| Copyright (c) 2008 Ed Opperman | | | | the right reasons and, more importantly, with the |
| Private investigators are sometimes hired to | | | | appropriate information on-hand! |
| locate and/or identify the physical address of | | | | So, sometimes these methods will fail. What if the |
| someone who owns a Post Office box (PO box) | | | | owner of the PO box has, in fact, relocated since |
| or Postal Mail box (PMB). In the field of private | | | | opening the box? What if the owner of the box |
| investigations, it is referred to as a "Post Office | | | | used a fake ID when opening the box? One |
| Box break" or "reverse Post office box," and can | | | | method for discovering whether or not you've |
| often be accomplished if you are able to access | | | | found the person you are looking for is to mail |
| some form of database that makes use of credit | | | | professional-looking statementl or even a phony |
| headers. This is due to the fact that most people | | | | love letter. And when the person resplies, you |
| who have PO boxes usually use the address to | | | | have successfully tricked him or her into giving up |
| pay credit card bills, car payments, and so forth; | | | | his or her real location. It may seem like a lot of |
| thus, the PO box will appear on their headers as | | | | work, and many investigators actually outsource |
| an alternate address. This information is updated | | | | much of this type of research for that reason. |
| frequently. | | | | Mind you, it needs to be said that contacting the |
| Should this strategy fail, there's a chance that you | | | | person directly can be risky and there is a chance |
| will be able to obtain the address via contacting | | | | that your investigation may be revealed. It should |
| the US Postal Service through a form available on | | | | not be your first resort! |
| the USPS website, and the form will also you | | | | Nevertheless, an old sayings tend to ring true: |
| disclose the reason you're looking for the | | | | There's no need to reinvent the wheel. So, many |
| information requested. They will release the | | | | investigators will work together as a sort of |
| information for legal purposes - for example, if a | | | | loose-knit fraternity, selling and trading information |
| subpoena needs to be issued. In that instance, | | | | back and forth as it is needed. And this applies to |
| they will even require the court's case number, so | | | | other sorts of location-based investigations, not |
| it's important to be going into such a search for | | | | simply a Post Office box break. |