Our tracing experts find missing people in Australia, New Zealand and worldwide including debtors, defendants, birth parents and family members.
- The Neill Group (TNG) have unlimited access to Privacy Act compliant tracing and intelligence sources.
- We provide expert level capabilities in identity verification and detection of theft, fraud and dishonesty offences.
- All tracing assignments are carried out by our PSPLA licensed private investigators are compliant with the Privacy Act.
- Our tracing and private investigation services are used by banks, legal clients, lending institutions and finance company’s.
- We will provide you with a detailed, accurate and confidential fact-based tracing report suitable for you and your legal advisors.
“We asked Dion Neill to find our missing Sister, Dion was incredibly empathetic and a very kind person to deal with. He found our Sister, we cant thank him enough. Our family is now complete again and our buckets are full” Private Client (Auckland)
“We haven’t seen our Brother for around 10 years, we needed to find him as our Father was terminally ill. Dion showed great urgency to our request, he was very professional with great communication. After a lot of hard work and really good initiative, Dion located our Brother in just 1 day!” Private Client (Wellington)
Why choose The Neill Group (TNG)?
Do you need help finding someone? Have you lost touch with someone, or has a family member gone missing? We will treat your assignment with compassion, confidentiality and professionalism at all times. Unlike generic tracing services that rely almost entirely on computer databases, we combine advanced digital intelligence with experienced field based private investigators. When an online trail goes cold, our private investigators transitions seamlessly into active, on-the-ground investigation. We conduct discreet neighbourhood inquiries, interview witnesses, physically verify addresses, and where lawful undertake professional surveillance. We pursue the human leads that databases simply cannot reveal. It is this precise combination of modern technology and rigorous, real-world investigative work that has allowed us to successfully reunite families, track down evasive debtors, and locate missing people.
Are your Investigations and tracing inquiries confidential?
Are your investigations and tracing inquiries confidential? Yes, completely. We handle all missing person investigations with strict discretion, understanding that these situations are deeply personal and emotional. Your information remains entirely confidential, and we conduct every enquiry lawfully while protecting the privacy of everyone involved.
Finding missing people since 1987
Over the past four decades, our private investigators have successfully traced hundreds of individuals, providing families, businesses, and legal professionals with a positive trace result. Whoever you are looking for, whether they are a lost family member, evasive debtors or absconded defendants, our private investigators will find them. Our tracing expertise covers all types of inquiries, including: birth parents and adopted family seeking reunification, missing adult children or estranged family members, locating debtors and former tenants avoiding financial obligations or missing witnesses required for court matters or legal proceedings.
What happens when you locate a missing person?
What happens if you locate the person? That depends on the circumstances. If the person is happy to make contact, we can help facilitate that communication. If they prefer not to reconnect, we will respect their privacy while, where appropriate, confirming they have been located and are safe. Every case is handled sensitively and lawfully.
How long does it take to find a missing person?
Timeframes vary widely depending on the nature of the tracing assignment. While some individuals are located within a few hours or days, more complex investigations involving limited information can take several weeks or longer. We will assess your specific situation during your initial consultation to provide an honest, upfront estimate of the expected timeframe.
What happens after you find a missing person?
In some situations, a person may not wish to be found or may require time before establishing contact. We manage all outcomes with the utmost care, prioritising the privacy and safety of everyone involved. If an individual explicitly chooses not to reconnect, we provide you with an honest update rather than forcing the issue. If your case involves an evasive debtor or respondent and requires further action, we deliver a detailed report and evidence necessary to support your next steps.
Can you locate someone living overseas?
We can facilitate tracing for people residing overseas by utilising our established network of carefully vetted international private investigators. Because international laws differ, the available methods, legal frameworks, overall costs, and reporting procedures will vary depending on the destination country.
Can you help if the police can't or won't assist?
Many missing person assignments involve adults who have chosen to disappear or where no criminal offence is suspected, meaning the police may have limited authority to act. As private investigators, we can step in to conduct lawful enquiries, helping to establish the person’s welfare and pinpoint their whereabouts when official channels cannot.
What happens when a person doesn't want to be found?
Can you find someone who doesn’t want to be found? Yes, though it presents unique challenges. Individuals deliberately evading contact are harder to locate, but experienced investigators can uncover new leads using advanced intelligence research, field enquiries, and deep data analysis. Ultimately, whether direct contact is established depends on the legal context and the individual’s right to privacy.
What Information do you require?
You do not need to provide us with all the details, any information can be useful and will likely improve the chances of a positive trace. Information can include: full legal name, aliases, previous known names or nicknames, date of birth, last known addresses, former workplace or employer, email, mobile phone number, vehicle registrations, property ownership details, company or business ownership, social media profiles, photographs, names of associates, family members and close friends.
Can you confirm whether someone lives at an address?
Can you confirm whether someone lives at an address? Yes. Where appropriate, we can undertake discreet occupancy enquiries or targeted observations to determine whether the person resides at, or regularly attends, a specific address.
Why verifying addresses is important
GOOGLE and database searches frequently return historical or unverified information. A name appearing against an address does not necessarily establish that the person still lives there. Incorrect address information can result in wasted process serving costs, data breaches, weak applications for substituted service and wrongful enforcement directed at the incorrect location. Our private investigators eliminate these risks by assessing when an address was last connected with the subject, evaluating source reliability, and conducting verification whenever required.
What missing people do you trace?
We trace debtors, defendants, former tenants, guarantors, company directors, witnesses, birth parents and family members. We undertake tracing assignments in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and throughout every region of New Zealand. We can also assist if the missing person is overseas using our international network of carefully vetted private investigators.
