Can anyone suggest how I might "track down" someone ....

[pmhoran]

I belong to a few support forums for people with the same disability as I have.

One of our members is "Missing in Action" ... which is totally out of character for him and his sudden absense has caused a lot of us concern. Trouble is ... everyone uses a "handle" and although we know the State and region he lives in ... no one knows his real name.

We are worried about him because like the rest of us ... he is disabled ... but is basically on his own (no support system to speak of). So of course we are all worried he has collapsed in his home and no one has found him yet.

I have done a "preliminary search" on his IP (which the forum owner provided to me). I used to know the "how to's" and "where to go's" in order to source out as much info on a person ... but its been years since I last did it and I have totally forgotten how I used to do it.

Anyone with any suggestions? I know who his ISP is (cable internet) and how to contact them etc. I also found out his IP has been blacklisted by a lot of anti-spam sites ... but not sure if he himself is the culprit or if its maybe someone else in the block of IP's that have been banned and he just got caught in the fallout.

Any suggestions or input on how I might get more info is greatly appreciated.

Basically ... we want to, hopefully, find a specific name & location of him and then call the local cops to just pop around to make sure he is OK ... or check if he is maybe in hospital or ????

Thanks
Peter

 

[Moobrack]

Have you contacted his ISP regarding your concern for his welfare?

Maybe the ISP can call his home to make sure everything is in order and nothing has taken a turn for the worse?

I'm really spent for ideas as to where to go with this problem, it's not something I have had the misfortune of happening, to anybody I know.

I wish you the very best of luck!

 

[ldcdc]

Does he have any sites (domains) that you know of? Maybe you can take a look at their whois then...

 

[pmhoran]

Thanks Dan and MVAnthony ...

Dan ... nope ... he has no domains. But good suggestion for me to keep in mind

MVAnthony ... one of our group is trying to convince his ISP to do something or give us the info so we can do something. Last I heard ... he is working up "the chain of command" until he finally finds a supervisor or manager that is willing to make a decision. Big companies ... I hate 'em

Again ... thanks
Peter

 

[Blue]

Peter, have you review older posts by this person to see if somewhere along the line he may have indicated a place of work or a neighborhood, perhaps he mentioned a hospital or treatment center one time that he used.

 

[pmhoran]

Yeah ... went through all his posts for the past few years and he didn't divulge much info ... unfortunately. But we did track him down to his municipality ... and we have his first name.

I had given the "other concerned members" the guys ISP and suggested they call. One person tried to get the ISP to call him, or give us his last name or something ... but its one of those huge cable internet companies and they wouldn't help or even budge a bit to help.

Then the "other concerned members" decided I should "do it all" ... as in calling the ISP and seeing how far I can get. Everyone else lives in the USA, including the guy thats missing ... I am in Canada. They can all phone toll free to the ISP ... some members its a local call ... others there is an 800 number. Me ... I would have to pay long distance. I am concerned about the guy ... but I am not going to rack up big long distance charges to help when others can do the same thing with no charge to them.

I guess thats the SOB side of me rearing its ugly head. I have done all the work to get the info we have so far ... I don't mind spending a bunch of time and energy in the effort ... but I can't afford to spend $$ in the effort. I even checked the online obits and news articles for the local paper to see if anyone with his first name and the description we have of him (first name, age, height & weight, marital status & number of kids that we had gathered from his posts over the years) ... but I didn't see anything that would be him.

Anyway ... rant and rave over. I think I have done all that can be expected of me ... its up to the "other concerned members" now as far as I am concerned. Until I hear something different, I am going to assume he is OK and just chose to take a "vacation" from the forums.

Thanks everyone for all your help and suggestions ... both here and those sent via PM. They were all helpful and appreciated.

Peter