One of the most concerning questions escorts have as they first start out in the industry is how to conduct background checks. They realize the importance of these verifications, but many are still deplorably clueless about how to go about fully checking up on their clients.

When you do background checks you are looking for several things. First and foremost, you want to make sure that your client is not a safety threat. If he's got several convictions for assault or other physically violent crimes (murder, manslaughter, rape, etc.), you don't even want to waste your time with him. He's not a safe risk. And, while he might not physically threaten you during your first few encounters, it's never a wise choice to engage with someone with a known history of violence.

Secondly, it's essential to confirm that he is who he says he is. A client may call you up, giving you a fake name and numerous other false details. Checking out the facts he's given you may clue you in to the fact that he's completely lied to you. Any client who blatantly lies to you before you even meet is not a safe risk. You can't be sure what he's hiding or why he's disguising his true identity. Your client could be dangerous, with violent motives. He could be planning to rob you. Or, he could be part of a law enforcement investigation. By checking out the details your client has given you, you should find out if he's given you accurate information.

Finally, doing your research about a client ahead of time can give you 411 on him that will be useful during an encounter. It may provide you with insight about your client's career, family, education, income and other details that help you know him a little better. The more you know, the better you are prepared. And, while these details won't tell you what kind of an encounter he's looking for, it gives you tidbits of information that can be useful during conversations as your encounter starts.

So, where does one start with a background check?

The Internet makes it very simple to investigate your clients. Use these websites and tips to obtain background information about them:

1. Start with the lowest-hanging fruits: Google, Bing, AOL, LinkedIn, Facebook. Put quotation marks around your clients' names to ensure that your search will be picking up the name as one term, instead of two words. For example, a search for John Doe would be entered like this: "John Doe." Try to input as much information as you can to specify which person by the name you are seeking. When you search for John Doe, you may get millions of possibilities. However, if you specify that you're looking for John Doe in Cincinnati and that he works for Mitsubishi, your search will return items more suited to your needs. This search term might look like this: "John Doe", Cincinnati, Mitsubishi. Take a close look at portraits, if your search returns any, and compare them to the flesh-and-blood name owner.
2. Try using the National Center For State Courts website to seek for information about criminal records or pertinent court information. With information about how to access details in each state, this is a great tool to use as a starting place for a client who may have lived in various locations or if you book clients who travel into town from other locales. Additionally, if you're not familiar with how to access your state's records, this gets you there easily. Any information that has occurred as a public record in the court system is accessible through these links. Convictions, trials, divorces, bankruptcies and other issues will be just a few keystrokes away as you search the proper judicial site for your client. If you don't get the results you expect from one site, try a few more. You never know exactly where a client's name might pop up.
3. Access your county's website for details about birth, death, marriage and other court records. Usually, county offices maintain online records that are accessible for information about your client's age and proof of residency in a county or state. You may be able to locate his legal name, which will aid your background check even further. (Many clients may give you a shortened version of their name. For instance: William Smith might be Willy or Bill when he talks to you. But, you might find him online as William.) These county sites may provide you with a lot of information about your client that will help you verify his identity through further searches. If you can't locate the county sites with a basic Internet search, call your county clerk's office for more information.
4. Look your client up on PeekYou. PeekYou analyzes content from over 60 social sites, news sources, homepages and blog platforms, identifying the people behind it. Your clients' digital footprints help to identify them through the site. With over six million monthly visitors, PeekYou is one of the top 500 sites in the U.S., according to Quantcast. The results you get from entering your client's name and state will probably provide more information than Facebook, with much less time invested that a Google search. The site indexes all links in one place to give you a quick overview of your client. If you want more in-depth information, it may be available after paying a fee for fuller access to the site. Some sites that PeekYou refers you to for more information may also charge a nominal fee for details, too.
5. Check out White Pages Neighbors for information about a client. WhitePages.com is a great resource for finding phone numbers for people, but this portion of the site takes research a bit farther by giving you information about the area of a location that a client wants you to come to for an outcall. Part of your research should always include the meeting place you and your client discuss for an encounter. If he wants you to meet at his residence (which can be risky), you can learn more about the neighborhood by investigating who lives nearby. The site is much like combining a phone book with a social networking tool. Both the neighbors portion and the regular site include regular updates that make it one of the best research tools available on the Internet for contact details.
6. Using Instagram/Facebook photos you can identify where your client was when certain photos were taken. It can help you determine if his home is really the residence address he gave you. It may also clue you in about whether he gave you accurate information about his employment. While the site isn't going to give you actual details about your client's age or marital status, it can help you determine whether your client is lying about anything he's told you in comparison to the locations he's posted pictures from.
7. Search for your client's name on the Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender website. Administrated by the U.S. Department of Justice, the site is a public safety website that provides access to sex offender data from across the United States. The site provides comprehensive information by linking public state, territorial and tribal sex offender registries. Escorts can investigate their clients by using their names. The more information you can provide, the better your results. It's more helpful if you also input city/town, county, zip code or address details to narrow down the number of entries you receive. If you discover that your client is on the list, it could be a definite warning sign to cancel the encounter.
8. Use Openbook to get intel on a client when you can't access his Facebook page. Sometimes, a client's page may be so private that you can't even get a peek at his picture, little lone any details about his life to compare with the data given to you. If this is the case, you can use Openbook to snoop into his life by using his name as a search topic. Anytime that his name is mentioned in a Facebook post, the site will show it. Through this type of a search, you can gain access to his photo and maybe even view his profile. Depending on the search, it may even show up any time that he comments on someone else's status. From there, you can get access to his profile, too.
9. Access public records sites via SearchSystems. The site takes the guesswork out of finding public record information online by locating, analyzing, describing and organizing links to over 55,000 databases by type and location. You can find information about property, criminal, court, birth, death, marriage, divorce, license, deeds, mortgages, corporate and business registration records. The free version allows you to search one city, county or state at a time. Premium memberships may save you time by allowing you to find more records quickly or expanding to a nationwide search.

Most escorts conduct their own searches that essentially verify the information that clients provide to them. However, it's always nice to have more details available at your fingertips if you feel that something is "off." Sometimes, a client's information may seem authentic, but something just doesn't ring true. This is when many of these other sites are great to use to verify his identity further.

Additionally, some escorts actually employ people to conduct these searches for them. Background check companies exist and professional researchers are available online. Just be sure that you are not scammed when you check into any of these companies. Verify their authenticity before paying them anything.

Doing your due diligence on clients prior to meeting them is an essential task for an escort. It can be somewhat daunting, but when you have proper tools to make it easy, it's just part of the job, just like anything else.