Monday, November 8, 2010

To Find Family in Mexico, Know the Person's Name



A little while ago, a young woman emailed me asking for help to find her birth father in Mexico. Sometimes, for whatever reason, family members aren't too helpful when someone wants to find a birth parent. These people often come to us for help to ensure that they have good quality information such as the correct spelling of names of the relative they want to find.

In this young girl's case, she provided us with what appeared at first glance to be a complete name for her birth father. One of the last names was spelled "Tintos." We work with several databases that have the origins of Spanish names from Spain to Chile. Tintos did not appear anywhere.

This doesn't mean that it's not possible that Tintos is incorrect. But my experience has been that if a name doesn't show up in these databases of Spanish names, there's a good chance that the name is misspelled. We wrote back to the young girl and asked her to check her source to verify the spelling of this unique surname.

When we got her reply, she also made an interesting comment that I want to share with you. For privacy reasons, I'm changing the name a little, but she wrote that Juan was the first name and that Escarra was the middle name and that Tintos was the last name.

Here are a couple of important points. First when we got back her response, she had changed the order of the names. Originally, she had written us for help to find Juan Tintos Escarra. Now she wrote that she wanted help to find Juan Escarra Tintos. She also thought Escarra was a middle name.

As I've written in past blogs, very few Mexicans have middle names. Many Mexicans, especially women, have two or more first names such as Maria del Carmen or Juan Carlos. Some may choose not to use their first names so Maria Guadalupe may be known to her friends as just Guadalupe or even Lupe. On the other hand, I have a good friend named Juan Carlos who always goes by both names.

Escarra is not a first name. It's a last name also called a surname or apellido in Spanish. If the name order that the young girl wrote in her last email is correct, Escarra is the last name (apellido) of the father of her birth father and Tintos is the last name (surname) of his mother.

It's very important when you are looking for family in Mexico that you know the person's complete name and the correct order of the surnames. It makes a huge difference if you are doing Mexico genealogy or trying to find a relative whether you are looking for a person with the surnames Escarra Tintos compared to Tintos Escarra. If you get the order incorrect (and this happens more often than you may imagine), you could spend years searching a family tree that has nothing to do with the person you want to find.

If you are unsure of your information, have an expert check it. We can usually spot issues in seconds, save you years of wasted time, and put you on the right path so you can find family in Mexico.

Saludos,

Richard Villasana
Richard Villasana

Richard Villasana
The Mexico Guru
Find Relatives In Mexico

Want to have revealing information to find family in Mexico come directly to your Inbox? Subscribe now at Find Relatives In Mexico.

PS. Be sure to leave your comments. The more you share with us, the better we can help you find family in Mexico.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Where do I put in my information to find people in Mexico?



The other day I received an email from a guy asking a great question about finding people in Mexico. He knew the complete name of the person he wanted to find as well as the city and state where they are living. His question was, "Where do I plug in this information to get an answer so I can contact this person in Mexico?"

There are a few free ways to go, most, if not all, of which involve the Internet. I explained that once you try the Internet and that doesn't help you find family in Mexico (and for many people the Internet doesn't deliver), your options move from free (Internet) to paid services.

Now before someone tweets about this and takes this out of context, we're talking about finding people who are alive and well in Mexico. If you're doing Mexico genealogy, there are many free resources out there. But for people who are trying to find family in Mexico, those resources really don't help you to get a current address or telephone number so you can call your sister, birth father or college buddy in Mexico.

As for the guy, he was less than happy with my answer. Unfortunately, that doesn't change the fact that I told him the reality for finding family in Mexico. He may have been upset that he might have to pay for professional services before he finally finds the person he has been seeking for over two years.

When the Internet fails to give results, some people may need to ask themselves how serious they are to find someone in Mexico because they may have to spend a few dollars to get a professional service.

Marie Daly, Research Library Director for the New England Historic Genealogical Society explained in an article that only about 10% of all the information on people is available online. I feel that since that article the percentage has grown. But let's face it. Even at twenty percent means there are 80% of the people out there who have nothing on the Internet. And when it comes to Mexico, even less of the population's personal information is available online.

