Private Investigator Answers PI Questions

I'm Mike LaCorte.

I'm a private professional investigator.

Let's answer your questions from the internet.

This is Private Investigator Support.

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FeistyPotential3392,

What is the most interesting case you have ever solved?

A client of ours was being blackmailed.

This individual had a mistress

and that information would've been devastating to him

if his family found out.

And whilst morally that's wrong,

blackmail is a criminal offense too.

The first thing he wanted was this problem to go away,

and he was willing to pay for the problem to go away.

His mistress' computer was compromised,

and some of the data on that was being printed

and shared with the client and left on his car.

We started to put an investigation together.

We used a combination of forensics on the computer to try

and see if we could get leads from that.

We swept the address and the vehicles

to make sure there were no listening devices.

In the end, we identified the blackmailing group.

A couple of the individuals

who were behind it ended up being deported.

That was a testing time for all of us

because it pushed our investigation boundary to its maximum.

You've got a client on the one hand

that's potentially done something that's immoral

in terms of the way he lives his personal life,

and then you've got a criminal activity

that's taking place trying to extort

and blackmail the client for personal gain.

Jnk456,

When you are hired to find out if a spouse is cheating,

what percentage of the time are they actually cheating?

When there is a niggling doubt with someone,

generally there's something going on.

In order for someone to make that decision

to hire an investigator,

there's got to be some type of issue, breach,

untrust that's happened.

More are actually cheating than not

because spouses will do

some groundwork themselves internally first,

and it's pretty even in terms of male/female coming to us

in terms of being the client.

Let's put that figure anywhere between 70 to 75%.

Fortheloveof0,

Has anyone caught you investigating them?

Look, in the private sector, this can happen,

but every professional investigator out there

will take every step they can

to make sure it doesn't happen.

Every investigator out there will grade their targets

from white to red,

white being completely unaware

right up to the level of awareness

of an individual increasing potentially

during an investigation.

If a subject, their awareness increases,

you need to then adapt the way you investigate.

Sometimes it's more risk-free being overt to be covert.

Everyone's got cameras,

so it's easier to get a camera out and film

rather than try and do something hidden.

One of the cases many, many years ago,

I had to get some imagery of these individuals

that shouldn't be together,

and it was another infidelity case,

and we managed to set up a reporting type scenario

with a camera on a tripod,

someone holding a microphone,

allegedly from a reporting outlet in Leicester Square,

and just asking tourism comments.

We approached the target,

who's with a third party,

and passed the microphone between the two,

engaged in conversation, and asked,

How long have you been together?

And all of that was documented overtly on a camera.

That's an example of sometimes overt to be covert.

This one's from itsvsn,

Random 4:00 AM thoughts,

what are the things private investigators can

and cannot do?

Things investigators can do,

they can put surveillance teams on the ground

to follow someone,

they can run background reports and check for bugs,

tracking devices.

An investigator cannot go into someone's information

in their phones or anything like that.

Private sector investigator cannot hack into emails,

that's illegal.

Go into people's bank accounts,

anything that's considered private data,

an investigator cannot do that.

This is from factoid80,

You're letting people in on the game.

Hiring a PI is essential before getting married.

I always recommended a deep background check

and a fiance test,

which is to let her know you're traveling for a weekend

and on that weekend, hire a PI for surveillance.

You don't wanna try and test your fiance.

Where's the trust if there's the test?

If you wanna try and find out the truth,

you hire an investigator,

but it needs to be proportionate.

From peony_lilly,

You're a private investigator/detective.

What is your outfit and weapon?

Most investigators will carry some type of change

of clothing or items

that can change their appearance pretty quick.

Glasses, hats, scarf.

During COVID,

masks were issued everywhere

and it was a godsend for all the surveillance operatives

throughout the world.

I always tell my investigation team,

it's easier to dress down than dress up.

If you are smartly dressed,

you can always take your tie off, take your jacket off,

put a jumper on, put a beanie hat on.

In the back of any surveillance vehicle in the boot,

you'll see a variety of different types of clothing.

If you want to change your appearance completely,

never forget your shoes

because that's one item

that investigators can miss in changing.

This is from Ask Reddit,

Private investigators of Reddit,

what is the most bizarre task you've been assigned to do?

I was contacted a while ago

by a celebrity photographer.

This photographer was in a relationship

with someone from a band.

The person in the band was lent

a very famous guitar.

The objective was to trace the guitar

and bring it back to its rightful owner.

The individual declined all knowledge of it,

but we had proof otherwise.

