Checking live server… Free tools · Indiana residents No tracking, no ads
IBE
Indiana Businesses Exposed Free tools for Indiana consumers

Free for Indiana residents

Tools to protect yourself before you spend.

Look up a business, search the live findings, file a tip, or jump straight to the Indiana Attorney General. Everything below is free, no signup, no tracking. Source-cited where it matters.

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New here? Not sure which tool you need? Use the four common reasons people come here: look someone up, spot a scam, report a bad business, or file a tip. Start with "Business name lookup" below if you're checking a contractor, "Is this link a scam?" if you got a sketchy text, or "Report a bad business" to share what happened to you.
Businesses profiled
Complaints indexed
Filings cross-ref'd
92Indiana counties

New · server-powered

AI tools that run on Gary's server

Local models. Nothing leaves the home server. Each tool calls a different small model tuned for the job.

Chat

Ask the assistant

What it does: General-purpose chat, answered by the local TCG assistant model (gemma3:1b). Faster + safer than cloud AI for sensitive questions.

Summarize

Summarize a long document or article

What it does: Paste long text (article, contract, PDF excerpt). Returns a tight bullet list of key facts, risks, and what to do next. Tuned for low hallucination.

Vision

Analyze an image

What it does: Upload a photo (≤5 MB, JPEG/PNG/WebP). Local vision model describes what it sees and flags suspicious activity. Use for: checking suspicious door-knock photos, sketchy product images, scan-detection.

Civic

Indiana civic search builder

What it does: One panel, several official portals: court cases (mycase), IDOC offender lookup, county clerk directory, jail/inmate search (VINELink). We don't scrape — we pre-fill the URL so you click straight through.

Markets

Live stock watchlist

What it does: Top symbols on the home-server watchlist with current price, % change, and signal. Updates every page load.

Loading watchlist…

Full version: /stocks (in-progress upgrade)

Local

Live Seymour status

What it does: Snapshot of weather, threat composite, active NWS alerts, traffic, flood gauges for Seymour + Jackson County. Auto-refreshes every 60 seconds.

Loading Seymour stats…

Search & lookup

Find what we know about a business

Search

Business name lookup

What it does: Type a business name; we search our published findings (Indiana SoS filings, AG actions, BBB complaints, court records) and show the worst things on file.

How to use: Enter the business as it appears on your quote (e.g. "Acme Roofing LLC"). Empty result ≠ clean — also check the SoS link on this page.

Browse

Browse by severity

What it does: Sorts the findings by how serious they are — critical (active fraud), high (multiple complaints), medium, low. The ones we'd warn a neighbor about, top-down.

How to use: Pick a severity, click Show entries. Use this to skim what's hot in Indiana right now without searching for a specific name.

Submit

Report a bad business (anonymous OK)

What it does: Tells us about a pattern you've seen. We verify with public records before anything gets published, so the next person who searches for that business name finds your story.

How to use: Business name + 1-2 sentences about what happened + your county. Email is optional. Don't include SSN or photos — just facts.

Verify

Is this link a scam?

What it does: Paste any suspicious link from a text/email. We check for red flags: weird hostname, fake "login" wording, suspicious country codes, no HTTPS, embedded passwords. Runs in your browser — never sent to us.

How to use: Long-press / right-click the link → Copy. Paste below. If you see ⚠ HIGH RISK or 3+ flags, don't click — text the sender separately to confirm it's real.

Ask

Ask the AI (free, private)

Local AI (Ollama, no third-party logs) answers questions about Indiana consumer protection, common scams, and how to file complaints.

Verify

Where is this website hosted?

What it does: Tells you the country, region, and ISP of any website or IP address. A "Tax-Help-Indiana.com" hosted in Belarus is a strong tell that it's not really Indiana.

How to use: Type the domain (without https://) or paste an IP. Useful for emails claiming to be from local businesses or government agencies.

Indiana state portals

Public records, official sources

Direct links to the agencies. We don't middle-man — these go straight to the source.

Records

Indiana Secretary of State

Look up a corporation, LLC, or assumed-business-name filing. Confirms the entity actually exists and shows registered agent + officers.

Complaints

Indiana Attorney General

File a consumer-protection complaint. Required step before any small-claims or class-action escalation.

Courts

Indiana courts & case lookup

See if a business has been sued, sued someone else, or has a small-claims judgment against it.

Vehicles

BMV & vehicle records

Dealer license verification, title-history hints, and the official Indiana BMV portal.

Federal

Federal consumer protection

Report fraud at the federal level — useful when the business is online-only or out of state.

Reviews

Cross-reference review history

Look at multiple sources before deciding. We don't endorse any single review platform.

Educational

How to protect yourself before you commit money

Before you sign anything

  • Verify the business exists at the IN Secretary of State.
  • Search MyCase for the business name + the owner's name.
  • Search this site for the business name (above).
  • Get the quote in writing with itemized parts/labor.
  • Don't pay 100% upfront — 25-50% deposit is normal, the rest on completion.
  • Pay by credit card or check, not Cash App/Zelle/cash. Cards offer chargeback protection.

If something goes wrong

  1. Document everything in writing (texts, emails, photos).
  2. Contact the business in writing (email + certified letter) requesting fix or refund.
  3. If unresolved: Indiana AG complaint (see above).
  4. If they took money: dispute with your card issuer / bank.
  5. If under $8,000: Indiana small claims court.
  6. Tell us — submit a tip so the next person searches and finds it.

Common scam patterns we see in Indiana

  • Storm-chaser roofers — unsolicited door knock after a storm, "free inspection", fake damage, demand insurance check.
  • Auto dealer "yo-yo" financing — sale closes, days later "financing fell through", you owe more.
  • Fake utility shutoff threats — "Pay $X by gift card or your power gets cut in 30 minutes." Real utilities never demand gift cards.
  • Tow operator overcharges — extra "drop fees" not on a posted rate sheet.
  • Tax-prep nonexistent business — pop-up "office" that disappears after April 15 with your info.