Sure, there are some documents that you can get online, but you usually have to know all the information that is on the document before you can get a copy. If you knew that much about the person you want to find and unless you are doing Mexico genealogy, you probably don’t need the document.

Bottom line – many people in the U.S. may (strongly) believe that they can put together some information and go to the Internet, fill in a few fields and simply hit a button to know where their family or friends are in Mexico and have a way to contact them immediately. It could happen but just as the guy above experienced, it doesn’t usually work that way. But remember there are options when you really want to find a person in Mexico.

Saludos,

Richard Villasana
  Richard

Richard Villasana
The Mexico Guru
Find Relatives In Mexico

Want to have revealing information to find family in Mexico come directly to your Inbox? Subscribe now at Find Relatives In Mexico.

PS. Be sure to leave your comments. The more you share with us, the better we can help you find family in Mexico.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

You want to find family in Mexico. Putting an ad in newspaper is NOT your first option.



I was reading a question by a woman who wanted to know how she could find someone in Mexico. The best and only answer she got was "put an ad in the newspaper". First, this was the best advice given on Yahoo Answers. The response got a one star, and the Asker was being generous.

This is not the first time I have seen this advice given by someone who knows very little or nothing about Mexico. This answer implies a stereotype that can be a great danger to anyone who is looking for a relative, loved one or friend living in Mexico.

The idea of placing an ad in a Mexican newspaper assumes a couple of things:
1) That everyone reads the paper including the "notices" section
2) That the city is so small that everyone knows each other

I'm from Texas where we have some pretty small towns with only a hundred or so people, those towns that if you blink when driving, you discover that you've already driven through it. There are such towns in Mexico, but in my experience because of how people populate an area, few relatives or friends are living in these small towns. Instead they are moving to medium to large cities.

Take Morelia, the capital of the state of Michoacan. This city has over 600,000 residents. Monterrey, Nuevo Leon has close to 2 million residents. Mexico City has over 21 millions.

The idea of placing an ad in a Mexican newspaper assumes that Mexican cities are so small that everyone knows each other. The idea is that surely someone will see the ad and run down the street and knock on the person's door and say, "Jose, look! Someone is trying to find you."

In the many years that I have worked with clients to find their birth parent, mother or father, cousin or friend in Mexico, people have told us that they tried to find a specific person by posting an ad in the newspaper with no success.

I applaud anyone who has the determination to try everything to find a person in Mexico. However, the sad truth is that putting an ad in a newspaper has as little chance of working in Mexico as it would if someone put an ad in a U.S. newspaper.

Instead if you are wanting to find someone in Mexico, save your money and use it to gather the necessary information: their complete name, the city and state where this person lives/lived and search for them using whatever resources you have. If all of that fails, then get the professional help you need so you can find this person.

Saludos,

Richard Villasana
Richard Villasana

Richard Villasana
The Mexico Guru
Find Relatives In Mexico

Want to have revealing information to find family in Mexico come directly to your Inbox? Subscribe now at Find Relatives In Mexico.

PS. Be sure to leave your comments. The more you share with us, the better we can help you find family in Mexico.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

#8 Can I find a person in Mexico and their address with only a phone number?



I get asked this question a lot. The idea is based on the belief that you can do a reverse phone lookup with a Mexico telephone number. If you are unfamiliar with a reverse lookup, it means you go to a database or website (there are several) and enter in a telephone number. The system will go through its database and, in most cases in the U.S., you will get the name and address of the person who has that specific telephone number. This reverse lookup is free and works very well in the U.S. so many people assume that this will happen for Mexico. They couldn't be more wrong!

Here's the reality for Mexico. There is no reverse look up in Mexico meaning there is no database online or offline where you can enter a phone number and get the address. We know there are thousands of sites that claim you can do a reverse lookup with telephone numbers, but they do not apply to Mexico. I have already written about this in the blog post dated Tuesday, May 18, 2010 entitled "Want to find family or friends in Mexico for free? You must read this before you spend hours online." Articles that claim that you can do a reverse lookup for Mexico are wrong and misleading. A few even try to sell you on their product to do a reverse lookup. Don't waste your money!

