Private Detective Blog

Hi,

I’ve been getting emails from clients asking me to do background checks to verify people they’ve met online. All of these clients say someone from nigeria contacted them, build up a friendship and then asked for money.

Nigeria is THE number 1 location for identity theft and confidence scams originating on the internet worldwide. Do not trust people from Nigeria who contact you through dating sites, social networkign sites or any form of online community. Especially when they ask for money due to hardships or whatever. They’re almost certinly lying.

In fcat it’s usually a waste of your money hiring me to try and do a background check on them as well as the results always come back blank. They don’t use their real names.

 Thanks,

Andy

Hi,

 Many Private Detectives offer a GPS location service, that basically means they will install a GPS (global positoning service) in a suspects car and that device will transmit its location to a satelight which will log its co-ordinates and where the person with the device hidden on them has been.

You can buy these devices your self for around $200 for a low end one, but as you can imagine there’s a whole host of laws surrounding their usage. You really need someone with liability isurance and knowledge of these laws to do this otherwise it could be a very costly misatke on your part. Private detectives usually use the devices for tracking cheating partners and tracking persons suspected of theft from the workplace. In both cases usually the vehicle is the property of the client, but in some countries that wouldn’t be enough to justify their usage.

I do have contacts in the uSA and Europe who offer these services and I’ll be happy to set clients up with them.

 Andy

Hi,

 I thought I’d look over some potential countires I could immigrate to, as I’m in the UK and the weather is awful lol. The thing about being a PI is that you’ll need to learn the record system of your new country and get a licence first before you can start work, but I was prepared to go over on a tourist/eduction visa and take the classes first before I applied for a permanent visa.

 First I looked at Australia, and it’s obvious the ozzies don’t want to share their little paradice. There’s only 16 million people there, and 2 million of them British ex-pats! To go over there and start up your own busness you need to invest Au$200,000! And if you’re not on the skills shortage list (which Pis are never on as it’s not a noticable industry) then forget it. lol. Well, you send a bunch of criminals over there 100s of years ago and they tend not to like the people who sent them there lol.

 I’ll need to look at Canada or the US next… I’ll let you know how I get on.

Thanks,

Andy

Hi,

 There has been a recent update in UK law to the non-molestation order, a court can impose on people with sufficent evidence of violence (it’s usually used in divorce proceedings). Under the Family Law act 1986, members of the public (including process servers and private detectives) could not make a citizens arest of someone breaking their non-molestation order. Even the police would first have to apply to court to seek a power of arrest. With the new changes to the law breacking a non-molestation order is deemed a criminal offence with up to 5 years imprisonment, so the police don’t need to go to court to get a power of arrest first.

I can’t help but think that US law has been ahead of British law in this area for some time! Also, the new UK laws take into account same-sex couples. Before these changes same sex couples would have found it very difficult to apply for and be granted a non-molestation order.

Thanks,

Andy

Hi,

 This topic has been bouncing around investigator chat rooms recently. In the UK handguns are illgeal, as in many other coutnries, but in the US the legality of carrying a handgun changes from state to state.

The main isues with Private Detectives carrying a weapon are - concealed firearm laws, self defence laws and licencing laws. Mnay states require private detectives to have a licence to carry a firearm and these are usually seperate from the average citizen’s defence laws and they can carry 24/7.

Personally, I don’t really see the need to carry a weapon of any kind. A private detective spends most of their time in an office these days due tot he internet and th telephone. The times you go to contact someone at their own home havign a visable weapon strapped to you, or being found to carry a conceled one will almost certinly invlove 2 things - the informant stops talkign to you, and may even call the police.

Thanks,

Andy

Hi,

 Google.com recently released their own online payment service similar to Paypal.com . It’s called Google Checkout. I’ve signed up for it and I can accept this form of online payment. The only trouble is that unlike paypal or my other payment processor you have to sign up for a Google account first, that’s why it’s not my main form of payment acceptance.

If you want to pay by Google Checkout just ask and I’ll send you the link. I think it’s main benifit is that it’d be trusted by shoppers becuase it is Google after all.

Thanks,

Andy