Losing contact with someone is something that tends to happen from time to time, as everyone has busy lives. If you’ve realized you lost contact with someone important to you somehow, you may wonder what the best way to get back in touch with them again.
Our article tells you how to find someone you lost contact with for free and offers other helpful tips for your search.
Reasons to Search for a Lost Contact
You might want to try and regain contact with someone you’ve fallen out of touch with for many reasons. Below, we give the most common reasons that people undertake this search.
- To regain contact with a long-lost relative, friend, close family member, or classmate.
- To ensure the safety of a friend or relative you’ve lost contact with.
- To find someone to serve papers for a lawsuit, such as an old roommate or a former partner.
- To find the previous resident of your property to forward packages or speak about property issues.
Obviously, this is not a complete list of reasons, and it’s important to note that searching for someone you lost contact with can be a very personal process. Though as long as you aren’t searching for someone to harass them or otherwise commit a crime, whatever reason you have for searching is valid.
Free Methods to Find Someone You Lost Contact With
When you’re trying to figure out how to find someone you lost contact with for free, the following methods will help you get started. Make sure to try all of these research methods, as you never know which one will give you the best, most accurate results.
1) Utilize Internet Search Browsers
Internet search browsers such as Google are a great first place to start regarding free searches. Simply type the name of the person you are looking for into the search bar and browse the first page of results. Of course, the more pages of results you click through, the less accurate they might be, so be sure to keep this in mind.
In addition to searching someone’s name, you may also want to search the location you last knew them to live in, any known employers, or any pertinent information about them, such as organizations they were involved in. Finding this type of information can point you in the right direction of narrowing down their current location or contact information.
2) Check Social Media
Social media is another helpful search option you can use for free. You may be ‘friends’ or connected with the person you are searching for on various social media websites, or you may be mutual friends with them. Search through your connections on popular social media websites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram to try and locate information about the person you have lost contact with.
You may want to use their name in the search bar, or you may want to look through organizations and online groups that they may be involved in. Keep in mind that you might also need to have an account with these social media pages to find this information about someone and that the information on their profile will likely need to be set to ‘public.’
Some social media websites also show the owner of the profile who has been viewing their pages, so if you are trying to keep your search anonymous, you may want to stay away from sites that offer this function (LinkedIn is a notable social media website that does this).
3) Use a People Search Tool
People search tools are helpful online search engines that allow you to review all public records available about someone. To use a people search tool, simply type in that person’s name and information and run the search. An easy-to-read report compiled from public records that are available online will be returned, and you will be able to access important information such as email addresses, known addresses, and employers of the person. You can then use this helpful information to continue your search or contact the person directly. We recommend using the people search offered at Information.com, since it also shows social media accounts in their results.
4) Speak to Mutual Friends and Family
Even if you have lost contact with someone, mutual friends and family might be able to provide you with updated contact information or a better idea of how to regain contact with them. Ask around with friends and family that knew them to try to gain some information about what happened to the person you lost contact with.
However, make sure you know that these mutual friends and family might pass on the fact that you are searching for someone to the person in question. Therefore, if you are trying to keep your search more subtle, you may want to avoid this option until you have tried all the others.
5) Check With Local Hospitals and Law Enforcement
If you have lost contact with someone and have reason to believe they are in danger or in custody, you can reach out to local hospitals or law enforcement. You will need their full legal name or the name they are likely to give healthcare professionals to conduct this search. You will also need to keep in mind that it takes between 24 and 48 hours for someone’s information to be accessible via police data systems.
What Should I Do if I Find My Lost Contact?
If you succeed with one of these search methods and come across your lost contact, you may wonder what your next steps should be. In most cases, it helps to stop and evaluate the situation first.
You should consider whether or not the person wants to hear from you and what you should say if you plan to reach out. If you do reach out in an attempt to make contact again and the person rejects it, don’t push them or try to get them to engage with you; this only results in problems down the line.
Additionally, if you are searching for someone due to a lawsuit or other court issues, you should deliver their contact information to your lawyer or court and avoid contacting the person directly. Making direct contact might further complicate the legal matter.
As long as you carefully utilize all of the search methods listed in our article and then carefully consider your next steps after locating the person you lost contact with, you can safely and easily find someone you wish to reconnect with.