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Police Powers

February 22, 2015 by BEPIA Leave a Comment

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.

Protection from Hackers

January 17, 2015 by BEPIA Leave a Comment

Investigators Can Protect Your Company From Hackers

Catastrophic data breaches and hacking cases are some of the most common in companies today. Self-inflicted data leaks can put the security of any company at risk exposing it to different kinds of attacks, including those from hackers. Businesses make huge losses through such leaks and protecting your company information is crucial in keeping unidentified attacks at bay. Investigators offer services to ensure that your companies are all well protected from the attacks. They can help you with protection through different ways.

Sealing data leaks – This is important in keeping intellectual property theft at bay. Loses from this kind of theft can be hefty and can actually even run you out of business. The investigators will help you in keeping your date safe, protecting you even from insider attacks and financial fraud. These professionals know exactly what is best for the protection of your business’s top confidential information keeping data leaks at bay.

Identifying risks – When you know the potential risks your business faces, you will be in a better position to find strategies that will work to help you avoid the risks in general. The investigators can conduct comprehensive threat assessments in your line of business to identify the vulnerabilities as well as outright data leaks that can put you in risks leading to the attacks. Counter intelligent activities can be put in place to prevent enemies and even competitors from getting your business secrets. The mission is to protect critical information for the benefit of your business.

Discover unintentional or malicious employee misconduct – Fact is that most attacks rely on an inside job and this is what puts your employees on the radar for the investigators. Even though they remain to be the greatest asset for your company or business, they can also turn to be your greatest risks without you knowing. Data leaks are especially done through emails even though they can be unintentional. On the other hand, turnovers and downsizing as well as corporate restructuring can leave your business at risk with your employees. Investigators can help you out on this by assessing the risks as well as the vulnerabilities being exploited leaving you to future problems. They can help you evaluate and manage employee misconduct before damage is done to your company.

Identify your adversaries – Knowing adversaries is crucial in being a success in business today. This is because you will also get to know the direct threats they pose to you as well as the possible attacks they can unleash on your company and what they have to say about you. They are the people who can cause serious financial damage to any business, hence the need to take a proactive stance in competing and staying ahead of the game. Investigators can help you know exactly who your adversaries are, what they are doing and what they are saying through the information they broadcast. They can then offer you competitive intelligence solutions to keep you on the winning track every time.

Businesses are only a success when nothing is left to chance. Unidentified attacks can cost you your entire business which is why it is important to let investigators offer you the corporate protection you need to keep every aspect of your business safe.

Traitor In Your Company

July 5, 2014 by BEPIA Leave a Comment

Tips from a Private Investigator VIII

Detecting Occupational Fraud

As an employer, understandably you think it is your responsibility and moral duty to empathize with and trust those working for you. Indeed most of the time that makes the most sense. However, as much as this is important, it is also necessary to at least be aware that there is always the possibility that your employees may get involved in deceitful activity under the garb of honesty. Most employers realize very late that there was a traitor operating right under their nose. And the saddest part of all is it often turns out to be one of their most trusted employees.

It is necessary to detect and solve the problem of occupational fraud because it not only costs you thousands of dollars but can also result in confidential company information being given out. This article discusses how employers can protect themselves against occupational fraud by identifying behavioral flags at the right time.

First, it is very important to understand what we mean by occupational fraud. It involves using one’s occupation fraudulently for personal gains. The employee in question might steal company money, sell company property (including secrets), and fabricate financial documents or misuse corporate assets.

Why does it happen?

According to criminologist Donald R. Cressey, there are three factors that might instigate an employee to go down the wrong path. It includes incentive, opportunity and rationalization. The incentive is the factor that drives the person to commit a fraud. The first is the desire to live a luxurious life which requires money. The second possible motivation could be economic distress.

Speaking about the aspect of rationalization, the perpetrator tries to justify his actions. In some cases, he is in dire need of the money. He steals the money secretly with the intention of replacing it later before it is known to anyone. However, he gradually goes deeper and deeper not realizing it. Second, he chooses to steal because he believes it to be his right. He believes he is not being paid for what he deserves. Finally, he thinks he has earned it.

The third aspect according to Donald R. Cressey is opportunity. The employee in question looks for the right opportunity to commit the fraud. This is either when no one is around or when the fraud controls are relaxed.