I had to travel back to the US

with this famous guitar on my back,

with some of the stewardesses thinking I was part

of some famous band.

Bizarre case.

From red-seymour,

What made you decide to become a private investigator?

What was your most fun case?

I started on the ground doing inquiries,

field work, surveillance work.

It just intrigued me.

This industry consumed me actually.

It was something I'm super interested in,

and I've always have been intuitive and understanding

and uncovering facts,

and the diversity

in terms of what a private investigator actually does.

The fun case that we worked on

was a few years ago,

a family office where the female was suspected

of having an affair with her ski instructor.

It was in a very popular ski resort

where we needed to put a ski surveillance team together.

Where and how would the target behave inappropriately

during the time she's with the instructor?

I tell you, when that task hit the office,

most investigators put their hand up for that

because it was a good few days skiing

and you had to be quite competent.

She was pretty good.

So the end result of the ski task was no,

there was no infidelity going on.

Probably paranoia from the client's point of view.

For the surveillance team,

it was a great few day skiing paid for,

so I think they enjoyed that.

This is from AggressiveAd8587,

How are private investigators legal?

Lots of countries around the world,

investigators need to be licensed in order to practice.

In the UK, an established private investigator

that's a member of accredited associations

is registered with the ICO,

has insurance and is DPA-checked,

is legal to practice.

You need to make sure

what you're doing is proportionate and necessary,

'cause when you present your reports to the court,

you can't say you've followed someone for a year

in a way to try and catch someone out on that one occasion.

This one is from Reddit-or-forget-it,

Private detectives of Reddit,

what's your oh shit moment where you had to stop watching

and either step in or call the police?

My biggest oh shit moment

was we were working a case years ago

where there was internal fraud.

It was for a bathroom suppliers company,

and there was lots of items going missing.

We knew where goods were going missing from.

Let's say this is our client's warehouse.

We had an agent parked in a car park at this position here.

Now, unbeknown to us is the team were taking goods out here

in the vans and using the same car park here to move them

into different vehicles.

He was actually blocked in by the vans

when they were moving goods from the client's van

into their own van.

If you do get spotted,

it will ruin the operation that we've been working on

for weeks and weeks.

He can't drive himself out of there.

The other agent could not walk up to the vehicle

and drive him out.

We just have to monitor the situation

and let it run its course.

The agent was fine.

He stayed in the vehicle until the vans moved on,

and that vehicle was never used in the surveillance again.

This one's from grayblueyes,

What are your must-have apps/sites

that are always available at your fingertips?

In this day and age, any type of communication tool.

It'd be very difficult to operate as an investigator

without being able to capture and communicate.

Do I have a discrete car?

Yes, vehicles will be nondescript,

and there is a lot of planning that goes

into a type of surveillance vehicle that's used

before it's out on the ground.

With hidden audio and video devices,

technology has changed dramatically since I first started.

We were carrying backpacks with battery packs

and big Filofax, cameras back in the day.

Many people associate investigators with binoculars,

for example, with technology,

and now there are a monocular,

which is small, single-handed, that's digital,

that can capture and record huge distances

and transmit that information live.

This is from poogieees,

What would actually happen

if you hired two private investigators

to follow each other?

I think that's an impossible scenario.

And just think about it.

Investigator A goes

and sits outside Investigator B's house

waiting for him to come out,

and Investigator B goes

and sits outside Investigator A's house

waiting for him to come out.

So if they're following each other,

then they're gonna be both watching empty houses.

Question from milgrp2001,

What's the hardest thing

about being a private investigator?

I suppose the hardest thing

about being a private investigator is you don't switch off.

It consumes you,

it consumes your time, your thoughts, your processes.

It's a way of life rather than just a job.

But a case that come and hit the desk,

it was working for a financial institution in the city,

and our objective was to find the address

that this individual is living at

after a meeting.

I remember calling my wife, this was many years ago,

saying, I'll be home for dinner.

The guy left, went into St. Pancras train station,

got on the Eurostar,

ended up in Paris for the weekend.

So my two- or three-hour surveillance turned

into a whole weekend.

If you are not fully committed to a way of life

as an investigator,

then maybe this career isn't for you.

This question is from Jerswar,

What do real private detectives usually investigate?

It could be consented cases

like pre-employment checks or screening staff

for positions in work,

right up to fraud,

supporting lawyers for court cases,

gathering information and evidence

that can be used for decision-making,

brand protection, investigating fakes that are out there

for some of the brands,

matrimonial, where you believe a partner

is being unfaithful,

or cohabitation,

where a partner has moved into another address

with someone else,

proving that for a particular reason.

