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.