It is necessary, though - not just to track down delinquent bill payers, but to find lost heirs. The means used can leave a scar on your soul though.
I worked for a very short time as a skip tracer while living in Denver. We'd been trying to track down a man so he could be served with a lawsuit. Finally, by calling one former place of employment after another, I managed to get a friend's name. He said he was no longer a friend, but was able to get me his mother's name and city of residence. So, I called his mother.
A very distraught family friend answered the phone. As fate would have it, the mother had just passed away. Here's where it gets morally dodgy - I commiserated and then asked how 'Howard' was doing. The friend said he had taken it hard, and was finalizing the arrangements for the funeral tomorrow. She even let me know where and when the funeral was.
My boss used the information, of course, to have the guy served at his mother's funeral. My coworkers thought it was great and asked the process server for a play-by-play of the guy's reactions.
This all happened 20 years ago, but I still feel terrible when I remember it. Needless to say, I lasted about 6 weeks total in that job.
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