Shawn StephensonPACER — the federal courts’ Public Access to Court Electronic Records system — is the official database for federal court filings. It charges per-page fees, requires registration, and is the first tool most guides recommend for federal court research. But a significant portion of federal court records are accessible through free alternatives — and knowing … Read more
The IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search is a free government database that allows anyone to verify whether an organization has been granted federal tax-exempt status, check whether that status is currently active, and access the organization’s publicly filed financial returns — all in under five minutes, at no cost. If you’re donating to a charity, … Read more
Property deeds and filings are the recorded documents that document ownership transfers, encumbrances, and legal interests in real estate. Knowing how to find them, read them, and interpret what they show is one of the most practical skills in public records research — because property records answer questions about identity, financial condition, and legal history … Read more
SEC EDGAR is the Securities and Exchange Commission’s free public database of financial filings submitted by publicly traded companies, investment funds, and individuals with disclosure obligations under federal securities law. It contains some of the most detailed financial and ownership records available anywhere in public data — and it’s entirely free to search. For researchers, … Read more
Secretary of State business records are the official government filings that document the existence, ownership, structure, and history of every registered business entity in a state — corporations, LLCs, partnerships, and nonprofits. Searching them is free, takes under five minutes per state, and answers questions that no background check service can answer as directly: does … Read more
State court portals are the online search systems that allow the public to find and review court records by party name, case number, or other identifiers — without visiting a courthouse in person. Most states now provide free public access to at least some court records through these portals, making them one of the most … Read more
An investigation report is a structured document that organizes the findings of an investigation into a clear, source-cited, logically organized record that supports a specific decision, action, or conclusion — and that can be reviewed, challenged, and defended by anyone who reads it. You’ve completed an investigation. You’ve searched court records, verified employment, confirmed an … Read more
Deepfakes appear in fraud investigations in two distinct roles: as tools deployed by fraudsters to deceive victims and evade detection, and as evidence that investigators must identify, authenticate, and document when building a case around identity fraud, impersonation, or AI-assisted deception. Understanding both roles — deepfakes as a fraud weapon and deepfakes as investigative evidence … Read more
AI is changing background checks in two distinct and opposing directions simultaneously: it’s making legitimate background check processes faster, broader, and more accessible — and it’s making fraudulent applications, synthetic identities, and credential misrepresentation easier to produce and harder to detect with traditional methods. Understanding both directions matters. For anyone running background checks — employers, … Read more
When you need verified information about a person, two distinct tools are increasingly competing for the same task: AI-powered search and analysis tools that synthesize information from across the web, and public records databases that surface government-maintained documents directly. They produce different types of information, with different reliability profiles, from different sources — and understanding … Read more