Well, I don't really want to bother Friedcat, and quite frankly I realize I'm not worth his time. The idea of this post is to try and figure out some general consensus on how do we know anything? For instance, I would at least like to know what Country the man lives in, if anything. How would I find out something like this without having to bother individual people?
There are very simple ways.
Little details that add up.
First, you can search the nickname on google. Usually people, even criminal minded ones, are prisoners of their own habit and they really take a pride for their nickname, so seldomly they change their names to not lose the credit or reputation that they gained so far.
You wouldn't believe how many people are caught this way.
Secondly, you can get their IP address in many ways... these days geolocation are accurate to the state, and even to the city level, so you can corroborate whatever they have been telling you in chats or PMs. If the story doesn't check out with their IP location, I would immediately suspect a scam.
At least a -5 trust.
Third, do a whois search, and specially, a reverse whois search from name, email address.
If it is private, I would give a -1 in trust.
Fourth, once you found out about their real name, or at least one confirmed information such as address or phone number, you can hire the services of a skiptracer.
