If I were a defendant in a civil court case in which the plaintiff was seeking a monetary award, I would think twice about trying to avoid payment. Decades ago, it was a lot easier to avoid paying long enough to allow a judgment to expire. But thanks to the internet, doing so is no longer so easy.
To say that the internet has forever changed judgment collection is to state the obvious. It has more than changed things; it has completely revolutionized how organizations like Judgment Collectors do what they do. Professional debt collectors now owe much of their success to the internet and something known as open-source intelligence (OSINT).
For the record, OSINT used to be the exclusive domain of cybersecurity specialists who relied on it to learn as much as they could about hackers and other threat actors. But debt collectors have come to understand its value is well. They now rely on it heavily.
From Blind Searches to Digital Paper Trail
Before the internet, debt collectors were limited to what we now call the ‘blind search’. All they had to go on was the information found in court records. They had a dig for everything else. In so many cases, gathering information was like blindly grasping for straws.
It was a blind search because creditors and their collection representatives didn’t know where to start looking. They had no way of knowing what types of assets a debtor might own. If a debtor packed up and moved away, finding out was extremely difficult. But the internet changed everything.
The internet has created a digital paper trail for just about everybody who uses it. Surprisingly, few people fully understand the extent of that paper trail. Above and beyond things like social media and real estate websites, the internet is also a treasure trove of information thanks to:
- Property Records – Counties publish property records online. Anyone can look up property transactions to see who is buying and selling.
- UCC Records – The states publish business records online. Anyone can research an individual to find out if he has taken out business loans, for example.
- Court Records – Both state and federal courts make all public information available through comprehensive online portals.
By their nature, public records are freely accessible to anyone. And thanks to the internet and digital transformation, nearly all of that information is now available online. Creditors and their collection representatives just need to know where to look.
The Social Media Phenomenon
At the heart of so much OSINT success is social media. Most people, including judgment debtors, tend to over share on their social sites. They post vacation pictures featuring their favorite bling. They update their followers on the new house they just purchased. They talk about getting promotions and receiving bonuses.
It’s amazing what investigators can learn by viewing pictures and carefully reading text. Their targets – judgment debtors – simply cannot understand how much they reveal through seemingly innocuous social media posts.
Skip Tracing Platforms
When investigators need more than what is provided by public records and social media, they can utilize skip tracing platforms that take advantage of paid databases. These are databases utilized by all sorts of companies to conduct their day-to-day operations. They are a goldmine of information relating to contact information, family relationships, and even an individual debtor’s physical location.
The internet has completely revolutionized judgment collection. If I am ever on the losing end of a civil lawsuit, I’m going to find a way to pay. I don’t want to live my life being hunted across the internet by skilled investigators.