Behavioural Patterns That Ring the Bell for You

If you have an employee that works extraordinarily hard. You will notice that the person rarely takes time off or works odd hours to complete tasks assigned to him. Also, he or she rarely goes on a vacation. He is planning the whole thing, covering up for it or waiting for the right opportunity.
If you have an employee who lives way beyond his means. For example, an employee who finds it hard to meet his monthly budget has recently purchased a pricey car or a luxurious mansion.
If an employee is in economic distress. Everyone faces some form of financial crisis. It could be an exorbitant medical bill or a house mortgage. However, there are some who are deep in debt and desperate for money. If such a person is given charge of the cash or checkbooks, you are tempting him to steal.
If an employee has specific addictions. It could include substance abuse, alcohol or gambling. These people are always in need of money and they would do anything to get money.
If an employee is a real complain box. There might be employees who feel they are underappreciated or under paid and look for other ways to enrich themselves.
If there is an employee who becomes suddenly very secretive about his actions and refuses to let anyone else take charge of duties.
If there is an employee who is unnecessarily close with stakeholders, vendors and clients.

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 out 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.

Dating Fraud

May 2, 2014 by BEPIA Leave a Comment

How Internet Dating Fraud is Solved By Private Investigators

Internet dating has brought in dating convenience, especially with modern lifestyles which can get really busy for people to have the time to keep up with offline dating demands. Apart from the time convenience that online dating offers, it also breaks geographical barriers that offline dating usually comes with. It makes it possible for singles from all parts of the world to come together and venture into meaningful relationships.

Unfortunately, not all singles joining online dating sites have the intention of finding true love. Some join these sites for financial gains while others join out of boredom to get some excitement into their lives while others are simply cruel and want to toy with the feelings of desperate serious singles. This has increased the number of singles who have been victims of online dating fraud, leaving them devastated both financially and emotionally. Even though the telltale signs are usually there, the singles are too desperate to take them into consideration and hence end up becoming victims.

What to look out for

When entering into internet dating, your safety relies largely on you. It is quite helpful to enter into this kind of dating with an open mind that anything could happen. Here are some of the signs that can tell you the other person is not being very genuine in the relationship or that you are in an online dating scam.

The other person online keeps asking for your personal information, gifts and money.
He or she expresses unnaturally strong emotions in the early stages of the relationship.
S/he claims to be from the country you are from and yet they always seem to be busy on business or on holidays.
They arrange meetings only to cancel them without any good reason.
They post classy profile pictures that look too good to be true.

How investigators can help

Private investigators can luckily help you in resolving your internet dating issues or suspicions. They have their own way of finding out every kind of information on given individuals. They use different information sources to find out who the other person really is and whether they are being completely honest about themselves. If you are suspicious of an online single you are dating, you can hire the services of a private investigator to verify the information.

Through information sources and databases, the private investigators can unveil the person behind the online profile to get you what you need to know. With the information from your investigator, you can be saved from dating scams or given the green light to continue with the relationship in case the other person is really who he says he is. The services can be very helpful for those with serious intentions with their internet dating. They will save you from wasting too much of your time on a meaningless relationship or even save you from incurring financial losses and putting your safety at risk.

Internet dating scams are real, but with the help of an investigator and taking precautions when joining sites and choosing singles, you can finally make sure that your every effort pays off in the end.

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.

It’s Not a Free Reign for PIs

September 5, 2013 by BEPIA Leave a Comment

Letters from a Private Investigator III

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.

Big Brother is Watching You

July 24, 2013 by BEPIA Leave a Comment

Tips from a Private Investigator III

Here are some common indicators that your home or office may have been bugged. Bali Eye Private Investigation Agency (BEPIA) along with our sister agency Indonesia Private Investigation Agency (IPIA) have a team of electronic surveillance device and counter-surveillance experts that can identify and disable surveillance devices. Please contact us if you fear you may be a victim of surveillance.

1) Strange sounds or volume changes on your phone

This is commonly caused by an amateur eavesdropper when they attaches the actual wiretap, or similar listening device. Surveillance devices often cause slight sound disruptions and differences on the telephone line.

2) Static, popping, or scratching on your phone lines

When two conductors are connected together (such as a bug or wiretap on a phone line) a “capacitive discharge” happens that results in this static, popping or scratching. This is also a sign that an amateur eavesdropper or poorly trained person is trying to access your phone lines.

3) Sounds come from your phones when it’s hung up

This is usually caused by a hook switch bypass, which turns the telephone receiver into a spy microphone (and also a speaker). There is probably somebody listening to everything you say or do within twenty feet of the telephone (if this is happening).

4) The phone often rings but nobody is there

This is a key sign of what is known as a “slave device”, or line extender being used on your phone line. There may also be only a very faint tone, or high pitched squeal and beep.

