Download - Due diligence internet 19 oct 2012
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Due diligence (Fraud and skip tracing)
Brenda Terreault, JD, CBANACM Oregon
October 19, 2012
Internet sources
Official Unofficial but Reliable News Unofficial and probably Unreliable Search engines
(www.blackbookonline.info)
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Search Engines
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Important
Spydialer says “sneaky but legal”, but……. Call “comes” out of Reno NV Can’t Spydial the Spydialer phone number Says it goes to voice mail – but could be
answered Once answered, can’t dial again BETA Only on U.S. cell phones
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Other search engines
www.yahoo.com www.Webcrawler.com www.mamma.com www.dogpile.com www.twingine.com www.bing.com
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Official Websites
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Official sources
Secretary of State Department of Licensing Department of Revenue State UCC filings Real property search sites Other sites depending on industry
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State filings
Most businesses register with the some state office, usually providingThe legal nameAssumed business name (s), if anyThe principals or corporate officersThe agent of recordThe date of filing
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State filings
Search engines providing multi-state linkswww.llrx.com/columns/roundup29.htm for a
national listing of Secretaries of State officeswww.blackbookonline.info
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State filings Some states require filing of trade names and
corporations/LLCs at Secretary of State’s OfficeColorado http://www.sos.state.co.us/biz/BusinessEntityCriteriaExt.do
Nevada http://nvsos.gov/sosentitysearch/
Oregon http://egov.sos.state.or.us/br/pkg_web_name_srch_inq.login
Idaho http://www.accessidaho.org/public/sos/corp/search.html?ScriptForm.startstep=viewentity&ScriptForm.startScriptForm.start.ScriptStepView.viewentityFILEvalue=C137507
Utah https://secure.utah.gov/bes/action/index
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State filings
Some states have filings of trade names and corporations/LLCs at different state offices
Washington – file trade names and corporations/LLCs in different officeshttp://www.sos.wa.gov/corps/corps_search.aspxhttps://fortress.wa.gov/dol/dolprod/bpdLicenseQuery/
Some states have filings of trade names at county office and corporations/LLCs at state office
California http://kepler.sos.ca.gov/http://www.coordinatedlegal.com/fbn.html
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Taxes
Washington - http://dor.wa.gov/content/doingbusiness/registermybusiness/BRD/Results.aspx?RequestType=1&Criteria=clark+systems&City=#brdResults
California - http://www.boe.ca.gov/cgi-bin/deliq.cgi
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UCC filings
Oregon –http://www.filinginoregon.com/ucc/index.htm
Washington - https://fortress.wa.gov/dol/ucc/ Idaho -
http://www.sos.idaho.gov/ucc/uccindex.htm California -
http://www.sos.ca.gov/business/ucc/
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Licensing and other necessities
Different industries may require different things for a business to operateConstructionTransportationRestaurants
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Construction
Oregon - http://www.ccb.state.or.us/
Washington - http://www.dol.wa.gov/business/UCC/index.html
California - https://www2.cslb.ca.gov/OnlineServices/CheckLicenseII/CheckLicense.aspx
Idaho - http://dbs.idaho.gov/publicworks/
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Restaurants
Health inspectors tend to be on the city or county level
Example: Portland/Multnomah County
http://www3.multco.us/MCHealthInspect/ListSearch.aspx#search
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Transportation
Department of Motor Vehicles Cost involvedPrivacy ConcernsAccuracy
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Miscellaneous licensing
Most towns require a local business license.Check the municipality’s website for on-line
license informationFor example,
http://www.portlandonline.com/licenses/lookup/
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Real Property
Tends to be a county by county decision Every search site is different A great site in New Jersey
http://www.njactb.org/
http://php.app.com/mod4_10/search.php
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=DATA
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Real Property Oregon - County tax assessor
Portland maps - http://www.portlandmaps.com/ Deschutes -
http://www.deschutes.org/index.cfm?objectId=836F545E-BDBD-57C1-91EC7EC87DBBD7EA
Douglas - http://www.co.douglas.or.us/puboaa/puboaa_search.asp#results
Washington - http://info.kingcounty.gov/Assessor/eRealProperty/default.aspx
California - http://assessor.lacounty.gov/extranet/Outsidesales/saleintr.aspx
Unofficial (but probably reliable) Websites
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Individual business websites
Google the business nameSort through multiplesMay need to include additional info: city and
state where located? Google the street address
Could find multiple businessesCould find virtual office
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Individual business websites
Might not find a company website Might find company website has been
taken down
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Reference checks
The ones on the application The other ones
LandlordUtilitiesUCC filingsVisual “references”
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Listed reference
Try their websiteCompare the phone number and address
Google Try the phone number search sites
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Investigation: Business Information
Directory searches for contact information:www.switchboard.comwww.dexknows.comwww.411.comwww.lead411.comwww.jigsaw.comwww.blackboardonline.info
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Miscellaneous People
www.pipl.com www.123people.com www.linkedin.com www.facebook.com www.myspace.com
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Getting a different reference
Consider what language you have in your terms and conditionsWho and when
Potential places to locate those “references”UCC filings Industry GroupsOther resources you may have
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Investigation: Public Records
www.llrx.com/columns/roundup29.htm - An especially helpful site that attempts to cover all public (state) records.
www.blackbookonline.info – A site used by skip-tracers and others trying to find additional information.
http://publicrecords.onlinesearches.com/
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Miscellaneous
Real propertywww.zillow.com
In GeneralBetter Business Bureau -
http://www.bbb.org/us/Find-Business-Reviews/
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News Sites
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News
Local papers Wall Street Journal Business Journals Trade rags
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Monitoring Accounts or Topics
Use a website to track information on specific accounts; e.g. Google Alerts - http://www.google.com/alerts?hl=enSet up alerts As found, daily, monthly, etc.Receive by email
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Unofficial (and probably unreliable) Websites
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Pay Sites
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Public records can cost you
Pacer http://www.pacer.gov/psco/cgi-bin/links.pl Must set up an account with the court and place a
credit card on the account Card is charged once a quarter. You get an email telling you
to print off invoice for your records.
Rules of thumb Don’t print unless you HAVE to (even then it’s only 10
cents a page) Use Mozilla Firefox
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Other skip tracing and asset searching
Credit reports Read between the lines Look for mortgages Car loans or leases Look for bank info
Equity lines Credit card information Look for names of financing companies that stores
use for same as cash programs. FTL Finance
Credit inquiries
Other skip tracing and asset searching
NACM Report NACM Groups Signs Post office Landlords Neighbors
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References
The Cybersleuth’s Guide to the Internet; Carole A. Levitt, JD, MLS and Mark E. Rosch
The web itselfDon’t be afraid to play