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/

Arrest records

http://convicted.me/inmates

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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

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Questions?

bterreault@nacmoregon.org

971-230-1196