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Notes from a Private Investigator

Book Preview: Internet Fraud

April 4, 2015 by BEPIA Leave a Comment

Internet Fraud Casebook: The World Wide Web of Deceit was written by Joseph T. Wells and published in 2010, and some cases cover business due diligence issues covering internet fraud in Indonesia.

The book contains case studies on internet fraud written by real fraud examiners. The stories were hand-selected from hundreds of submissions and together form a comprehensive, enlightening and entertaining picture of the many types of internet fraud in varied industries throughout the world. Each case outlines how the fraud was engineered, how it was investigated, and how perpetrators were brought to justice.

There are a range of topics but one which caught the eye of BEPIA is story about an employee of a construction company based in Hongkong. The employee used the company’s name for his own interest and almost destroyed the company. 

The case starts when the head of operation of the company, Albert Watanabe, met Alex Gomez, who delivered a presentation in an international seminar. Albert was impressed with Alex’s presentation, and thought he perfectly matched the skills and experience that Albert urgently required for a position in the company. Basically  Albert recommended Albert for the director position in the office in Malaysia and received approval from Hong Kong with a pending background check.

For several months, Alex demonstrated a great skill at his work dealing with clients and employees. As he was doing so well Albert did not feel it was right to make such a talented person undergo a background check. Consequently Alex was hired permanently without a background check. 

Everything was going well until and employee found a possible mistake in Alex’s work. This in turn led the company to launch a confidential internal investigation, including computer forensics and Internet-based investigations.   It was revealed that Alex had defrauded the company. One of the incidents was that customers were invoiced through Alex’s Gmail account, but payments were received in the name of the company. At least 37 different individual customers had been handled by Alex in the previous 41 months, and he affixed a code “GMZ” (Gomez) before his customers’ names. Eventually it was found that names with the GMZ code did not appear in the company’s finances. Alex also emailed each GMZ client to make online payments by transferring to a particular bank account.  

This case highlights the need for thorough background and reference checks as one of the front defences against fraud. After Alex had defrauded the company it was found that he had previously been forced to resign from his previous employer because of a bribery case. Had Albert conducted a background check, it is almost certain he would not have hired Alex (and if he had for whatever reason then no doubt he would have been far more vigilant). For more than 10 years, Business Due Diligence Indonesia has been trusted by its numerous clients as a risk mitigation provider, and this includes background screening and reference checking. For more detailed information about how screenings can work for your company, please do not hesitate to contact us.    

Bale Eye Private Investigation Agency also has a sister company based in Jakarta. Please visit their website for more information – Indonesia Private Investigation Agency. For more focussed business due diligence work and analysis we would also refer you to Business Due Diligence Indonesia.   

Filed Under: Business Due Diligence, Export, Notes from a Private Investigator Tagged With: Book preview, letters

Police Powers

February 22, 2015 by BEPIA Leave a Comment

handcuffs

Contrary to what most people think, private investigators do not have any police powers. It is actually illegal in most countries for private Investigators to even wear any type of uniform, carry badges and even have any form of ammunition such as handguns. They also do not have any rights to enter private property without the consent of the owner and neither do they have the ability to obtain email records, phone records and bank records without the consent of the owner. Private investigators don’t even have any special rights beyond those of an everyday citizen to make arrests even with enough evidence against the individuals they are investigating.

Whilst laws are of course country specific, here for illustration are some examples of some of the laws in America (Florida) with regards private investigators:

Section 493.6118(1)(j), F.S.

“Private investigators are not law enforcement officers and are not granted any police powers regarding arrest or use of force”.

Section 493.6124, F.S.

“Licensed private investigators and private investigator interns should be especially aware that the use of any badge in the course of investigative activity creates a very strong suggestion of impersonation of a law enforcement officer, an act that would constitute misconduct in the course of regulated activities”.

Private Investigator Duties

Private investigators are typically hired by law firms, individuals and business to get or obtain the needed information to help in the making of informed decisions. They simply help their clients in finding the facts they need and gather related evidence, identify risks and enjoy some peace of mind on the issues they are most concerned about. In many countries there are laws Private investigators must abide by during their investigations and can face a court appearance if they breach these laws. Theirs is to confirm suspicion or find out the truth behind a given case through means that do not end up violating the laws regulating them. They gather facts and evidence before presenting them to the respective clients.

How do Private Investigators Work?

Private investigators rely on a variety of resources to get the job done. They can include court records, public records, surveillance, government repositories, investigative databases and even human intelligence to get the information they need on the persons of interest in a given case. Nowadays the internet gives the private investigators wider platform to get the job done in terms of resources.

