{"id":800,"date":"2025-04-30T03:36:55","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T03:36:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/pathfinder\/?p=800"},"modified":"2025-05-01T06:51:41","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T06:51:41","slug":"using-open-source-intelligence-for-collections-skip-tracing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spokeo.com\/pathfinder\/using-open-source-intelligence-for-collections-skip-tracing\/","title":{"rendered":"Deep Skip Tracing: Adding OSINT Tools to Your Collections Arsenal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The US Census Bureau<\/a> has calculated that the average American moves 11.7 times over the course of their life. This increased mobility \u2014 alongside the increasing digitization of our culture \u2014 represents an increasingly complex challenge in collections and debt recovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Debtors are increasingly difficult to locate and engage, due in part to this transient population and the disruptive effects of events like the pandemic. More importantly, consumer behavior has shifted during the past decade. Skip tracing\u2019s traditional tools remain useful but have shortcomings in a time of digital nomads and the work-from-home gig economy. Enter \u201cdeep\u201d skip tracing, a more intensive method of tracking down debtors that goes beyond traditional skip tracing by leveraging the power of open-source intelligence (OSINT).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Skip Tracing and Deep Skip Tracing: What\u2019s the Difference?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Skip tracing is a fundamental component of debt collections<\/a>, employed to locate individuals when the contact information on an account is no longer valid. Individual debtors may deliberately choose not to update their account information after moving or may simply forget, but the net effect is the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditional skip tracing utilizes data sources like credit headers, public records, and proprietary databases to discover a debtor\u2019s whereabouts. It represents the broad strokes of an individual consumer\u2019s life, which often is enough to at least locate and contact a debtor. Unfortunately, the simple fact is that this information is always somewhat dated due to its root sources in the financial sector. Present-day consumers update their contact information at the bank sporadically, but post on their social media accounts on a near-continual basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the name suggests, deep skip tracing augments relatively static legacy data sources by leveraging OSINT to go a level deeper. It involves not just locating the debtor, but also gathering available information about their relationships, locations, patterns, and public posting habits, including self-reported details. Locating and contacting a debtor are only preliminaries. This broader view of a debtor provided by deep skip tracing empowers tracers with the insights needed to build engagement and to tailor a personalized approach for making contact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why is Deep Skip Tracing Needed?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Increased mobility, societal shifts such as the rise of the informal \u201cgig economy,\u201d and events like the pandemic have dislodged many debtors from their usual patterns of life. Those factors have also made them harder to locate using traditional means.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, many debtors have become skilled at evading collectors. Many legitimate sites offer advice on limiting attempts to contact them<\/a> or how to legally conceal assets from creditors<\/a>.\u00a0 Less-legitimate sites or private forums may share advice regarding the common data sources used in skip tracing and how to avoid exposure to them. Given these challenges, deep skip tracing becomes a vital tool in locating elusive debtors. It harnesses a rich array of open source intelligence (OSINT) data sources, especially social media<\/a>, to locate the debtor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditional tracing under-utilizes social media, focusing on just a handful of high-profile platforms. Many others not commonly considered to be \u201csocial media,\u201d from content sharing sites such as YouTube to payment and game-streaming platforms, all have a social component that can be leveraged. Combining OSINT tools like Spokeo for Business \u2013 which currently draws on over 120 social platforms \u2013 with traditional skip tracing increases the likelihood of debtor engagement, but it’s essential to ensure that this is done in a controlled and compliant manner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) and Deep Skip Tracing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Director of National Intelligence<\/a> describes OSINT as \u201c…publicly available information appearing in print or electronic form including radio, television, newspapers, journals, the Internet, commercial databases, and videos, graphics, and drawings.\u201d In short, it\u2019s any form of information that is available to the public or at least not explicitly restricted from the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conventional skip tracing tools are primarily built on regulated data. Regulated data includes such personal information as social security numbers and other information shared with financial institutions, which is protected by law because of its source and the high sensitivity and privacy implications of the data. While these services are inarguably powerful tools, their tight focus on financial data omits much of a consumer\u2019s online \u201cdigital footprint.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OSINT Data Sources and Resources<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Deep skip tracing integrates open source intelligence from a variety of resources not grounded purely in legacy financial data. These data sources and resources include, but are not limited to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n