I'e read time and again on this board about exmos being tracked down. How are they doing it?

1) Get returned mail with new address after someone moves?
2) Manual or automated searches of county real estate tax records?

Anyone know how they are doing it, and whether this is coordinated at the ward, stake, or SLC central?

My guess is that there are probably family/friends involved in most such cases. Personally I haven't been contacted in years.

I agree. We had that problem until we confronted our families about it. Once that huge battle went down all the contact stopped.

Our family thinks they know what is better for us than we do and wanted to always have the church in contact with us "just in case" or for when we would "definitely" be coming back *sigh*

We hadn't been to church in years, and never discussed moving with any member of the cult, or gave out our new address.

But what about your family?? Or old church friends that you may keep in contact with?

Nope...

Ok, that's creepy. Have you resigned? If not, you may want to do that. Or you can try the whole Do Not Contact list. But from what I hear that is hit or miss. Or you can contact the Bishop and politely ask, then if it continues try the not so politely route.

They have done many things over the years. As a missionary we had huge file folders full of names and data on "lost members" and we were trained with quite extensive tactics of how to track them down and were encouraged aggressively to do so.
If we found any we were to fellowship them and mine them for reactivity($$) and more names of their friends for conversion

This is the official LDS Church instruction on how to locate members.

Part of the system used - an excerpt from the instructions.

"Local efforts

To find members, visit the last known address:

Talk with neighbors, a building supervisor, manager, or owner, if known or available.
Contact other family currently living at the member's last known address.
Contact the new individual or family living there.
Contact neighbors adjacent to the member's last known address.
Or use the telephone:

Call the member's last known phone number. It may be a cell phone that they still have or the member may have notified the phone company of their new number.
Contact known relatives in the area.
Contact the phone company information service or operator and ask for new phone listings in the area that may not have been published to online directories....."

https://tech.lds.org/wiki/Locating_members

https://tech.lds.org/wiki/Locating_members

This is just plain creepy.

You have to define ex-Mo first, because the church treats resigned members differently from excommunicated members, and excommunicated members differently from long-term inactives.

When you resign, they do a database update to mark you as resigned in the membership records database. As a result, your name and address no longer get published to the membership record system at the stake or ward level. However, this can result in unwanted contact, from the following vectors:

1) Old/outdated ward lists. Missionaries and auxiliaries generally get a printout about once a year. So you may get contact from people with an out-of-date list up to a year or so after you resign.

2) Misguided family members phoning in missionary leads. Anybody can call up the mishy number for a free BoM or whatever and give them your address. The system doesn't correlate addresses, so the missionaries who come to deliver your 'gift' have no clue you're resigned ex-Mormon.

3) Last known address for other members. If you resigned but your kids didn't, for example, you may be the last known address for them. SLC will occasionally kick down records from the lost record file to the local unit if the people tasked with managing those records feel the local leadership has a better chance of finding the member in question.

Most of the problem with contact continuing after resignation is with 2, followed by 1.

For ex-communicated members, there's a separate category. Many of these folks either live with active members or may be trying to make their way back into the church. They continue to show up in the MRS, and their names may be published at either the stake or district level. Missionaries may or may not be told where the ex-communicated members live, as baptizing an ex-communicated member does not 'count' for missionary stats.

Long-term inactives, they'll pursue in any of the following:
1) Postal service return service request. If you forward your mail from your old to new address, they'll find out.
2) Family member requests. They'll call a sibling or mom or dad to try to figure out where you went.
3) Public records (like Utah voter registration records). This is automated, and potential matches are flagged for follow up. There's a group of full-time senior missionaries in SLC that do nothing but lost record follow up.

I recommend not placing a forwarding order with the USPS when you move. Instead, contact individuals and businesses individually to give them your new address. I learned a long time ago that the chance of a friend or far-flung family member contacting me out of the blue via USPS mail is close to zero. Nowadays, everyone uses email or social media to find people.

We have moved three times over the course of 30 years, and each time they found us. Our phone numbers have always been "non-published".



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/03/2015 11:14AM by tiredofthis.

It's my experience that LDS folks (not all) tend to think they are living a "higher law" and it's OK to do or say anything in their efforts to find people. Lying for the Lord is OK when finding a member or someone who was a member, or saving some soul that they think they are responsible for. Generally, it's members who track you down and give out the info so you can be found. They think they are doing the Lords Work!

I don't think they chase ex-mos (they haven't me); I think you're referring to inactive ppl who haven't resigned or been exd.

Every week the church buys the change of address list the USPS publishes and compares it with their membership list. When they get a hit, here come the missionaries. Many business also use the change of address for their customers. I had filled out a rewards program with Dick's and the next time I went in, they already had my new and correct address.

I just did a change of address to an office 100 miles away from where I live. When the cult figures it out, they will start calling my siblings for the correct address. Then there are the "friends" that believe teenage boys will convince me the lies are true and call the mission home with a lead.

Ever wonder why they track you down? Only a cult would track you down.

I'm not kidding.

There is a gym-sized room of cubicles manned by trained retired Mormons who have computers, phones, and the US mail service. It's easy to find anyone by going on line.

When they find "a lost sheep," they phone them and encourage them to return to church. If they can't find someone, they call next of kin or members of the last ward attended or an employer, neighbor or other contact.

Most of us have received phone calls from them. An elderly cracked voice says, "I'm calling from the church to find out how to contact your grandson. . ."

Granny answers, "What?? Oh dear me, you mean my dear boy has gone inactive? I feel faint!! Here's his address and phone number. Please do everything you can to help him. I'll be praying and will turn his name in to the temple prayer list. I'm hanging up so you can phone him right now!!"

What I forgot to say. Besides ratting out exmos to their relatives and associates, they also turn them in to whichever ward the local ward where they live. Some wards don't work too hard at reactivation. Other wards harass and torment them for years.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/03/2015 01:12PM by Cheryl.

If you are registered to vote, they can find you.

Voter lists can be bought for cheap.

Behold...

https://tech.lds.org/wiki/Locating_members

Even instructs ward clerks to dig up property tax records. This is sick.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/03/2015 05:27PM by godtoldmetorun.

There has been zero official contact with me since I resigned. My doctor and dentist are both bishop but religion never comes up in our conversations.

Ron Burr

I ran from them for over twenty years. Some of the tactics they used were trying to contact my current landlords when I wasn't home and talking to my neighbors. I know this because my landlords and neighbors were the ones who told me. Since I was young and single, they took it upon themselves to shoo them away.

I also had colleagues who were TBM who knew about my disbelief and respected my wishes that I not be contacted. One of my colleagues even took it upon herself to become my "visiting teacher" so that she could count seeing me at work as contact.

Now that I am officially resigned (a little over a year ago--thanks RfM), I haven't had anyone try to bother me...and I live in one of those Mormon pockets in Arizona and all of my family members on both sides are very Mormon.

https://tech.lds.org/wiki/Custom_fields_(MLS)

They use this feature a lot to indicate how vigilantly a member should be searched for. If a member has been blacklisted, that is indicated as well.