I also wrote about this topic on Monday, May 10, 2010, in the blog "#7 Is there a website to find people in Mexico with only a phone number?" I commented that you can just call the person and get their address, but I realize that there are situations where this is not possible. 

Recently a woman wrote that she wants to find her ex-husband who is living in Mexico so she can get child support. The Mexico police will serve him papers, BUT they need his physical address. The woman only has her ex-husband's phone number. Of course, she knows his name, but that hasn't helped her to find out where he's presently living, and he isn't offering to tell her where he is.

Now just because you can't do a reverse lookup for a Mexico telephone number doesn't mean there are no other options to find out more information that can help you find people in Mexico. You can take the city code and find out where the person lives barring that they have a cell phone, which means they could be living and calling from anywhere in the world. To see a listing of the most popular cities with their area codes, go to www.findrelativesinmexico.com/resources.html and click on the link under "Area Codes for Mexican Cities". 

Once you know the city and state, you can take your information and go online and do a search to find the person. I recommend using several search engines because they all give slightly different results. 

If this doesn't work, and about 96% of the time it doesn't (but you should try anyway), then you will need professional service. For instance, our company doesn't rely on telephone numbers to find people in Mexico. We have our own databases and access to thousands more throughout Mexico. 

Bottom line: reverse phone lookup does not exist for Mexico telephone numbers. You can still use the number to learn more so you can find a person in Mexico. If you can't do it on your own, then take your information to an expert so they can get you the rest of the way to finding that person in Mexico for you. 

Saludos,

Richard Villasana
Richard Villasana

Richard Villasana
The Mexico Guru
Leading expert and international authority 
    on finding relatives living in Mexico

PS. Want to have revealing information on finding someone in Mexico come directly to your Inbox? Subscribe now at Find Relatives In Mexico.

And be sure to leave your comments. The more you share with us, the better we can help you find family in Mexico.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Lessons to find family in Mexico from mother who found her kids through Facebook



If you haven’t read the story already, the title says it all: “Mother finds kidnapped kids through Facebook.” Over 15 years ago, a woman’s husband took her two small children and disappeared. While using Facebook, she was able to locate her daughter, which led to her recovering her family.  

Here are some lessons you can take from her situation as you try to find family in Mexico, or start your Mexico genealogy:
  • The woman had investigators searching for her husband and the children. Someone was taking action. Someone was checking records.
  • She knew the full names of her children and their relatives. She had documents on them, including their birth and medical records.
  • She didn’t give up. She continued to look for her children. She tried new ideas such as going on the social media site, Facebook.
Here are some things to keep in mind when you want to find family or a person in Mexico:
  • You probably want to find someone in Mexico sooner than later. Many want to find someone right now. This woman spent over ten years looking for her children before she found her daughter on Facebook. There are many steps you can take to find people in Mexico.
  • She didn’t find her children by herself. Even after she found her daughter on Facebook, she had to get the district attorney and the police to actually track down where her daughter is now living. You may get to a point where you need an expert to step in to finally put you in touch with your family in Mexico.
  • Even with the help of all the resources the police could bring to a kidnapping case, they couldn’t find the children because they didn’t know where to look. You must know at least the state where the person you want to find in Mexico is or was living. If you don’t know this, then your chance of ever finding them is almost impossible.
  • The article stresses that this all happened because of the existence and popularity of Facebook, something that did not exist a few years ago. One thing you should keep in mind is that far fewer Mexicans are online than Americans. Over 90% of Mexicans do not have a listing or presence online including having a profile on a social networking site. The majority of Mexican who do have profiles online are government officials, celebrities or business people.
  • Far fewer Mexicans have access to computers than we do in the U.S. It’s not uncommon for there to be two or more computers in many U.S. homes. There are desktops, notepads, laptops, BlackBerrys, etc. There is often not even one computer in a Mexican home. For Mexican homes that have computers, they are often a tool for business or homework only and not for spending several hours a day online chatting on social networks.
The Internet can be an excellent tool to use to find someone in Mexico. You should spend time online to search for family or friends in Mexico. However, keep in mind the limitations of the Internet. If you have searched online for more than a month to find a person in Mexico and been unable to locate them, then it’s time to take other action.

