The invisible/deep web is full of information not found on the regular/surface web, meaning that a normal web search engine isn't always enough to dig up information on someone.
Below are the best deep web people search tools and tips I've gathered that can be used to locate someone you've lost contact with, research an individual thoroughly, etc.
Deep web people finders should be used in conjunction with a people search engine for maximum results.
Wayback Machine
What We Like
Archive of billions of web pages.
Catalogs blogs, websites, news articles, and more.
What We Don't Like
Vast site is overwhelming.
If the person you're looking for has ever created a websiteor has information you know was on the web, but the content has been since deleted, you can look up that website via Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. It's a database of hundreds of billions of pages archived from 1996 to the present.
This is a good way to view hard-to-find information because snapshots of websites — including many that are no longer live on the internet — have been archived here. I've successfully used Wayback Machine to dig up old blog pages that I can't find anywhere else.
FamilySearch
What We Like
Over 1 billion unique profiles.
Search by name, place of birth or death, and birthday or death date.
Mobile apps.
What We Don't Like
Strangers can view or change family trees.
FamilySearch, one ofthelargest collection of genealogical and historical records in the world, is primarily a genealogy tracker, which makes it an invaluable deep web people search tool as well.
Type in as much information as you know, and this site will return birth and death records, parental information, siblings, and more, complete with sources. Digital preservation, digital conversion, general preservation of records, and online indexing is available here as well, all at no charge
Zabasearch
What We Like
Search by name with state or phone number.
Partial numbers and full addresses in results.
No registration required.
What We Don't Like
Some users express privacy concerns.
Most clicking takes you to another site.
Zabasearch is an extraordinarily effective invisible web people search engine. It pulls details from public records that include court records, country and state records, phone number listings, public transactions, voter registration records, and information that the individuals themselves putonline.
Each time I've used this website, it shows me the person's middle name or middle initial, and their full address. If you want, you can click through to another website, Intelius, where you can pay for a lot more information.
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
What We Like
Search for patents by name or term and field of specialty.
View or print full page PDFs of patents.
What We Don't Like
Search before 1976 by issue date, patent number, and U.S. classification.
Must have information about the patent for an effective search.
If the person you're looking for has ever filed for a patent in the United States, you'll find it at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. For patents filed from 1976 and beyond, you can see the inventor's name and the patent's title, as well as other pertinent information.
Melissa Lookups
What We Like
Interesting collection of search tools.
Useful tools to find information about people.
Get 1,000 search credits for free.
What We Don't Like
Charges for tiers of credits after free credits are used.
Some tools require you to make a user account.
Melissa Lookups offers a wide range of free tools you can use to plumb the deep web for people information. This site searches U.S. addresses, house numbers by ZIP code, IP location, names, addresses, phone numbers, emails, and death information.
One of my favorite tools here is Personator. It verifies if someone's information is correct. I just have to put in the details I know, like a name, phone number, email, address, etc. In just a few seconds, it reports back to say if all of it matches an identity.
This site includes information for people in the US, Canada, Italy, India, Mexico, Singapore, Philippines, Australia, Germany, the UK, and some other locations.
192.com
What We Like
Specializes in searches for people in the U.K.
Basic search requires only a name.
Advanced options available.
What We Don't Like
Doesn't list the source of the data.
Registration and credits are required for most listings.
192.com contains data on people, businesses and places in the U.K. You can find full names, addresses, age guides, property prices, aerial photos, company and director reports, family records, and corporate information here, all pulled from a number of sources on both the general and invisible web.
Voter Registration Information
What We Like
Reveals the most recent physical address.
Likely more trustworthy than most other methods.
What We Don't Like
Usually must know the person's birthday.
Might work only in the US, and in certain states only.
Might be outdated if they haven't voted recently.
A little known fact is that you can find someone's home address using just their name and birthday. This is possible by looking up the person's voter registration information.
Some states consider vote registration information public record, and if the state has an online tool for finding this information, all you need to do is enter a few details about the person.
As an example, I visited Kansas Secretary of State | VoterView to find someone's home address, and all I knew about them was their name and birthday. Other states should work similarly, but it's possible you'll need details other than their birthday, or their address might not be public.
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