've lost touch with or doesn't leave much of a trace on the web, requires patience, diligence, and persistence in order to be successful. Even then, though, your time may prove to be unhelpful.
• Public information is public: Any information found online is inherently public, simply because it has been found in public databases, directories, blogs, forums, message boards, etc. Small tidbits put together can add up to quite an impressive whole.
• If they can find it, so can you: Websites that promise to deliver detailed background checks for a 'one-time fee' aren't all bad because they usually do a really good job at gathering all the public information together into one cohesive page for you to review. However, you don't have to pay to find people because everything those services find is also available to the public (you) if you're willing to do the people searches manually.

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If you found your own information online, please know that you can request to have it removed so that others won't also be able to dig it up.