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

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

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
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.

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.

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.

#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.

Mexico genealogy research using registro civil

Someone who is trying to find family in Mexico recently asked how to access the registro civil in Mexico. The goal for most of my readers is to simply find and be united/reunited with family in Mexico or friends they have lost touch with. Most of my readers aren't really looking to do long term Mexico genealogy research on genealogy web sites or going to genealogy societies and meetings.

But for you readers who are genealogists and who have to find this relative or friend so you can start your Mexico genealogy research, you may have thought about tapping into the registro civil, the government agency that stores the government documents of the residents in their town.

So why would using the registro civil be an issue? It sounds simple. Just call them up or better yet go to their web site, tell them who you want to find, give them your credit card information (there is a charge), sit back and wait for the document to come in the mail. The hard truth is that we can only wish it worked this way, and it doesn't.

Check back next week as we continue to address this issue in Registro civil: Not easy Mexico genealogy research.

Saludos,




Richard Villasana
The Mexico Guru
Find Relatives In Mexico

There are five top challenges stopping people from finding someone living in Mexico? Subscribe to get our FREE Special Report and find out what those challenges are.

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

Finding Someone In Mexico - Misspelling Mexican Cities

Another challenge to finding someone living in Mexico is with the spelling of the names of Mexican cities. You’ll need to make sure you are not misspelling the city name as this small mistake will limit your search. It’s important to know with certainty, the city and state of the person you are looking for. One person was trying to find the city of Colipa. However, the name of the city was Copila. Some of the letters were changed around. Maybe it is spelled with an “o” instead of an “a” or it has two “l’s” when it should be a “t”. Be sure that you are clear on the city and the state and their correct spellings.

Let’s say that you have discovered the complete name of the person you want to find and you have verified to the best of your ability the city and state where this person is now living in Mexico. You are now at the door and ready to enter to find this person. Now where do you go with this information? And what do you do if you have tried everything and you feel you have as much information as you will ever have, but it’s not quite enough?

Both situations lead us to the final challenge #5 . . . be sure to read next week's blog.


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Richard Villasana
The Mexico Guru
Family & Friends Found!


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