But what investigators

or private detectives do do is uncover the truth.

TheeRISKIMARIE,

What possess y'all to hire a private investigator?

Like how does this even work?

We are a distressed purchase.

People don't book us like you book a holiday.

People come to us when they have a problem

and they need to either find the truth

or find the facts or connect the dots.

We cover a wide range of services

from tracing individuals right up to, you know,

corporate fraud and intelligence gathering.

But private clients,

they come to us, commonly,

when they've either been scammed,

there's an internal family/office issue,

or there's a breach of trust,

an unfaithful partner,

a family member that's that's gone astray.

This is from Candy-Emergency,

How can I tell if my car has a tracking device?

In order to conclusively tell,

you need to do what's called a a technical sweep.

You'd have a skilled technical investigator

with the right equipment that will scan the vehicle,

do two types of searches,

a physical search,

going underneath, in the engine, in any other compartments,

and then the vehicle is scanned

with some equipment that will look for emitting signals

or frequencies or what have you

to try and identify whether a tracking device

is on that car.

ToddOrland56032,

What do you think is the most critical skill

for a private investigator to have?

Leaving no layer unturned.

So being intuitive and drilling down

into the detail and the data,

questioning everything that you find and you see,

and verifying all of the sources of information

that you uncover.

Having that out-of-the-box thinking, mentality

to tackle cases and analyze a case

in more than one dimension

makes you a complete investigator.

This one's from reds_play.pin,

How the hell do I hire a private investigator?

Good question, this.

Depending on the country you're in,

you look at your local or your state,

national, or international association.

In the UK, there's the Association of British Investigators.

Check on that website for an accredited

and approved investigator there.

Globally, a good starting point

would be the World Association of Detectives.

There's nearly 1,000 investigators on that platform

in more than 80 countries around the world.

This one is from orthonerd911,

Thinking of becoming a private investigator. Thoughts?

Well, my first answer to that I think it's a great idea.

I would align yourself with some professional associations

like the Association of British Investigators.

I'd look for potential internships

and apprenticeships for entry-level investigator

to give you an insight into the world

of private investigating and whether it's for you.

This one's from AvocadoOfDestin,

What general tips would you give to people

to lower their profile a little bit

and be a bit harder to trace?

Thinking along the lines of stalker or identity thieves.

From a picture,

you can find out so much about someone without knowing them.

Lots of doting parents posting pictures of their kids

outside their school with the school badge

or the school sign behind,

very easy for, you know, nefarious characters online

to understand which schools your kids are going to.

And just your private data,

the home addresses, personal data.

We've got two reputations now. Everyone has.

You've got your personal reputation

in terms of the reputation you have with your friends,

colleagues, and family,

but you've also got your online reputation too.

You need to protect both.

This is from EvalynFM,

What is the most shocking case you've worked on?

The client was a banker from the Middle East.

He wanted to try and locate his child,

and his estranged wife was going

through a very messy divorce.

Thought they were still somewhere in the Middle East.

We ended up tracing them to somewhere in the US.

And the client was adamant that it couldn't be,

so we sent some field investigators out there,

took some images, showed him, and he was gobsmacked,

he couldn't believe it.

We were able to prove that the mother forged his signature

on the consent to leave.

In the end,

the father actually received custody of his child.

From Solanges_Fro,

Who is the better detective,

Sherlock Holmes or Benoit Blanc?

Mr. Blanc is more suited currently.

However, if we were bring Mr. Blanc back

in Sherlock Holmes' times,

then Sherlock Holmes would win hands down.

Modern investigators sometimes can be a bit lazy.

Some Sherlock Holmes techniques,

getting out there, speaking to people,

doing the covert questioning statements,

that type of fieldwork to supplement whatever you've found

through all of your datasets can be overlooked

by some modern detectives.

Doing the fieldwork in combination

with what you can do at your fingertips

makes you a complete investigator.

So we've got a question here from shufflupaguss,

Question for private investigators.

What's a typical day look like for you?

There's no two typical days that are the same

because you do such a wide range

of investigating.

It could be desktop research,

it could be interrogating databases,

it could be looking at open-source intelligence,

that's information that's freely available on the net,

or it could be getting out on the field,

asking questions, maybe doing some covert surveillance,

interviewing, door knocking, neighbors,

just really does depend on the case

that you've been assigned to and the objective.

I hope I've answered all of your questions

from the internet.

Thank you for listening and I hope you enjoyed it.

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