How do I track someone down?

[Malibook]

I have a friend (exfriend?) who has disappeared while owing me alot of money (alot for me anyway).
I called one day and his phone was disconnected and found out that he has moved.

I want to find him and sue his ass bigtime.
I have a contract in writing but I have no way of contacting him.

I'm thinking about hiring a private investigator to track him down for me.
I have no idea how much this would cost or if it is worthwhile.
He owes me $25k.

Any helpful ideas and information would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

I am just too damn nice, or maybe I should say stupid.
I also have an exgirlfriend who disappeared owing me $10k.
I have written off this $10k, I didn't expect to ever see this money anyway, but I want the $25k very much.

 

[Toad-O-Line]

Any chance I could borrow a few grand?

If you know his SIN a PI could track him down fairly quickly.

 

[Notion]

Friends Dissappearing without a trace!

Say Malibook could you make "friends" with my x-wife?

 

[Malibook]

I should have gotten his SIN number.

Maya_Indian, I would appreciate it if you could find that link for me.
He would be renting, has no credit cards and perhaps no phone.
He does have a SIN and driver's license.
Mucho gracias amigo.

He was a very good friend of mine and I am having a hard time accepting that this is happening.
I saved his ass numerous times.
Now I want to fry his ass bigtime.
Even if he does not have the money, he should at least keep in touch and pay whatever he can.
I could accept this.

I don't like thinking about this situation because it pisses me off.
Life is too short to be wasting on bullshit like this but the reality is that I am not rich and this is a significant amount of money for me, although I am not counting on getting it.
This is time and money that could be better spent with senoritas, travelling, and partying.

 

[Gentle Ben]

In order to get a default judgement the defendant must be notified of the trial by means of personally being served the proper court documents etc,wich means you still need to find the person.
There are collection agencies, they specialize in this, there are various fees etc. and some dont charge if they don't collect, they may be able to help

 

[Roadrage]

How about calling the cops. Supply them with a first and last name,press theft charges and they'll do a name search for you. Once they get him and charge him you can sue him for your lost money,unless you gave it to him in cash ,then your shit out of luck,it's your word against his.

 

[kilohurts]

You can try these guys:

http://www.introspec.com - Private Investigators

Kilo

 

[GlavaMan]

25K!!!

Don't even need a calulator for this one...it's 100 trips to an SP at an average of $250 per/hr!

If it looks like all is lost & the 25k is history, spend a couple of k to hire someone to find him & kick the living shit out of him! Friend or not he is laughing his ass off at you now.

 

[GlavaMan]

RE

Or maybe just threaten to!

 

[mr. miyagi]

There are many private investigation firms that could do this for you. Unlike that stalker sounding web site someone had posted a while back, it doesn't cost all that much and you don't need all that much info.

I used one a couple of years ago to find my high school sweetheart. All I had was a name and a date of birth and where she used to work. Not sure how but they found her living in B.C. Worth a shot and it costed me about $2000.00 so you're up about 1150 lap dances or 230 NR MP sessions.

 

[xix]

mr. miyagi

so did you contact that girl?
if so what did she say? did she think you were a psycho? no offence but I almost did it one time. Glad I never did. So you are my "what if?"

As for finding someone. Try www.canada411.com
don't enter the city ,first, then try the cities around where you live. Also try in finding his parents they may know where he is but don't mention that he owes you. Just that you want to catch up and talk about good old times.

also call any PI agency and ask how much it would cost to find someone.

 

[mr. x]

there was a piece on a tv show a few years back about how easily some "private investigator" tyes can find out detailed information using a few websites... things like credit card histories, and so on - i only caught the end of it and never found the whole story - it was on marketplace or w5 or something...

 

[WhaWhaWha]

Re: mr. miyagi

Also try finding his parents. They may know where he is but don't mention that he owes you. Just that you want to catch up and talk about good old times.

Exactly what I did. It was only a matter of about $2K, and a couple of Vista Phones. But principles being what they are I wanted some closure. Besides, I was more appalled at her choice to sever the friendship than the money itself. I called her and advised her to keep the money as she may need them. She took my advice.

Side Story... For some reason returned the phones. The big kicker... All her numbers were still programmed into them, and mine wasnt among them.

 

[Teddybear]

police intervention...

...will be pretty hard to get unless they feel that fraud was involved (bouncing cheques that were for the loan repayment, misleading you intentionally to get the money in a lump sum). If they get the sense that this was a number of loans over the course of a friendship, they'll suggest civil action.

In a civil action (provincial court instead of small claims because of the amounts involved) there are additional pieces to the process where you think that serving someone will be impossible, and you can still have a judgement eventually rendered. At that point, you can petition for a garnishee on any future wages, and put a lien on any real assets you think he may have (car, cottage, business). You can also register that order with each of the credit bureaus in canada (equifax, transcanada etc.). A lawyer can walk you through the process, and give you prices for filing each of these. I would think that it would be fairly reasonable given that you don't expect your ex-friend to contest any of this in court.

You may never see any of the money back. It's a hard pill to swallow, but it'll keep you sane. But you sure can cause him a lot of future agro with garnishee orders, liens, and a pooched credit rating.

 

[MRMARCUS]

$2000 to find a ex girlfriend. WOW you guys have time and lots of money. Maybe i need to get into that business.

 

[MRMARCUS]

Oh yeah i forgot to mention that there is a guy always advertising on MOJO radio(640 am).
He specializes in this sort of thing and has a 80% success rate. He has some pretty neat methods.

 

[kingcobra]

Daisy,

While some of the larger collection agencies may not be interested in your business, there are4 some smaller ones that would gladly take it and do a good job. PM me for details on one owned and operated by a friend of mine. He's been in the business for 30 years, runs a small shop, and will do a good job.

He can also tackle the $25k. If he finds the guy he can attempt to collect it. If the guy won't pay voluntarily, he may recommend legal action depending on the guy's financial situation. If it's not worth the money he'll tell you. If the guy is worth suing then he can do it cheaper than Joe Citizen as he has negotiated rates with lawyers specializing in collection matters based on volumes etc.

 

[Gentle Ben]

collection agancies

also, suppose they are succesful and charge a percentage of the monies collected, isint that better than getting all of nothing, which is what you have now?
Good Luck!

 

[iguana]

You have to find the guy first. Getting the money you can do legally or with some pressure. I met a guy who "smoked someone out " of house he was hidding in. I've also heard of a two guys holding an oak desk over a guy's head. No lawyers, no cheque's in the mail. That would be my preferred method. But to find the guy, get a SIN and driver's license no. A friendly cop might even me able to tell you where he is, but a PI can definitely find him unless he's living in a shack in the woods.
Only one guy ever ripped me off (2K), and that's only because I cooled down just before I blew his house up.
Why don't you post his name here and you'll have a 100 person posse head start?