Internet Search

Tue Apr 8 14:24:00 CDT 2003

One that has worked for me has been to check out the executives listed on
the company website and do a search against their names, both independently
and combined with the company name.  I'd try the exact text of the
executive names on Google and also on the BBB website.  The BBB search will
let you know if they have put together other companies under different
names, popular technique for scam artists.

I'd also try doing an exact text search against their street address.  That
may let you know if they have more than one company listed at the same
address, another popular scam artist technique.  Along those lines, I'd try
searches on the exact text of the company name and executive names along
with the name of the city, county, state, and judicial district they are
in.  You could try those on google, but you might have better luck on a
state caselaw index, if there is one in the state they are in.

It's a little more work, but one other technique that has worked for me as
well has been to do a nationwide people search against the names of the
executives and matched the hits up as to which was within 50 miles of a
company office.  Generally, you won't get more than one hit, so you know
then that you have a home address (and maybe phone number) for a bigwig in
the company.  You can then do the same address and court records searches
listed before to see what they have been up to at home.  Your scammer might
have hidden problems by opening a new office in a new city, but if they
have hosted a scam from home, the address might give you a hit.

By the way, that "name near an office" technique works great if you are
getting really bad customer service and want to make a point.  I called the
VP of an airline at home once on December 22nd to find out what happened to
my sister-in-law's 3-day lost baggage.  After he got over his initial shock
and anger, we got that luggage back in a REAL hurry.  Good thing too -- she
wasn't my sister-in-law yet, the wedding was the 23rd, and the bag had her
wedding dress in it. :)

Hope that helps!

- Kevin

                    Doug Bronson                                                                    

                    <doug at bronson-tate.com       To:     "kclug at kclug.org" <kclug at kclug.org>        

                    >                            cc:                                                

                    Sent by:                     Subject:     Internet Search                       

                    owner-kclug at marauder.i                                                          

                    lliana.net                                                                      

                    04/07/2003 10:06 PM                                                             

Hi group,

This is a little off topic, but I need some help with an internet
search.

I'm trying to find some NEGATIVE information about a company on the
internet. I have used all of my search tools (google, netscape,
webferret, exite, hotbot, yahoo etc...) and all I keep getting is the
same old info., all of which is the company's adds. and/or sites linking
to their URL.

I've tried searching the BBB's site, the states site which they are in,
their regulatory's sites and several newsgroups which would pertain to
their business. All turned up nothing new.

Either I'm the only person on the planet that has a problem with this
organization or they are covering up all bad publicity, very well.

So my questions are:
Any search engines out there that will search most of the newsgroups?
Any other general search engine I should try?
Any linux or windows based programs that will aid in the search?

I know that everyone is wanting to know what company it is and what they
did that pissed me off. But I prefer to keep it confidential. I feel
that they might catch wind that I'm on to the little scam that they are
trying to pull on me, thus start making my life miserable.
So for now let me just keep it MY little secret.

Thanks
Doug