In most cases, investigations rely largely on surveillance and human intelligence – this involves interviewing a number of people or witnesses to get to the bottom of the issue at hand. However, the investigations will go deeper in more complex cases such as those requiring documentation of evidence to be presented in a court of law. The most common investigation gear you will find the PIs will be include cameras, video cameras as well as spy gadgets and other items like binoculars that make it easier for them to keep an eye on the individuals they are investigating.

Hiring a Private Investigator

Private investigations can really come in handy in cases such as finding lost persons, suspected marital affairs, checking potential business partners and investments, child custody battles and monitoring strangers hired to do certain duties. If you feel that this is the way to go, you will need to take your time hiring the right Private Investigator. This is because there are some that specialize in specific investigative areas while others can handle a variety of cases competitively. Reputation, the services, the strategies, solutions, investigative equipment and the charges are also some of the factors you might want to consider before hiring your private Investigator. The investigations can take different durations of time depending on how complex the cases are and the amount of input needed.

Even though private investigators do not have any police powers, they should always use their own legal ways of obtaining the information they need on given cases. You can enjoy some peace with the help of professional investigators.

Indonesia Private Investigation Agency  (IPIA) along with our sister agency  Bali Eye Private Investigation Agency  (BEPIA) are  fully registered Private Investigation Agencies offering private detective and private investigator services to the Private and Business sectors throughout Indonesia and South East Asia.

Filed Under: Notes from a Private Investigator Tagged With: Featured, General

Truths about Private Investigation

December 25, 2014 by BEPIA Leave a Comment

difficulties

Some Hard Truths 

Private investigation work can be quite fulfilling, especially when you have chosen your field to suit what you feel you can do best. However, what most new investigators don’t realize is that this is a field that comes with its own potential successes and failures as well as challenges. It can therefore be helpful for such investigators to be ready for anything that could happen as they undertake their duties. Here are some of the hard lessons new private investigators learn as soon as they jump into the private investigation world.

  1. Investigation work takes much more than just surveillance

Some new investigators get into the job with the sole thought that they will gather what they require for different cases by simple surveillance. They get into it only to find that the work takes much more than just following persons of interest around. Lots of research and talking to all sorts of people is required to get to the bottom of a case especially in complex cases.

  1. Some cases can take more than a week or a month to complete

Another notion many new PIs have is that with their skills it will only take a few hours and days to have a case concluded. However, the truth is that some of the investigative cases can take ages to put together. This means working on the same case day in and day out until you have enough evidence to present to your client either to confirm suspicion or to give them peace of mind over the suspicions.

  1. Some subjects can be wise and tricky

In as much as investigators work hard not to blow up their cover, some of the subjects they deal with are very wise and will know of the investigations as soon as they start. They will therefore play tricks on the private investigators to throw them off course and deter the progress of the investigations. It is therefore up to the investigator to come up with new strategies to handle such slippery persons on interest and beat them at their own game.

  1. Not all cases are safe

Some of the investigative cases can be dangerous putting the lives of the private investigators at risk. This makes it important for the investigators to know how to approach witnesses without risking their lives. Some people can actually be violent making it helpful to find out about different characters and the protective gear to carry along when it is time to confront such people. Covert vests are some of the protective armory private investigators can invest in to keep safe.

  1. Without the right investigation gear, no work is worthwhile

New private investigators are hungry to get some work done and will therefore dive into the cases without everything they need. Word of mouth is not enough to clients and hence the need to invest in some real investigation gear to do a clean job. They include cameras and all other necessary supplies to document a case conclusively and call it a success.

There is always an importance for new private investigators to be aware of what to expect in their jobs before embarking on the cases. It helps them keep ugly situations at bay as they conduct the investigations.

Indonesia Private Investigation Agency  (IPIA) along with our sister agency  Bali Eye Private Investigation Agency  (BEPIA) are  fully registered Private Investigation Agencies offering private detective and private investigator services to the Private and Business sectors throughout Indonesia and South East Asia.

Filed Under: Notes from a Private Investigator Tagged With: General

Sick Day Investigation

November 18, 2014 by BEPIA Leave a Comment

sick_day

Every employer on hiring employees expects the best from them in terms of handling their work duties. The fact is that a good number of employees turn out to be very honest, loyal and hardworking. They gain the trust of their employers.

Unfortunately, there are others who cheat with the simple intention of getting off work. Falsely claiming to be sick has become one way for many employees to get off work to do whatever they want to do basically – to moonlight, go to a sports event, or just hang around the house watching tv.

