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How to Find Someone You’ve Only Met Once

clock Updated: June 16, 2023

How to Find Someone You’ve Only Met Once

People Search by Name

Look up contact info, photos & more!

Have you ever met someone and had a nice talk, but were too shy to ask for contact details? You‘re not the only one who has gone through this. Many people share their stories on dedicated websites to find their missed connections.

If you’re trying to find someone you’ve only met once, there are some methods for you to try.

1. Write down all information about the person

When you’re trying to find someone who you’ve only met once, it’s a good idea to write down all the information you know about him/her. Generally, the more information you have, the more likely you are able to find the person. Just sit down and think back to the scene where you first met. You can ask yourself the following questions:

  • What’s the person’s name?
  • How old does he or she look?
  • Did he or she mention what school they attend or where they work?
  • Where did you meet the person?
  • What clothes did he or she wear?

All of these details help track someone down.

2. Use Google to search for the person

The most common way to search for someone online is to enter the person’s name on a search engine, like Google. You can make your search more precise by putting the name in quotes and adding other information, like where he went to school or where he’s from.

If Google gives you no luck, you can try social media platforms.

3. Search for the person on social media platforms

If the person you’re looking for is active on social media, chances are you can find him/her on major sites, such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you know the person’s profession, try a search on LinkedIn. People often post their work experiences on their LinkedIn profiles.

4. Use people search services to find the person

People search services are specialized in finding people online. They often allow users to search for people by name, phone, address or email. So if you know the person’s name, you can run a people search to locate him/her.

Search for People by Name

Look up contact info, photos & more!

Here are the best people search services we have tested and recommended:

Option 1 – BeenVerified

BeenVerified is one of the leading people search services. With BeenVerified, you’re able to access billions of public records from leading sources. All it takes is a name, address, number, or email to potentially see contact information, social networks, relatives, photos, criminal records, and MUCH MORE.

To run a people search on BeenVerified:

  1. Go to BeenVerified’s people search page, enter the person’s first and last name and hit SEARCH.
  2. BeenVerified will comb through its database and return you a list of potential matches. You can narrow down the search results by entering the person’s age or city. Once you locate the person you’re looking for, click View person report to see detailed information.
  3. From BeenVerified’s report, you may find a person’s contact information, social media profiles and potentially more!

Option 2 – Spokeo

Spokeo is one of the best-known people search services with a great reputation. It allows you to search for anyone via Name Search, Reverse Email Search, Reverse Phone Search or Username Search. Spokeo searches results from a wide range of industry-leading data sources and, where available, combines all the data into an easy-to-understand report in seconds.

Here’s how to run a name search on Spokeo:

  1. Go to Spokeo, enter a name and click SEARCH NOW.
  2. Spokeo will then return you a list of potential matches. You can filter your search results by entering the person’s age and state. Once you find the person you’re looking for, click SEE RESULTS.
  3. You’ll see a detailed report that may include contact info, address history, social profiles, criminal records and more.

Option 3 – PeopleFinders

PeopleFinders is a public records company that has served customers for over 30+ years looking for accurate and up-to-date data with access to more than 6,000 data sources. It allows you to find people by name, address, email or phone number. PeopleFinders’ records include contact information, criminal histories, property records, relatives and more.

To find people by name with PeopleFinders:

  1. Go to PeopleFinders, enter the person’s first and last name, then hit Search. If you know where the person lives, you can select the city and state to narrow down the possible matches.
  2. Wait a few seconds, you’ll see a list of potential matches. Once you locate the person, click View Details to see the full report.

5. Find the person with a picture

If you have a photo of someone, you may be able to find the person by conducting a reverse image search. You can search for a person by picture with Google Images or Social Catfish.

Google Images:

Simply go to Google Images, click the camera icon in the search box and upload the image you want to search.

Social Catfish:

  1. Go to the Social Catfish Reverse Image Search page.
  2. Upload an image from your device and click Search. Make sure that you crop out any additional words, screen background, or logos.
  3. As the image uploads, Social Catfish will start to scan for matching images through social media accounts, public databases, and multiple search engines. Once done, you’ll see a bunch of information about the person.

6. Try posting on Craigslist to find missed connection

Another way to find the person you’ve only met once is to post a message on Craigslist missed connections section. If the other person is looking for you too, there is a good chance he/she will see the message and contact you.

To increase your chances of success, you can search and post messages on several different sites, such as blewmychance.com or isawyou.com.

7. Revisit the place where you met

All methods listed above give you no luck? Try to go back to the place where you first met. If the person you’re looking for is a regular at a particular location, such as a park, restaurant or coffee shop, you might have a chance of running into him/her again.

You can also ask someone who may know him. If you came across the person at a bar or restaurant, speak to the staff there to see if anyone knows the person you met. If you met the person at a party, you can ask your friends or the host for his/her details. 

Conclusion

Finding someone you met once is not an easy thing, especially when all you know about the person is a name, photo or even without any details. However, with the help of some people search services, your chance to find the person will largely increase. If you succeed and the person you’re looking for is also interested in seeing you again, then congrats! But if not, you should respect any wishes to stop contacting him/her. Anyway, don’t be stalkerish.

exclamation-blueThere’s no guarantee you’ll find the information you’re looking for with the tools discussed in this article. They all source their information from publicly available data sources, such as county, state and federal courts, government departments, and police records, and those sources may contain incorrect or incomplete data. It’s illegal to use these tools to make decisions about employment, admission, consumer credit, insurance, tenant screening, or any other purpose that would require FCRA compliance. Read the Fair Credit Reporting Act to learn more....

About this article

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file success Reviewed by BeenVerified

Lily Qiu

IT Technical Support

Lily is a Level 1 technical support agent for Driver Easy. As the first point of contact for all support tickets, she addresses payment and subscription questions directly, and for highly technical questions, she ensures we have all necessary information before escalating the ticket to our Level 2 technical support agents.

Contributors

Evie Gan

Writer

About this article

round-success 11 Revisions

file-success Reviewed by BeenVerified

Lily Qiu

IT Technical Support

Lily is a Level 1 technical support agent for Driver Easy. As the first point of contact for all support tickets, she addresses payment and subscription questions directly, and for highly technical questions, she ensures we have all necessary information before escalating the ticket to our Level 2 technical support agents.

See the author arrow right

Contributors

Evie Gan

Writer