Can you find someone using an old address?
Can you find someone from an old address? Often, yes. An old address is a valuable piece of intelligence. It can reveal historical property records, past household members, business registrations, or associate connections that collectively point the way to more recent information.
Can you find someone using an old phone number?
A phone number can serve as a valuable starting point, but whether it is sufficient depends entirely on its age, accuracy, and active connection to the correct person. Providing additional identifiers such as a full name, date of birth, previous address, or email will significantly improve the assessment and the overall likelihood of a successful trace.
Can you find someone that owes money?
While a debtor is being evasive and avoiding contact it can make the search difficult, a private investigator can still find a positive lead by data mining and searching their past history, business connections, known associates and reliable intelligence. Finding someone depends heavily on the circumstances. Elusive subjects can be exceptionally difficult to track down, particularly if they have relocated overseas, they often use false information or alias identities, leave minimal paper trails with very limited public or financial records and avoid detection by deliberately structuring their personal and business affairs. Private investigators in New Zealand must operate strictly within the law. A debt does not grant a creditor unlimited rights to access or exploit another person’s private information. Our team gathers information using compliant, professional investigative methods and delivers all findings confidentially to the instructing client. To protect legal integrity, we strictly refuse to assist with harassment or intimidation of any individual, unlawful access to private accounts, networks, or databases, impersonation of government agencies or official authorities and obtaining protected data without proper legal authorisation.
What happens when a traced defendant is avoiding being served with legal documents?
Assessment of the address, routines, and available evidence can help determine an appropriate service strategy. In suitable cases, targeted observations may allow personal service to be successfully completed in compliance with legal requirements. If traditional service remains unsuccessful after diligent attempts, a comprehensive affidavit of these attempts can be prepared, allowing a lawyer to apply to the court for substituted service.
What happens after you find a debtor?
Your next steps will depend on your specific legal or financial objectives. Once a location is confirmed, you can proceed with direct correspondence, personal service of legal documents, debt negotiation, court proceedings, or seeking enforcement advice from your lawyer. To make the transition as smooth as possible, we can securely deliver our findings directly to you, or with your authorisation, work seamlessly with your legal adviser.
Can you confirm a debtors place of work or employer?
Yes, employment information can often be established through lawful research and targeted enquiries. Success ultimately depends on the individual’s specific circumstances, their current occupation, and the quality of the starting information available.
Can you locate a defendant? I have legal documents to serve
Tracing inquiries by a private investigator can identify and verify a reliable, current address for a defendant or recipient of legal proceedings. Once that location is locked in, you can use a process server or private investigator to personally serve the legal documents or court proceedings at the confirmed address. Finding a defendant and establishing an address suitable for serving legal documents are not the same. Online searches or information sources may suggest an address but it does not prove the address is current. When legal documents or court proceedings need to be personally served, verification of a current address is essential. Our private investigators will carry out desktop tracing, identify the most likely address, carry out a discreet field visit, verify occupancy of the address or a connection of the missing person with the address, carry out covert surveillance, manage the service of the legal documents or court proceedings using our process servers.
Can you find a witness?
The goal of a professional trace is to track down the exact person you need and set up a reliable way to contact them well before they are required for a court hearing, formal interview or written statement. Locating crucial witnesses is rarely straightforward. Contact details change, individuals relocate, change employment, or simply become difficult to reach over time. Our private investigators employ precise investigative techniques to locate individuals, drawing on a comprehensive range of capabilities: public records and commercial databases to establish historical and current links, social media and open-source intelligence to map digital footprints, address and contact inquiries to verify active phone lines and residences, employment and business intelligence to identify current workplaces or company directorships, associates and third-party interviews to gather intelligence and field based inquiries when desktop research fails to produce a result. We evaluate all available initial intelligence, isolate the strongest leads, and work systematically to establish a verified address, current phone number, or other reliable channel of communication. Where a witness is reluctant, vulnerable, or difficult to approach, we manage the initial contact with the highest level of professionalism, discretion, and tact ensuring the integrity of your evidence is protected without unnecessary pressure.
Can you carry out a visit to an address?
Some tracing work cannot be completed from sitting behind a desk or working from an office. A discreet field based inquiry may test whether a lead is current, whether the person is known at the address or whether another local lead exists. Field based assignments conducted by a field agent or private investigator should be carefully planned. The purpose is not to broadcast the enquiry to neighbours, employers or family members. It is to verify information while protecting confidentiality and avoiding unnecessary intrusion.
Can you find birth parents and missing family members?
Tracing family members requires a lot of care, discretion and sensitivity. You might be looking for a sibling, parent, child, or birth relative after decades of no contact. It is important to remember that the person you are looking for might welcome the contact, need time to think about it, or choose not to get in touch at all. Because feelings are involved, using an intermediary approach is often better than just handing over their new address. A private investigator can pass on your message safely, giving your relative the privacy and space to decide if they want to respond on their own terms.
Can you find my former tenant? They owe me rent and costs for repairing damage
Landlords, employers, and business owners often need to find a past tenant or staff member. This usually relates to Tenancy Tribunal disputes, outstanding property, company records, employment contracts, or a formal workplace investigation. Your reason for finding them must be clear, and the search must focus strictly on resolving that specific issue.
What questions will the private investigators ask me?
We will ask detailed questions to learn more about the specific circumstances of your assignment. You will be asked for some basic details about the person you are seeking, but don’t worry If you don’t know all of the answers, we have found people based on their last-known address and with minimal information.