Apart from repetitive and persistent sickness and false sick leaves, some will go to the extent of claiming injury compensation from their employers. The depressing part is that the employers usually pay the sick leave even though they are not sure that their employees are indeed sick and deserve to be off. If you find yourself in a situation where you are suspecting false sick leaves from your employees there is a solution. Sick day investigation is all you need to be sure of what your employee is really up to.

What is Sick Day Investigation?

These investigations are designed to give you peace of mind knowing that your staff members on sick leave are legitimately sick or if they are deceiving you.

Professional Private Investigators have their own strategies of finding out the truth on your behalf. They can conduct the investigations by keeping a watch on your sick employee during the sick leave to find out what really happens. Does s/he seek medical attention? Does s/he stay at home or does he end up doing other things during the sick leave that arguably a sick person should not be doing (such as going to a football match)? Does he or she get medication from the stores? These are some of the questions a sick day investigation will reveal to you, helping you know what the truth really is. We would never suggest this can or should be done in the vast majority of cases. Indeed most people are honest, but if there is someone that continually is taking sick leave then investigation might be an option worth considering.

The investigation strategy can differ from one investigator to another and you have the right to be briefed on how it is going to be conducted to bear fruits for you. An investigation plan will be laid out and the requirements discussed with you. The approximate cost will also be reached before evidence is gathered. Find out what your investigator can do for you before hiring the services. It is also very important to find out the terms of the services just to be sure they are exactly what you need.

Sick day investigations can be very helpful to any employer with growing suspicion and sickness claims that are persistent and repetitive. Find out the truth today by hiring the services of a good private investigator.

Indonesia Private Investigation Agency  (IPIA) along with our sister agency  Bali Eye Private Investigation Agency  (BEPIA) are  fully registered Private Investigation Agencies offering private detective and private investigator services to the Private and Business sectors throughout Indonesia and South East Asia.

Our two agencies both conduct business due diligence assessments in Indonesia. However, we can also recommend Business Due Diligence Indonesia (BDDI). BDDI specialise purely on business due diligence and pre-employment screening, and with an extensive network of political, financial and business experts, and over ten years specialised focus, they are perhaps the leading experts in their field. 

Filed Under: Notes from a Private Investigator Tagged With: General

Advantages of a Stereotype

March 22, 2014 by BEPIA Leave a Comment

pi_stereotype

Whilst stereotypes are often seen as a negative presumption about someone due to their particular gender, race or religion, in some cases stereotypes can be hugely beneficial. In the role of being a private investigator, it is your job to appear as unsuspicious and inconspicuous as possible, in order to convince the person you’re pursuing that they are not being investigated. Most of the time, people will not assume that they are being pursued, unless it is made blindingly obvious to them, which means that in the majority of cases, you can investigate without worry of being detected. However, that does not mean that you shouldn’t seek ways to draw as much attention from yourself as possible, and being a woman actually helps with this process significantly.

Now this is by no means suggesting that men are not good private investigators, but it does see how since people often associate males with being P.Is, women are less suspicious. Let’s face it, if you were to learn that someone was attempting to pursue you, there is a high chance that you would scan your surrounding area for men first. You are highly unlikely to immediately begin looking at all of the females in the sector, unless you already knew that the person following you was that gender.

The fact that women are not assumed to be private investigators makes them incredibly useful for investigations where the pursuer is more likely to be detected. Whilst the person in pursuit is busy analysing all of the males around them, the private investigator can keep a close eye on the suspect, and remain unnoticed. There is also a lot to be said for the many qualities that women have that make them excellent private investigators. Aside from their natural ability to multitask more efficiently than men, women don’t often let their ego cloud their judgement in a situation; they are proven to be substantially better than men at reading situations and acting accordingly.

With these points in mind, it is easy to see why women are useful as P.Is and why the stereotypes associated to P.Is allows them to have an easier time when investigating. Hence, we do not limit the Private Investigators we appoint to just men, as women certainly have their place in the industry too. In fact, women have shown time and time again that they are not only equally capable of being a private investigator, but in some cases, more effective than men!

Indonesia Private Investigation Agency  (IPIA) along with our sister agency  Bali Eye Private Investigation Agency  (BEPIA) are  fully registered Private Investigation Agencies offering private detective and private investigator services to the Private and Business sectors throughout Indonesia and South East Asia.