It may be time to bring in an expert who can review your information to be sure it’s accurate. An expert can also take your information to locate records to find that special person in Mexico. This woman found her family, but she didn’t do it alone. You, too, can find your family or friend in Mexico and with the right help, you will probably find them much sooner than having to wait ten years. That’s news that we can all be happy about.

Saludos,

Richard Villasana
Richard Villasana

Richard Villasana
The Mexico Guru
Leading expert and international authority 
    on finding relatives living in Mexico

PS. Want to have revealing information on finding someone in Mexico come directly to your Inbox? Subscribe now at Find Relatives In Mexico.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Want to find family or friends in Mexico for free? You must read this before you spend hours online.



Many people want to find family or a person in Mexico such as their birth father or friend. If you are like most, you have already spent time searching on the Internet. You probably went to Google and entered a phrase such as “how to find people in Mexico” or “Mexico genealogy”. That’s how you found this page, right?

Although the Internet is a fabulous tool for finding information, it’s easy to get misdirected away from your goal of finding someone in Mexico and instead spend weeks going to sites that promise to help and really don’t.

There are many sites online that advertise, “If you just follow this link, you will be able to easily find a person living in Mexico for FREE!”

Here’s the truth: If you have the right information and if the person has a presence online, you could possibly find them using the Internet. But here’s the rest of the truth: Almost 96% of people living in Mexico are not on the Internet, so even if you have the right information, the Internet won’t help you find them. Even worse, most sites that tell you how to find a relative or friend in Mexico for free give bad advice and in one article we’ve identified, they recommend you do something that is illegal in Mexico.

I’m going to focus on one site in particular that is the perfect example of a site that promises a lot and doesn’t deliver. An article entitled “Find People in Mexico for Free” says the following:

     “Those that might want to look through the telephone directory can go to www.numberway.com. It is about the only place that has as many online white pages from different countries as it does. If you want to find people in Mexico for free then you can use the country's white pages to search for them.”

One of our experts went to www.numberway.com, which advertises that they are “the easy way to find phone numbers all around the world.” It sounded promising. Then we clicked on the Mexico link and got the following message:

     “The white pages from Telmex can only be used by their own customers, so are not listed here.”

This is why you need to be careful before you trust information from these sites. They are at times ineffectual or, even worse, intentionally misleading you because they’re presenting a marketing scheme that plays on your emotions, suckers you in and wastes your time. Even worse, they will encourage you to spend money on their services, which -- based upon their accuracy rate so far -- is highly suspect. Realize that time is of the essence in finding someone in Mexico. Relatives and friends may move off-grid at any time, meaning time wasted in chasing false leads have the potential to prevent you from ever finding that person.

There’s no magic web site or secret way hiding out there for you to find people in Mexico on your own. But there are legitimate services that use sophisticated searching systems and private databases that allow you to track down your relatives in Mexico.

Here’s the way to determine whether you need help in finding your lost loved one in Mexico: If you try the Internet for more than a week and haven’t found the person you want to find, then it’s time to find a company that has the specialized knowledge and experience to successfully find your birth father, mother, loved one or friend.

Check back often because we at Find Relatives In Mexico don’t want amateurs misleading you into thinking that there is a five minute solution to finding someone in Mexico. The truth is that there is more to finding family and friend in Mexico than just going to Google, entering their name and clicking a button. We’ll share more with you on how to really make it happen.

Richard Villasana
The Mexico Guru
Leading expert and international authority on finding relatives living in Mexico

PS. Want to have revealing information on finding someone in Mexico come directly to your Inbox? Subscribe now at Find Relatives In Mexico.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Want to Find a Person In Mexico? Don’t Waste Money on an Ad.



