Ethical people-finding and identity verification using 15 parallel research agents (5 types x 3 each = 45 concurrent search threads) across people search aggregators, social media, public records, and reverse lookups.
When you're trying to find someone — a lost contact, an old colleague, someone who called from an unknown number — a generic AI will either refuse outright or give you a list of websites to manually search yourself. It has no systematic method for cross-referencing sources, no confidence scoring to tell you when a match is solid vs. shaky, and no understanding of which search strategy fits which starting point (a name, a phone number, an email address, an image). You end up doing the work the tool should be doing.
PrivateInvestigator deploys 15 parallel research agents — 5 types times 3 each — against public data sources simultaneously, not sequentially. Each agent type covers different ground: people search aggregators (TruePeopleSearch, FastPeopleSearch, Spokeo), social media x-ray searches via Google dorking, public records (voter registration, property records, PACER court portals, professional licenses), and reverse lookup services for phones (CallerID, NumLookup), emails (Epieos, Holehe, Hunter.io), images (PimEyes, TinEye), and usernames (Sherlock, WhatsMyName). Results get confidence-scored at four levels — HIGH requires 3+ matching identifiers across independent sources. The five workflows (FindPerson, SocialMediaSearch, PublicRecordsSearch, ReverseLookup, VerifyIdentity) handle distinct starting points. Everything stays in the public-data green zone — no pretexting, no auth bypass, no PI-licensed databases.
What you say to your DA, and what the PrivateInvestigator skill actually does.
The thinking, frameworks, and architecture that distinguish this skill from a generic version of the same task.
Finds people and verifies identities using public data only. It fans out 15 parallel research agents (5 types, 3 each — 45 concurrent search threads) across people-search aggregators, social media, public records, and reverse lookups, then scores results by confidence (HIGH/MEDIUM/LOW/POSSIBLE) requiring 3+ matching identifiers before it trusts a match.
Finding a real person from a name, a phone number, or an email is scattered across dozens of sources — people-search sites, county records, court portals, social platforms, reverse-lookup services — and no single one gives you the answer. Common names make it worse: search "John Smith" and you get thousands of people, most of them the wrong one. Run the searches one at a time and you either give up before you've covered enough sources or you act on a single weak match and contact the wrong person. This skill runs the sources in parallel and refuses to call a match real until several independent identifiers line up.
Public data only. No hacking, pretexting, or authentication bypass — every technique here is legal and ethical. The work runs as a parallel investigation: 15 research agents launch in one message, each running sub-searches, and findings get cross-checked and confidence-scored before anything is reported.
| Trigger | Workflow | Action |
|---|---|---|
| "find person", "locate" | FindPerson.md |
Full investigation using parallel research agents |
| "social media search" | SocialMediaSearch.md |
Cross-platform social media investigation |
| "public records" | PublicRecordsSearch.md |
Government and official records search |
| "reverse lookup" | ReverseLookup.md |
Phone, email, image, username searches |
| "verify identity" | VerifyIdentity.md |
Confirm correct person match |
MANDATORY: Extensive Parallel Research
Every investigation uses 15 parallel research agents (5 types × 3 each):
Agent Types:
Each agent executes 3 sub-searches = 45 parallel search threads per investigation
Launch Pattern: All 15 agents launch in a SINGLE message with multiple Task tool calls.
| Service | Type | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| TruePeopleSearch | Free | Best free option, fresh data |
| FastPeopleSearch | Free | Basic lookups, no signup |
| Spokeo | Freemium | Social media aggregation (120+ networks) |
| BeenVerified | Paid | Comprehensive background data |
site:linkedin.com "John Smith" "Software Engineer"
site:facebook.com "lives in" "Austin" "marketing"
filetype:pdf resume "Jane Doe" "San Francisco"
Tier 1: Foundation Data
Tier 2: Primary Research
Tier 3: Deep Investigation
Tier 4: Verification
| Level | Criteria | Action |
|---|---|---|
| HIGH | 3+ unique identifiers match across independent sources | Safe to contact |
| MEDIUM | 2 identifiers match, timeline consistent | Verify before contact |
| LOW | Single source or name-only match | Needs more investigation |
| POSSIBLE | Partial match, requires verification | Do not act without more data |
✅ Search public records (property, court, voter, business) ✅ Access publicly posted social media content ✅ Use people search aggregator sites ✅ Perform reverse lookups on public data ✅ Google dorking with public search operators
❌ Access data behind login walls without authorization ❌ Bypass authentication or security measures ❌ Use pretexting or impersonation ❌ Access private databases (credit, financial, medical) ❌ Stalk, harass, or intimidate subjects ❌ Access PI-only databases without license
Example 1: Finding an Old College Friend
User: "Help me find my college roommate from 2005, John Smith from Austin"
→ Routes to FindPerson.md
→ Launches 15 parallel research agents
→ Cross-references people search + LinkedIn alumni + property records
→ Verifies identity through timeline analysis
→ Reports findings with HIGH confidence
Example 2: Reverse Phone Lookup
User: "Who called from 512-555-1234?"
→ Routes to ReverseLookup.md
→ Runs phone through CallerID, NumLookup
→ Cross-references with people search aggregators
→ Reports owner name, location, carrier
Example 3: Social Media Investigation
User: "Find Jane Doe's social media, she's a marketing professional in Denver"
→ Routes to SocialMediaSearch.md
→ LinkedIn Boolean search + Google x-ray
→ Username enumeration if handle discovered
→ Reports all accounts with MEDIUM/HIGH confidence
Related Documentation:
Workflows/ directoryWorkflows/`FindPerson.md`.md find person, locate
Workflows/`SocialMediaSearch.md`.md social media search
Workflows/`PublicRecordsSearch.md`.md public records
Workflows/`ReverseLookup.md`.md reverse lookup
Workflows/`VerifyIdentity.md`.md verify identity
Say any of these to your DA and PAI activates the PrivateInvestigator skill automatically:
Or invoke explicitly:
Skill("PrivateInvestigator")Install PAI on your machine — your DA gets the PrivateInvestigator skill plus 44 others, all hooked into one Life OS.