Using expensive Internet databases, census reports, passenger lists, graveyards, family Bibles, "even turning over cardboard boxes and tapping people awake on the street, " says Morse, the hunters track down the rightful heirs, many of whom never even knew the deceased.

FORBES: Good Will Hunting

With customers doing their own ordering and billing through the Internet, databases must be able to handle vast numbers of concurrent users and provide information fast.

ECONOMIST: Software

One data broker told Congress his company relied on public databases or Internet searches to get personal information.

NPR: Pretexting Is Alive and Well in Corporate America