Frequently Asked Questions

Skip Tracing is the process of locating a person who has “skipped town” or in more basic terms, they have moved from their previous address and not advised of their new one.

Skip Tracing is for anyone looking to lawfully locate a person for a legitimate reason. That person may be:

• A Debtor to you or your company
• Someone who owns a vehicle that is due for repossession
• A Respondent you, your company or your solicitors need to serve a document to
• An old friend or estranged family member
• A Beneficiary of a Deceased Estate or Will

Yes, Skip Tracing is legal in Australia, however, a professional skip tracer will use tools and databases that can only be accessed by licensed Private Investigators. At Skip Tracing Australia, we are a team of qualified and licensed Private Investigators and Field Agents with years of experience in the Legal and Collections industries. What makes us different is that Skip Tracing and Online Investigations are our craft, we do this all day, every day and are always updating our knowledge and keeping in line with current legislation.

No. When you request us to work on a matter for you we will ask you for the purpose of the locate or investigation. We may also ask you to provide a photograph ID and or supporting documents. We cannot morally, legally or ethically search for someone who has previously or currently held a DVO on you unless in circumstances of a legal matter (i.e. a Family Court matter) where a qualified Solicitor/Lawyer requests this on your behalf for the purpose of serving documents and must provide supporting evidence. We reserve the right to decline any request that doesn’t align with our business ethos. We are here to provide a professional service to assist our community, and not to put individuals at risk. 

This really depends on the circumstances and the reason for needing a Skip Tracer. If you are just looking to track down an old friend, the chances are very good. If you are looking for someone who is on the run from multiple creditors or actively avoiding being served, the chances are lower, but not impossible. If you are the only creditor looking for someone who’s just moved house and not updated their address, the chances are very good. If we can’t locate your debtor we usually recommend you re-open the file in 3 to 6 months to allow time for new data to come through the channels.

For a Standard Skip Trace, we will typically have a result or at least an update for you within 3 business days, however, please allow between 7 and 10 business days for completion. If we cannot locate your subject within that time frame, we will update you at the two week mark and seek your instruction if you would like to proceed with an Advanced Skip Trace if there are viable leads to go by (10 - 20 Business Days Completion). If you do not wish to proceed at that point, we will finalise your matter.

An Urgent Skip Trace is commenced immediately upon receipt of the information, and we aim to locate your subject or provide you an update within 24 hours of commencement. An urgent Skip Trace is completed within 3 consecutive days (including over the weekend). If we cannot locate your subject within 3 consecutive days we will consult with you on how you wish to proceed by the end of the third consecutive day.

Our Standard Process includes the following searches including up to 5 hours investigator time at standard investigation rates:

• Name Search & Reverse Search Data
• OSINT Data
• ASIC Business & Company Data
• Social Media Backend Data and Imagine Analysis
• Residential Tenancy Data
• Property Data & Title Information
• Australian Court Data and Alerts
• Corrections Information
• Electoral Roll Data
• Australian Death Register

Once we have gathered all available data on your Subject, we cross reference this information and conduct various interviews to gain a confirmation of Address.

This process generally takes between 3 and 5 business days, however please allow up to 10 business days for completion.

If we have not been able to locate your Subject within the 10 business day time frame, we will contact you to discuss whether you would like us to proceed with an Advanced Skip Trace.

Our Advanced Skip Trace is commenced only with your instruction after a Standard Skip Trace has been exhausted.

It includes:

• 10+ Hours spent on your matter charged at standard investigation rates
• Deep web searches
• Digital Footprint Tracing
• Family Tree and Genealogical Research
• Adoption Tracing
• Coordination of Field Calls or Surveillance if necessary to confirm an address

Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee that we will find your Subject and that is standard across the industry. Our service is costed fairly as per standard private investigation rates in Australia and we have to pay our Investigators for their time spent and cover the cost of operating our business therefore we.

If we don't find your Subject, we will provide you with 30% off a subsequent skip trace at a later date.

We have multiple options available depending on your circumstances and skip tracing needs. Please use our Request A Quote Form on our home page. 

If you are a Law Firm or Collections Agency we can offer you discounted rates for multiple files, just give us a call to find out more.

A successful Locate is classified as:

• Verbal confirmation of a phone number or address by the subject or a known associate, such as family, friends, and neighbours. (Please Note: If we are speaking with your subject directly, we will always undertake a discreet “pretexted” conversation with them to ensure your confidentiality and privacy, unless you instruct us to be upfront with them.)

• Where a Title Search or Rental Tenancy Application confirms their current address and there is additional supporting information such as social media images or recorded data

• The subject or security is physically sighted by one of our Agents at an address.

• If your subject is located in prison, we will provide you with the prison address.

• If your subject is determined to be deceased.

• If your subject is in hospital, we will provide you with the hospital address.

We will never disclose Client Information or the reason for the Skip Trace to your Subject unless you specifically permit us to do so.

If we are speaking with your subject directly, we will always undertake a discreet “pretexted” (covert) conversation with them to ensure your confidentiality and privacy, unless you instruct us to be upfront with them. 

We always try to get verbal confirmation and gain a current phone number wherever possible however if you would prefer that no contact is made with your subject at all, please advise us and we can certainly find ways around this. 

Please be aware that the full locate fee is applicable where no contact is requested as this does hinder our ability to gain a confirmation of location.

If for any reason, you wish to cancel your Skip Trace Request within 24 hours of submission, we will cancel your request at no charge. 

If you wish to cancel your Skip Trace Request after 24 hours of submission, we will charge you the admin fee of $59.00 + GST to cover the administrative costs of processing your matter, unless your Subject has been located during that time in which case we will charge you the full Locate fee. 

We do not offer refunds.

We pride ourselves on our high quality of data analysis and reporting. Where a subject is not located, we will advise you of this and charge you a reduced “No Find” fee. 

We will only provide you with a “Locate” file when we are 100% confident that your subject can be physically located at the provided address, and we use numerous verification methods to determine this information. 

If your subject is not located at the address we provide you at the time your report is issued, please notify us within 30 days of issue and we will recheck your file at no additional cost.

While we appreciate eagerness to aid our investigation, we urge you to refrain from undertaking any independent research or gathering information outside of our purview. Such actions may impede our process and ultimately lead to unsatisfactory results. 

In the event that we discover any client interference during our investigation, we reserve the right to charge the full Locate fee and return your file to you. 

This includes making phone calls to your subject or their associates and visiting addresses that may have been provided to you via updates.

If you think your Subject may be overseas (UK, US, Canada or NZ) we can provide you with a quote to locate them.

We partner with a number of International Skip Tracing companies in the UK, US, Canada, Europe and NZ therefore however international skip tracing costs can range from $1000 to $5000 AUD depending on the nature of the case and the country.

If you think your Subject is located in countries outside of the UK, US, Canada, Europe and NZ, the costs are significantly higher, often between $5000 and $10,000 AUD therefore it generally isn't feasible to conduct an international trace, however if you would like a quote, please let us know and we can organise that for you.

We are blessed with a large network of reliable Process Servers, Field Agents and Investigators all around Australia. If you need a Process Server to serve your documents upon completion of the Skip Trace, this is a separate service and the cost can range between $120 and $300 depending on the location of your Subject and the type of service required (I.e. If your Subject is located in a Rural or Remote area this usually costs more due to Agent availability and travel time to that area). 

Please advise if you would like us to arrange service of your documents, and we will provide you with a quote.