 

Filed Under: Notes from a Private Investigator Tagged With: General

It’s Not a Free Reign for PIs

September 5, 2013 by BEPIA Leave a Comment

Letters from a Private Investigator III

morality

Investigation Restrictions

The depiction of private investigators in media and entertainment can often make them seem like a villain or a criminal. They can go where they want, pry into other’s lives and collect sensitive information to be used as court evidence. It is rare that you can issue a restraining order against them. However, this is a picture sketched by popular culture. In reality, the situation is quite different. It is not a free reign for PIs. There are moral and legal issues that bind their hands. Their rights and privileges are no different than those given to an ordinary citizen.

Given is a list of things that a private investigator cannot do from the moral and legal aspect. It might vary from country to country.

The Moral and Legal Binds

  • Private investigators are not connected to government agencies. They function independently and gather sensitive information for attorneys or individual clients. As such, they are not allowed to wear any uniform, badge or any logo or phrasing that shows them as an associate of government agencies such as the police or Government officials.
  • A private investigator cannot arrest anyone. This is the duty of the police or other officials. This law is not uniform in all countries. In selected states in America for example, a private investigator can make an arrest in certain situations. This occurs when the person’s activities are endangering public life and property or in cases when the offense is witnessed. In some states, A PI is given the right to arrest a person provided he has a written arrest warrant.
  • Electronic surveillance is an important method of gathering information. However, as per the law, an investigator cannot monitor or tap phone conversations without the consent of the individuals involved. In some countries, an investigator has to acquire consent from any one of the persons whose phone is being wiretapped while in other countries it needs the consent of all the individuals whose telephone conversations should be recorded. The private investigator might also be required to obtain a legal warrant to tap somebody’s phone. However, if business is conducted in public and the private investigator is present there and he overhears your conversation that is considered legal.
  • A private investigator is liable for punishment if he trespasses an individual’s property during the investigation process. They cannot break into anyone’s house, property and building to secure information as evidence for court proceedings.
  • A private investigator cannot tamper with, open or destroy an individual’s mail be it postal messages or electronic mails. They also cannot monitor a person’s email from a remote location without permission.
  • If a private investigator’s work threatens the individual being monitored or if the person starts feeling unsafe and files charges against the agent, the private investigator is liable to answer the court about the intent of the surveillance. Such activities are usually considered to be stalking and not surveillance. The court regards them as having a criminal intent.
  • A private investigator cannot obtain protected information such as phone records, financial information and credit history without consent of the individual or legal permission. They can however investigate the location of the information. They can also investigate past criminal records in accordance with the applicable laws.
  • Not only this, when private investigators work, they respect the privacy of the individuals. They respect the moral values and consider the ethical considerations of every step they take. 

Indonesia Private Investigation Agency  (IPIA) along with our sister agency  Bali Eye Private Investigation Agency  (BEPIA) are  fully registered Private Investigation Agencies offering private detective and private investigator services to the Private and Business sectors throughout Indonesia and South East Asia.

Filed Under: Notes from a Private Investigator Tagged With: Featured

Dealer or Beggar?

August 17, 2013 by BEPIA Leave a Comment

Letters from a Private Investigator II

surrounded by sharks

The question sounds absurd at a glance. Back in the days, beggars would attract lots of sympathy as they used to be very genuine in their situations. This is however something that has changed with the passage of time. As needs surpass the available money and resources, many people have taken to begging but also use this as a means to cover up their main activity of selling (often illegal substances).

They pose as helpless homeless beggars. This is not to say that there are no genuine homeless people in great need. Unfortunately there are and the genuine homeless needy beggars still do exist.

However, it has just become very hard to distinguish between the genuine and the fake beggars. The fakers have come to ruin the day for the genuine beggars since people have refrained from giving their money to them.

The Fake Beggars

Most of them just want to have an easy life without working for it. They will choose a specific begging spot or move from place to place depending on where they feel they can make a kill or where they need to if they are peddling drugs.

Even though most large cities will get rid of beggars, they still find a way of getting what they want. Whereas there are very genuine needy street beggars, it has become very hard to tell who is who. This is especially so in cities which have been cited as notorious when it comes to the fake beggars.

Peddlers Disguised as Beggars

One of the problems today is that beggars have become an easy medium for the peddling of illegal substances. The street peddlers disguise as beggars only to wait for clients to come and buy what they have. This is usually a well-planned game with the buyers knowing the sellers quite well. Unless you have a very keen eye, it is hard to notice that anything has changed hands within a few seconds between the two parties. These kinds of beggars reap twice as much. This is because they still touch the hearts of sympathetic passer-bys who give them alms, and they also make a killing with the substances they are selling.