Many people ask, “How do I find a person in Mexico?” For example, Betty posted on Yahoo! Answers to learn how she could find someone in Mexico. The only answer she got was, "Maybe you can try the personal ads?" I’m sure the person meant well by suggesting this action. This is not the first time I have seen this type of advice.

The suggestion of placing an ad in a newspaper to find someone in Mexico is based in part on the stereotypes too many Americans have about the country, what I call the “Speedy Gonzalez” syndrome. For anyone familiar with the cartoon, the characters always live in a small town, wear similar outfits including sombreros and all know each other. The idea of placing an ad in a Mexican newspaper hinges on the hope that surely someone who knows your person will see the ad, run down the street and knock on their door shouting, "Jose, look! Someone is trying to find you."

It is true that some residents of small towns in Mexico may know each other, but the assumption that everyone in Mexico knows each other is a fanciful holdover of the image many people still have of Mexico. Put simply, it isn’t so.

There are many towns in Mexico with fewer than 100 people, but they never have their own newspaper. Many won’t even be listed in phone directories, as even in these times there may be only one phone in the town. There will obviously be newspapers in larger cities such as Morelia, the capital of the state of Michoacan – but that has more than 600,000 residents! Monterrey has close to two million residents and Mexico City is home more than 21 million. It’s unlikely that by placing an ad in one of those cities’ newspaper that the person you seek or anyone who knows them will actually see the ad.

In my 20 years working with clients to find family and friends in Mexico, not once have I heard of this method succeeding. My company has worked with thousands of clients looking to find their birth parent, mother or father, cousin, friend or loved one. Many come to us after they failed to have success from placing newspaper ads.

My advice is to use your time and money to gather the necessary information about the person, starting with their complete name, city and state. Once you have this information, search for them using whatever resources you have available to you. Here are a few strategies you should try:
  • Check your information to make certain it’s correct.
  • Search online using more than just Google. Try several search engines, such as Yahoo, Ask.com, and Dogpile.com.
  • Access the social media sites, including Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.
If all of that fails, then it is time to get help from an expert. Unless you want to risk never finding this person, use a professional service. Our company, Find Relatives In Mexico, is the leader in finding people living in Mexico. Placing an ad in a newspaper should be one of the last things you do, knowing that there are more effective steps you can take to find family and friends in Mexico.

Richard Villasana
The Mexico Guru
Leading expert and international authority on finding relatives living in Mexico

PS. Want to have revealing information on finding someone in Mexico come directly to your Inbox? Subscribe now at Find Relatives In Mexico.

Monday, May 10, 2010

#7 I want to find people in Mexico. How can I do this with only a phone number?



I often get asked, "How can I find people in Mexico with only a phone number?" There is no website to find people in Mexico with only a phone number. Whether in Mexico or the U.S., finding someone with just their telephone number involves what is called a reverse look up. If you enter "reverse look up" in Google or Yahoo, you'll find dozens of sites. The problem is that none of these sites work for Mexico. Mexico decided years ago to block this feature. It is not the only country to take this position with regard to privacy protection. Years ago Spain passed legislation barring reverse look ups.

What you can do if you have a phone number from Mexico is search online to find the city code. Mexico changed their entire telephone number structure in 2001. All cities except for Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey now have a three digit area code and a seven digit phone number. The three cities above have a two digit city code and an eight digit phone number.

So look at the number you have. If it starts with 001 or 011, ignore these numbers. The next numbers should be 52, Mexico's country code. Focus on the following next three digits. Click here to check the area code of many popular Mexican cities to find out from which city the call came.

Of course, if you have a telephone number and really want to know who it belongs to, you can always call and find out.

When your real goal is to find someone living in Mexico and you are having difficulty locating them, then it's time to work with an expert so you can find this person as soon as possible.

Saludos,

Richard Villasana
The Mexico Guru
Leading expert and international authority on finding relatives living in Mexico


PS. Want to have revealing information on finding someone in Mexico come directly to your Inbox? Subscribe now at Find Relatives In Mexico.