To provide a system that searches for targetted persons specified by a specific agency by, for example, collating fingerprints in vending machines installed across the country through a database of targetted persons specified by the specific agency.

Vending machines installed across the country store a database of targetted person information (for example, unique information such as fingerprints). When a person who wants to purchase an article from the vending machine presses a button on the vending machine, the purchaser's fingerprint put on the button is read in automatically, and the read fingerprint is collated through the search subject database stored in advance in storing means of the vending machine. If the collation finds the database and the read fingerprint are coincident, a searching agency or the like can be notified accordingly.