In some cases, they will play the role of a bridge between the illegal substance dealers and the large buyers. Since it can be very inhumane to mishandle beggars, they rarely get suspected of anything. They therefore make the trade very easy between the buyers and sellers. The only way police officers or security officers can manage to tell genuine and fake beggars is through close monitoring. In some cases, the beggars have been followed when going home only to discover that they live very posh lives.

The monitoring can be costly and tedious, especially since the beggars/peddlers are scattered in the cities. It also might not pay off when all the time has been spent monitoring one beggar only to find that indeed he or she was a genuine beggar. Most authorities issue warnings to visitors to beware of the beggars who can turn criminals, but nothing much can be done about the situation. 

Indonesia Private Investigation Agency  (IPIA) along with our sister agency  Bali Eye Private Investigation Agency  (BEPIA) are  fully registered Private Investigation Agencies offering private detective and private investigator services to the Private and Business sectors throughout Indonesia and South East Asia.

Filed Under: Notes from a Private Investigator Tagged With: General

The Honey Trap: A Brief History

March 22, 2013 by BEPIA Leave a Comment

honey_trap_thumbnail

Letters from a Private Investigator I

The Honey Trap: A Brief History

Mata Hari

Honey traps are hundreds of years old. One of the best known recent traps in spy history is by “Mata Hari” (also called “the most dangerous spy of all time”), a Dutch woman who had spent some years as an erotic dancer in Java. She died by firing squad on Oct. 15, 1917 after being convicted of spying.

The French arrested her on charges of spying for the Germans during World War I. They claimed that the German was her control officer and she was passing French secrets to him, secrets she had obtained by seducing prominent French politicians and officers.

Chinese Espioange

Even today the English MI5 recently expressed its concerns about sex and honey traps to gain business knowledge.

In a 14-page document distributed to hundreds of financial institutions and titled “The Threat from Chinese Espionage,” the MI5 described a Chinese effort to blackmail Western businesspeople over sexual relationships through honey traps.

The document warns that Chinese intelligence services are trying to cultivate “long-term relationships” and have been known to “exploit vulnerabilities such as sexual relationships … to pressurise individuals to co-operate with them.”

This latest report on Chinese corporate espionage tactics is only the most recent installment in a long and sordid history of spies and sex. For millennia, spymasters of all sorts have trained their spies to use art of love and sex to obtain secret information.

Homesexual Honey Traps

A Honey Trap though is not always heterosexual.

Jeremy Wolfenden gay and worked as a British journalist in Moscow in the early 1960s at a time when homosexuality was illegal.

Seizing its opportunity, the KGB ordered the Ministry of Foreign Trade’s male hair-dresser to seduce him and put a man with a camera in Wolfenden’s closet to take photos. The KGB then blackmailed Wolfenden, threatening to pass on the photographs to his employer if he did not spy on the Western community in Moscow.

Wolfenden reported the incident to the British Embassy, but he was called to see an officer from the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) who asked him to work as a double agent, leading the KGB along but continuing to report back to SIS.

The stress led Wolfenden into alcoholism and his life fell into a haze of heavy drinking before he died aged 31.

The Private Investigator and the Honey Trap

BEPIA and Indonesia Private Investigation Agency and  have been involved with setting Honey Traps for clients. Its not just women who approach IPIA/BEPIA about honey-trapping –  our client ratio is around 60% women to 40% men.

For the Private Investigator a ‘honey trap’ is basically an investigation that involves someone being paid to flirt with a target to detect signs of infidelity. Usually a Honey Trap is a simple case of approaching the target in a bar to see how far they want to take things sexually.

Honey-trap cases may seem simple from the outside but they often require the most planning. Clients want an answer and IPIA/BEPIA’s aim is to get that answer for them. However before we start a case, we  always make sure that clients realise just what they’re getting into and are able to prepare themselves for the worst possible outcome.

For every honey trap IPIA/BEPIA use at least two agents. One with the target and the other acting as a security back-up.

IPIA/BEPIA set up a wire on the agent with the target to hear the conversation. We also have special coded body language signals to communicate with the security agent.

If things get a little too close, for example if a man attempts to kiss an agent, the agent will make some excuse to rush off. Security for the IPIA/BEPIA agents is always a top priority.

Bali Eye Private Investigation Agency (BEPIA) along with our sister agency Indonesia Private Investigation Agency (IPIA) are fully registered Private Investigation Agencies offering private detective and private investigator services to the Private and Business sectors throughout Indonesia and South East Asia.

Filed Under: Notes from a Private Investigator Tagged With: Featured

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