Skip Trace Before the Loss

The name Ahearn Search is synonymous with the words skip tracing, whether it be London, New York, Toronto or the lower reaches of Belize. In today's world of technology, we are finding that fraud or simply not choosing to pay a creditor is becoming easier than it used to be. Unfortunately, most corporations are under the misconception that technology and the internet have greatly reduced fraud. In fact, the internet has given birth to what skip tracers call easy access.

Your company has one of those great web pages where an applicant can apply for a credit card or a loan. What do you do? Process a credit report and base it on a scoring system. If it is a business, you run a Dun & Bradstreet. The problem here is that neither of those tools actually confirms the information they provide. Sure, they report public record filings, late payments etc. Your company will then decide whom they want to do business with and I am sure it is safe to say your company will not choose the one with the low score.

In reality, your best scorers can have a bad year or two and stop paying. You call them and the number is disconnected. You write and as Elvis said, "return to sender address unknown". Now its time to send the claim out to a collection agency, they take the job along with fifty percent of what they collect (ouch). A month goes by, two months and nothing from the collection agency. Most collection agencies will only replicate your actions, hoping that the letters of suit, etc will frighten the debtors - it does not.

The reason most debtors cannot be found is that when it comes to the application process, all decisions were based on a scoring system. No one took the time to determine if the phone was real a real landline, the address a mail drop or the business only a front. In five easy minutes, anybody can incorporate, have a phone number with any area code, and then set up a website.

If someone wanted to create a false residence or create a false company, they could in only a few steps. Go to any state website www.anystate.gov register a new corporation in minutes. Next go to JFAX or Efax From there they can get a phone number anywhere in the world for .95 a month which will forward to an email address of choice. Go to register.com and secure a domain name and set up a website immediately all for a mere .00. Go to Mail Boxes Etc. and get an address to match the phone numbers. A business now exists, finally yet importantly call Dun & Bradstreet and they are listed.

A little information to ponder, especially if you are in the lending business. The following are a list of some of the most frequently used key words in internet searching offshore, offshore banking, how to hide, how to disappear, hiding assets, new identity, and false identity. That is only to name a few. Two of the most hit web sites are Escape-Artist and Privacy-World. In this country, many people are concerned about their privacy and are utilizing the tools available.

What is your company doing to reinvent the application process? You can learn more by visiting Ahearnsearch.com.

About The Author-- Frank M. Ahearn and Eileen Horan are owners of Ahearn Search an international skip tracing company that works with Fortune 500 companies like Harley Davidson, Hormel and Roadway/Yellow and assist in locating debtors.

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