Keep in mind that there may be lots of information on the internet which is not current at all. Maybe certain data was leaked years ago, you put that information yourself on certain pages or used certain platforms that you always made public. Therefore, just by doing a search they could find you.
Methods to find you on the Internet
if anyone wants search for you on the internet, most likely it will do a combination of everything that we are going to show. You will have different alternatives to find your personal data, find out more about what you do, what you have done during your life or even who your friends and family are.
Search in Google
The first option is the easiest: a Google search. just put your Name and surname and you may appear in results of many websites. If they know your ID or any other information about you, it would be easier for them to expand the information. You can do the same with other similar search engines.
What will you find on Google? Basically results of pages where you appear. You may appear in some news for some reason, in an event in which you have participated, something related to what you have studied or where you work. It is quite common that something can be found in this way.
Review public pages
They could also pull directly from public pages. Of course, it will usually be necessary for them to know something more about you. For example, they could search the website of a university where you studied or a company where you worked. There may be a record of it and they may appear on public websites.
There they will be able to have more direct information. They will find more concrete data that at some point has been public. You will even be surprised to find information about things from many years ago. It is precisely more common to see old things, since nowadays there is more care with personal data and the information that is published on the network.
See places you usually frequent
We are talking, for example, of a sports club in which have you ever participated, an association you belong to, a bar you usually go to, etc. It is common for the profiles of social networks or web pages of these places to upload photos where you appear or even information, in the case of a club or an association.
In many cases you will not be aware that you appear on those pages. Even if it is content without any kind of bad intention, or apparent repercussion, they could use it to find out more about you.
internet forums
Have you participated in Internet forums? They may be forums specialized in a specific subject, but also other more open ones. They could search for you on those platforms, see what information you have given, what comments you posted even if it was many years ago and, ultimately, find out more about you.
A very simple method can be to put the username that you usually have on the Internet. With this, they could find out if you have an account in a certain forum and see all the messages you have posted.
Investigate social networks
The last option, and the most disturbing, is through social networks. They can start researching your social networks. It basically means that they can enter your Facebook or Instagram account, for example, and see all the content you post, who your contacts are, photos, information you have given, etc.
But be careful, even if you have private social networks, they could enter. How do they do that? A clear example is through fake profiles. They could create a fake Facebook profile, for example, and add you. From there, being a contact of yours, I could see all the information that you have published.
As it is, they may find out about you from the Internet using very different methods. Social networks, forums, public sites, search on Google or even see pages of places you usually frequent. It is in your power, at least in part, to prevent this from being possible and to have more privacy.
