Skiptrace

Skiptracing (also skip tracing, or debtor and fugitive recovery) is the process of locating a person's whereabouts for any number of purposes. A skiptracer is someone who performs this task, which may be the person's primary occupation. The term "skip" refers to the person being searched for, and is derived from the idiomatic expression "to skip town", meaning to depart (perhaps in a rush), leaving minimal clues behind to "trace" the "skip" to a new location.

Skip tracing tactics may be employed by debt collectors, process servers, bail bond enforcers (bounty hunters), repossession agents, private investigators, lawyers, police detectives, and journalists, or by any person attempting to locate a subject whose contact information is not immediately known. Similar techniques have also been utilized by investigators to locate witnesses in criminal trials.

Methods

Skiptracing is performed by collecting as much information as possible about the subject. The information is then analyzed, reduced, and verified. Sometimes the subject's current whereabouts are in the data, but are obfuscated by the sheer amount of information or disinformation. Often, the job becomes more than mere research since one must often employ methods of social engineering, which involves calling or visiting former neighbors, or other known contacts to ask about the subject, sometimes under false or misleading pretenses.

Skiptrace (film)

Skiptrace is an upcoming Hong Kong-Chinese-American action comedy film directed by Renny Harlin, produced by, starring and based on a story by Jackie Chan. The film co-stars Chinese actress Fan Bingbing and American actor Johnny Knoxville. It was scheduled for release in China on December 24, 2015 but was delayed to 2016.

Plot

Hong Kong detective Bennie Black (Jackie Chan) has been tracking notorious crime boss Victor Wong for over a decade. When Bennie's young niece Samantha/bái shū (Fan Bingbing) gets into trouble with Wong's crime syndicate, Bennie must track down the only man who can help him: fast-talking American gambler Connor Watts (Johnny Knoxville). Bennie races against the clock to bring Connor back to Hong Kong and the unlikely pair embark on an entertaining and perilous adventure from the snowy mountains of Mongolia to the windswept dunes of the Gobi desert.

Cast