Shawn StephensonVerifying that a business is legitimate is the process of confirming that a company legally exists, is in good standing with its state of registration, holds the licenses required for its claimed work, and has no significant legal, regulatory, or fraud history that contradicts its representation of itself. You found a contractor online. Or a … Read more
Checking whether someone is married using public records is the process of searching government-maintained vital records, court filings, and property records to confirm or refute a person’s claimed marital status — without relying on their own disclosure. Someone tells you they’re single. Or divorced. Or you simply want to verify what you’ve been told before … Read more
Investigating a suspicious tenant application is the process of independently verifying the identity, rental history, financial claims, and background of a rental applicant when something in their application raises a concern — using public records, direct verification, and screening tools to confirm whether the application accurately represents the person applying. A tenant application arrives and … Read more
Checking whether a person actually lives at an address is the process of confirming that a claimed residential location corresponds to a real, current association between a specific individual and a specific property — using public records, contact data cross-checks, and independent verification rather than the person’s own assertion. Someone gives you an address. A … Read more
Investigating unauthorized address use is the process of identifying who is using your address without your permission, determining what records or accounts have been created under it, and taking steps to remove or correct those records before they cause further harm. You start getting mail for someone you don’t know. A debt collector calls asking … Read more
Checking whether someone is using a fake name is the process of comparing their claimed identity against independent verifiable sources — public records, contact data, digital history, and cross-platform search — to confirm whether the name they’ve given you corresponds to a real person. Someone gives you a name. Maybe it’s online, maybe in person, … Read more
Verifying someone you met online is the process of confirming their identity, photo authenticity, and claimed details using independent sources — public records, reverse image search, and contact data cross-checks. It applies whether you connected on a dating app, a marketplace, a social platform, a gaming community, or anywhere else online. You connected with someone … Read more
Open-source intelligence has always depended on one assumption: that publicly available information reflects reality well enough to be useful. That assumption is eroding — not because OSINT methods are broken, but because the environment they operate in has changed. AI tools have collapsed the cost of fabrication. Building a believable fake persona, generating a photorealistic … Read more
“No records found” does not mean no records exist. It means the database you searched does not contain a matching record — which could be the result of reporting gaps, database lag, name mismatches, sealed records, or jurisdictional blind spots. Understanding why a search returns nothing is just as important as understanding what a positive … Read more
AI prompts are structured instructions that determine how effectively a general-purpose language model can assist with investigative work. A well-constructed prompt — built around a specific role, grounded in actual records, and designed to produce structured output — turns the model into a focused analytical instrument. AI does not investigate. It structures information. This guide … Read more