How to find someone who owes you money?

How to find someone who owes you money?

Author
Discussion

abdulaziz

Original Poster:

656 posts

193 months

Tuesday 13th May 2008
quotequote all
A friend of mine has a bit of situation and has asked me for advice, so I thought it would be well worth putting it up here and getting some info, as I’m sure someone on here must have been in a similar situation.

Basically my friend owns a company, a customer has run up a rather high bill (£25000 to be exact)and basically legged it with out paying. So what’s the best way to trace this guy and get the money back? So far all attempts have failed.


Also if he employs a collection agency / bailiff what can / will they do to get the money back and what are the chances of them finding this guy.

He no longer resides at his home address, although his parents still live there and claim they don’t know where he is now. Any ideas chaps?

curtisl

1,370 posts

206 months

Tuesday 13th May 2008
quotequote all
Hire a Private Eye, it's amazing how quickly they come up trumps, then go and buy some pigs, a lot of plastic sheeting. well basically once you find him take him into a room done up like the room in snatch and scare the £25k out of him.

Wings

5,814 posts

215 months

Tuesday 13th May 2008
quotequote all
abdulaziz said:
A friend of mine has a bit of situation and has asked me for advice, so I thought it would be well worth putting it up here and getting some info, as I’m sure someone on here must have been in a similar situation.

Basically my friend owns a company, a customer has run up a rather high bill (£25000 to be exact)and basically legged it with out paying. So what’s the best way to trace this guy and get the money back? So far all attempts have failed.


Also if he employs a collection agency / bailiff what can / will they do to get the money back and what are the chances of them finding this guy.

He no longer resides at his home address, although his parents still live there and claim they don’t know where he is now. Any ideas chaps?
I tend to use Friends Reunited or Facebook, locate either the person or last known friends of that person.

smilerbaker

4,071 posts

215 months

Tuesday 13th May 2008
quotequote all
if you contact a debt collector, and prove the debt, they will look for him. I had to do this once, and they found him. Unfortunatly he was living in a crappy house boat and driving a wreck of a car, so they wouldn't persue it any further. If they don't think they will get much / any money from him then they walk away.

Edited by smilerbaker on Tuesday 13th May 13:44

MitchT

15,867 posts

209 months

Tuesday 13th May 2008
quotequote all
I'd focus on the parents. I'm pretty sure they're an accessory to some sort of financial crime if they do know where he is but are claiming they don't. Also worth considering that if he owes your mate £25k, and your mate will be taxed on that, then he effectively owes the Inland Revenue a percentage of £25k... Those buggers would manage to find Osama Bin Laden if they thought he owed them money.

smilerbaker said:
if you contact a debt collector, and prove the debt, they will look for him. I had to do this once, and they found they found they. Unfortunatly he was living in a crappy house boat
Could always drill a hole in the bottom as revenge hehe

Edited by MitchT on Tuesday 13th May 13:32

Chrisgr31

13,474 posts

255 months

Tuesday 13th May 2008
quotequote all
How come someone living with their parents has run up a bill for £25K? Whats the product? What are the terms of payment?

Even if they find the guy does he have any assets they can take?

slow_poke

1,855 posts

234 months

Tuesday 13th May 2008
quotequote all
Have a word with jamesuk28, appaerntly he's v good at this sort of thing......

abdulaziz

Original Poster:

656 posts

193 months

Tuesday 13th May 2008
quotequote all
Cheers for the replys guys, all his details that are held by my friends company are relating to the parents home.

Is there anyway to check if he owns another house or even a car?

Dupont666

21,607 posts

192 months

Tuesday 13th May 2008
quotequote all
suspect you should be talking to jamesuk28 he is a debit recoverer.

Ask over in the business section.

wargriff

1,890 posts

202 months

Tuesday 13th May 2008
quotequote all
www.192.com

and

www.tracesmart.com

are very good..or googlewink

thehawk

9,335 posts

207 months

Tuesday 13th May 2008
quotequote all
Bottom line is that if he has deliberately done this they your mate has no chance of ever seeing the money.

JamieBeeston

9,294 posts

265 months

Tuesday 13th May 2008
quotequote all
slow_poke said:
Have a word with jamesuk28, appaerntly he's v good at this sort of thing......
QFT!

James seems to be the bees knees at this!

I'm always itching for someone to default on a payment just so I can sick James on themwink

J

Mattygooner

5,301 posts

204 months

Tuesday 13th May 2008
quotequote all
Tie the parents up, take some pics, post them on his facebook, give it 10 minutes, answer the phone.

[Lenny McLean]"If you don't wanna be counting, the fingers you ain't got, you better get me that cash"[Lenny McLean]

Neil_H

15,323 posts

251 months

Tuesday 13th May 2008
quotequote all
Murder the parents? Then you can catch the guy at the funeral. idea

curtisl

1,370 posts

206 months

Tuesday 13th May 2008
quotequote all
Neil_H said:
Murder the parents? Then you can catch the guy at the funeral. idea
quality!!

abdulaziz

Original Poster:

656 posts

193 months

Tuesday 13th May 2008
quotequote all
curtisl said:
Neil_H said:
Murder the parents? Then you can catch the guy at the funeral. idea
quality!!
smokin

branflakes

2,039 posts

238 months

Tuesday 13th May 2008
quotequote all
I might be able to help (I used to be a private investigator). PM me everything you know about him (and I mean everything - name, address, what he owes the money for, how he was supposed to be paying, age, parents names, hobbie etc, no matter how obscure the detail. I once found a guy because someone told me he liked a certain type of beer that I'd never heard of. I found out what company brewed it and which pubs they sold it to and found him in one of the pubs!) and I'll see if I can help. I'm not gonna post anything else here though, because some of the techniques used to find people are very sneaky!

Boosted LS1 used to be a PI as well, he might be able to help.

abdulaziz

Original Poster:

656 posts

193 months

Wednesday 14th May 2008
quotequote all
Cheers for the replies guys, but is there anything that can be done by the individual to help trace the person before calling on the professionals?

What are some of the methods available apart from what has already been mentioned?

chris_w666

22,655 posts

199 months

Wednesday 14th May 2008
quotequote all
If his debt is for legal (ie not dodgy) products or services then try contacting the BiB for advice, as his runner could amount to some kind of fraud.

If its not for legal stuff then im sure the appropriate knuckle draggers have been informed.

blindswelledrat

25,257 posts

232 months

Wednesday 14th May 2008
quotequote all
chris_w666 said:
If his debt is for legal (ie not dodgy) products or services then try contacting the BiB for advice, as his runner could amount to some kind of fraud.

.
The BiB will simply tell him that it has nothing to do with them and is a civil matter.
Otherwise every company who ever gave credit would be jamming up our police system.

Anyway OP: A tracing agent is the person who will find them, usually relatively cheaply.
I echo what has been said before though. He'll never see a penny.