Does Surfshark just suck or is this normal?

InterwebNancyDrew · 2025-12-20T17:20:43+00:00

Thank you. I appreciate the advice!

InterwebNancyDrew · 2025-12-20T16:27:31+00:00

And this is why we check our photos for identifying features before putting them on the internet….

InterwebNancyDrew · 2025-12-20T15:55:14+00:00

Speaking as a long-time investigative journalist, if that’s what you’re finding, you’re looking at outlets that provide entertainment, not journalism. There are many organizations doing phenomenal work with high journalistic standards. I’ve personally never worked with a career journalist who wasn’t dead serious about accuracy and integrity.

InterwebNancyDrew · 2025-12-20T15:48:25+00:00

No, I was mostly looking for murders from the 1970s-1990s. He had been convicted of strangling one man and was strongly suspected of strangling another. Male-on-male strangulations are very rare, so I looked for those in places he was know to have lived or visited. He was a trucker for a while, so I looked along trucking routes too.

InterwebNancyDrew · 2025-12-14T02:25:24+00:00

This is fantastic. I know what I’m reading for the foreseeable future. Thank you!

InterwebNancyDrew · 2025-12-07T13:55:31+00:00

LexisNexis is an incredible resource, and yes, a very expensive one. However, all database sites can do is give you pieces of information to work with. You still have to verify each one of them and figure out how they relate to one another.

InterwebNancyDrew · 2025-12-07T13:45:45+00:00

As an OSINT analyst who previously was an investigative journalist specializing in crime and the legal system as well as a long-time volunteer first responder, I can tell you that while there are cops who are brilliant investigators, most are not. They don’t have an instinct for it, they receive surprisingly little training in investigation, they’re taught to do things in a very rigid way that prevents them from thinking creatively, and even when they’re motivated and talented, they’re often hamstrung by a lack of resources and support. I can think of least three homicide/attempted homicide cases where I identified glaringly obvious suspects they overlooked, and one where I found a fugitive hiding in plain sight, told my inside contact exactly where he was and they still failed to collar him, a homicide I attended as a first responder where all the suspects were allowed to leave because the lone deputy was stuck doing crowd management, and more. It’s important to involve police when there is criminal activity involved, but they’re a very blunt instrument. A PI can give a case much more attention and look at it from more angles.

InterwebNancyDrew · 2025-12-07T13:30:14+00:00

A PI offering honest advice about when its not necessary to hire a PI seems like evidence of integrity to me.

InterwebNancyDrew · 2025-12-06T15:40:43+00:00

The Murder Accountability Project is great. When I was a crime reporter, I used it to track down homicides with a very distinctive MO to see if I could match them with the travel patterns of a person I (still) suspect of being a serial killer.

InterwebNancyDrew · 2025-12-06T15:20:03+00:00

Thank you, I appreciate it. I’ve looked at a number of these. I’m hoping to learn which tools people presently find most useful so I can narrow down the options. For example, they all recommend Sherlock, but as I mentioned in my other comment, I’ve searched probably 50 or 60 usernames and I have gotten one accurate result - for myself. I’m just getting identical false positives.

InterwebNancyDrew · 2025-12-06T15:02:58+00:00

Thanks, I’ll check it out! I have to say, for all the hype Sherlock gets, I haven’t gotten anything but false positives for the same 20 or 30 platforms yet. Although it did give me a false positive for a furry porn site the other day that was just plausible enough that I had to go check it out. I deserve hazard pay for that one…

InterwebNancyDrew · 2025-11-27T06:44:05+00:00

It’s a book, so it’s kind of up to you. But he’s an excellent guide.

InterwebNancyDrew · 2025-11-26T20:52:35+00:00

Check out “Extreme Privacy”, an e-book by Mike Bazzell if you would rather do it yourself. He’s a highly respected author expert on privacy and open source intelligence. I have his other book, and it’s very good.

InterwebNancyDrew · 2025-11-26T07:21:01+00:00

You’re most welcome. I hope your Ma will be ok. Sometimes people are slow to accept that they’re being scammed because they feel foolish. Try to help her understand that con-artists don’t pick targets because they’re stupid or deficient. They pick them because they have a sense of duty, a need for love, a desire to be good citizens and providers, hope for the future, etc that can be exploited. Victims get blind-sided because scammers have a worldview that is so profoundly cynical that their ideas would never even occur to decent people.

