FAQ
Questions, answered plainly.
Bottom line:ProbePeople researches a named person from public sources, separates them from namesakes, and grades every finding by its evidence. Reports are paid for with prepaid credits and may be used only for lawful investigative purposes, never for tenant, employment or credit screening.
What is ProbePeople?
ProbePeople is a background research service for lawful due diligence. You give it a person's name and some context; it returns a written dossier on that person covering up to eight areas, from company directorships and litigation to sanctions, press coverage and business relationships.
Every finding in the dossier carries an evidence grade and a citation, so you can see what is established and what rests on a single source.
How is it different from a people-search site?
ProbePeople researches each subject from public sources at the time you ask, instead of selling a record compiled in advance. It asks you to confirm which person you mean before any research starts, and it grades every finding by the strength of its evidence.
It is also restricted to lawful investigative purposes. It may not be used for tenant, employment, credit or insurance screening.
How does ProbePeople tell apart people with the same name?
It searches the name with any context you add, such as employer, location, social handles or a website, and groups the results into distinct people, each described by what sets them apart. You choose the subject before research begins.
During research, material that plainly belongs to a namesake is excluded. Material that might belong to one is kept, graded unverified, and the doubt is stated in the finding.
What do the evidence grades mean?
Verified: confirmed by an authoritative record such as a company register, court record or regulator, or by several strong independent sources. Likely: corroborated by more than one independent source, with no authoritative record found. Unverified: a single source, or the subject's own account.
Contradicted: credible sources disagree, and the report sets out the disagreement. Fabrication suspected: concrete signs a claim is false or manufactured, such as impossible dates or an institution that does not exist.
Where does the information come from?
From public sources only: company registers and filings, court, insolvency and regulatory records, sanctions list and PEP references, news coverage, academic and patent records, and the open web. ProbePeople queries official registers directly where they cover the subject, among them SEC EDGAR, UK Companies House, FINRA BrokerCheck, the Individual Insolvency Register for England and Wales, The Gazette and OpenAlex, and finds the rest through several commercial web and news search engines.
It does not access credit files, private databases or non-public personal information.
How much does a report cost?
Reports are paid for with prepaid credits; there is no subscription. Packs: Starter: 50 credits for $49; Pro: 275 credits for $199; Agency: 900 credits for $499.
Before a report starts you see its credit hold, the most it can cost. With the default areas selected, a standard report holds 20 credits and a deep report 55; choosing fewer areas lowers the hold. When the report finishes you pay the metered cost of the searches and model calls it made, at a fixed markup, never more than the hold, and the rest returns to your balance.
Can I try it before buying credits?
Yes. New accounts receive 10 credits, and resolving the person and scoping the research cost nothing, so you can see who ProbePeople finds and how much public material each area holds before you buy. The smallest pack is Starter, at $49.
How long does a report take?
Research runs on its own once you confirm the scope; you can close the page and come back to it. A deep report takes longer than a standard one because it runs more queries and reads more pages, and reports with more areas take longer than reports with fewer.
What do I receive?
A written dossier with a bottom-line summary, analysis by area, every graded finding with its citation, the discrepancies between sources, and a relationship connectome. It downloads as PDF and Word, with the findings as Excel and CSV, and the connectome as SVG and interactive HTML.
Who can use ProbePeople, and for what?
Anyone with a lawful investigative purpose: KYC and AML compliance, investor or counterparty due diligence, fraud investigation, journalism, personal security, or another purpose permitted by law. Each search requires a stated purpose, which is recorded and printed on the report.
Is ProbePeople a consumer reporting agency?
No. ProbePeople is not a consumer reporting agency under the U.S. Fair Credit Reporting Act, and its reports are not consumer reports. They may not be used to decide eligibility for employment, housing, credit or insurance, or for any other purpose that requires a consumer report.
I am the subject of a report. What can I do?
Email privacy@probepeople.com. You can ask whether ProbePeople holds research output naming you, contest the accuracy of a finding, or request deletion, subject to legal obligations. Requests are answered within thirty days, after identity is verified.
Start with a name.
Resolving the person and scoping the research cost nothing. New accounts include 10 credits.