tax information. While some of these records may be publicly available, some cannot be accessed without an appropriate search warrant, or a specific permissible purpose, which is generally only available to financial institutions, their contracted third-party vendors, law enforcement or licensed private investigators. Even when no specific information is returned, public and private databases exist that cross-reference skiptracing information with others the "skip" may have lived with in the recent past. For instance, if previous records show a "skip" lived in the same house as a third party, the third party may also be skiptraced in an effort to locate the primary target. The next step is to verify the information. The information is then analyzed and verified, which eliminates some of the leads as outdated or associated with the wrong person. Sometimes the subject's current whereabouts are in the data, but are obfuscated by the sheer amount of information or disinformation. In the past skip tracing used to include things like dumpster diving and pretext calls to utility companies. Currently, skip tracing is largely conducted online using paid databases and phone calls to gather and verify information. Modern social media platforms such as Facebook have greatly simplified skip tracing work. See also Doxing References Surveillance Legal action Law enforcement