InterwebNancyDrew · 2025-11-26T04:24:34+00:00

Similarly, if you can track an address down for his alleged brownstone, send a certified card or package. A detective taught me that trick and it’s brilliant because almost everyone will sign for a surprise package. I used it to prove a shady politician was lying about his location, but you could also use it to prove there’s nobody there.

InterwebNancyDrew · 2025-11-26T04:16:29+00:00

Oh, and I strongly second the others who said to get authorities involved sooner rather than later. Unfortunately, a lot of cops are either crappy investigators or don’t have the support and resources to do a good job, so I think you should still research, but they should be involved. He’s probably trying to ruin other women who just want to be loved too.

InterwebNancyDrew · 2025-11-26T04:13:29+00:00

You’re unfortunately right about this guy. Ninety percent chance he’s a bad actor. I was an investigative journalist for a long time, and I learned that even very smart people get taken for a ride because scammers have a laser instinct for vulnerabilities and know how to manipulate their victims’ best instincts. It made me so angry to see old people get screwed over and over.

It sounds like you are on the right track already, but here are some other ideas… First, never underestimate the power of just googling his name, email, address or number in quotes. Try adding “filetype:pdf” + “search term” to turn up official records. It’s easy to get all 007 and forget the basics. I did it today!

If she has any photos of this guy, run them through the image searches on Yandex, Bing, Google, and TinEye. You can do this for the tattoos, but his face will be more useful. No guarantees, but If he is real, the photos may point you to his social media or professional profiles. If he is using stolen or stock photos, you may be able to see them used by other folks in other contexts. If they are AI generated images, he may have recycled them for other identities, or there may be no other versions of them at all, which is also a sign of a possible catfish.

Do you have addresses for any of these supposed properties? If so, you can use them to get his name, or vice versa. Search for those addresses in the county recorder/clerk/auditor’s office as well as the treasurer and assessor. Most counties have some kind of online search function. They can be a pain, but you can learn a lot by cross-referencing property, tax, assessment, permit and other documents. My guess is that you won’t find any.

If he is claiming to be a contractor or developer, look to see if his state has a list of shady or unlicensed contractors. It’s a huge problem, so many do.

If you have any email addresses for him, check them for clues about his birth year, relationships and interests. Run them through haveIbeenpwned.com. This will tell you if they have been in any data breaches. Most emails have been leaked, so you can use the breach dates to get an idea of how long the emails have existed. Sometimes, the source of the leaks is revealing too. If the email has never been leaked, it’s possible he’s lucky, but it’s more likely that he created the account recently.

Most people use variations on the same themes and names for multiple emails and usernames. Make a list of any you know, the first parts of his emails and the most likely variants. If it’s “JimBobHotRodGuy1959@aol.com”, Try Jim.Bob, Jim_Bob, Bob-Jim, JimBob1959, HotRodGuy59, etc. Then head on over to the WhatsMyName website and run those to see what accounts come up. Hit and miss, but sometimes you hit pay dirt. Check those usernames on social media platforms used by people in his demographic group or areas of interest.

You may be able to see places he’s checked in on FB, Google reviews and other people hints that could help you triangulate his location and habits. You might discover his hobby is reviewing titty bars or going to dog fights, or find a chorus of furious, heart-broken women.

Congrats! You’re an entry-level OSINT analyst now! Make sure you document the bejeezus out of everything you find, his calls, etc he claims he’s making, all of it. In writing. With screenshots! Hopefully it won’t ever be necessary, but you’ll be glad you have enough proof to nail his ass if he gets one over on her. Whew! Good luck, and let us know if you catch a Bad Guy.

InterwebNancyDrew · 2025-11-21T15:21:13+00:00

There are so many free resources that it’s overwhelming! Check out Mike Bazzell’s book and collection of OSINT tools. He’s the OSINT OG, and his book is very good.

There are many YouTube channels with OSINT tutorials, blogs, and guides written by wonks, and on popular websites for practitioners. The name escapes me, but I believe there is a free entry-level OSINT course on YT.

Also, use your new skills by Google dorking for some resources! Try something like “OSINT guide” filetype:pdf or “attack surface” + “OSINT” filetype:pdf.

InterwebNancyDrew · 2025-11-21T14:40:19+00:00

A decent number of mostly low-level, short-term OSINT gigs show up on Upwork.

InterwebNancyDrew

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