5) Strange interference on your radio or TV

Television broadcast frequencies are often used to cloak a eavesdropping signal. The difficulty for the person spying is that the devices they use also tends to interfere with a television or radio reception (usually a UHF channel).

Many amateur eavesdropping devices use frequencies within the FM radio band, these signals tend to “quiet” an FM radio near the bug.

6) Your house was entered but nothing was taken.

Eavesdroppers often break into a target’s home or office, and very rarely leave evidence of the break-in.

Occupants though have a feeling that something is not quite right.

Furniture may have been moved slightly for example. A very popular location for the installation of eavesdropping device is either behind, or inside furniture (sofa, chair, lamp, etc.)

7) Electrical fixtures seem to have been moved slightly

One of the most popular locations to hide spying devices is inside, or behind electrical outlets, switches, and lighting fixtures.

Look for small amounts of debris located on the floor directly below the electrical outlet. Also, watch for slight variations in the color or appearance of the power outlets and/or light switches as these are often swapped out by an eavesdropper.

8) A very small discolouration has suddenly appeared on a wall.

This is a sign that a pinhole microphone or video camera has been recently installed.

Again you might also see a small amount of white powder either on the floor, or on the wall.

You may also notice small pieces of ceiling tiles, or “grit” on the floor, or on the surface area of counters and tables or desks.

This will be an indicator that a ceiling tile has been moved around, and that someone may have installed a hidden video camera or other eavesdropping device.

If you have items like a smoke detector, a clock or lamp yo may find they look slightly crooked or have a small hole in the surface.

These items are very popular concealment for covert spying devices and often when they are installed they are rarely installed straight.

9) People seem to know your activities when they shouldn’t.

This is the most common indicator, and often the loss of your secrets will show up in very subtle ways.

10) Your door locks suddenly don’t “feel right”.

Locks may suddenly start to get “sticky”, or they completely fail.

This is a good sign a lock has been picked, or manipulated with in some way.

Bali Eye Private Investigation Agency (BEPIA) along with our sister agency Indonesia Private Investigation Agency (IPIA) have a team of electronic surveillance device and counter-surveillance experts that can identify and disable surveillance devices.

BEPIA and 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.

I Want to Vanish

April 24, 2013 by BEPIA Leave a Comment

Tips from a Private Investigator IV

Deleting Your Digital Life

Be careful what you post on the internet, including social media sites, once it is up there your digital life is almost impossible to take down.

In some cases a digital life can haunt people, and even things that are just not true stay around forever. In 2085 your grandchildren might be reading things about you that were either just not true or you prefer remain private (just because something isn’t a secret, that doesn’t mean you want to share it with the whole world – your political persuasion, sexuality, religion, whatever).

People are only just starting to realise the implications of their digital life (footprint) and how it might come back to haunt them at some stage. We all do silly things that we regret, but now the internet can make it very difficult (the second after something is posted) to leave the past to the past.

When was the last time you read the small print on a social networking site, before telling the whole world all your personal details? No, me neither.

I recently read a story about a British woman who converted to Islam and wanted to delete her digital life. She tried to delete her Facebook website because she did not want others to discover how she had behaved in her youth.

In 2085 your grandchildren might be reading things about you that were either just not true or you prefer remain private (just because something isn’t a secret, that doesn’t mean you want to share it with the whole world – your political persuasion, sexuality, religion, whatever).

She said: “Facebook makes it very difficult (to delete history), it takes far too long to delete each individual post on your Facebook page. Weeks later and I’ve managed it. After I left my model agency they deleted my profile, but photos of myself are still online on photographers’ websites.

“They own the photos so there’s nothing I can do except hope nobody searches my name and sees past the extravagant makeup to see it’s me.

“People are perhaps naive about their actions. You can no longer do something stupid and hope nobody notices, it WILL be on Facebook! And it might be funny now but 10 years later maybe not.”

So How Can You Vanish Your Digital Life from the Internet?

Cleaning away your digital life means getting rid of the traces you’ve left across the world wide web aE” the mistakes you made, the embarrassing photos, the unwise/insulting/stupid comments yu made (perhaps when you had a little too much to drink), the terrible social media profiles you made without thinking them through properly where you’ve left too much visible.

It is certainly not easy. The following steps provide a start to reducing your digital life and footprint and taking back control of your online life.

1) If you have a Facebook account, change every setting in the Privacy tabs to “private” or “not shared” or “off” (there’s a special “privacy settings” shortcut in the blue bar near the top).

2) Find out what photos you’re tagged in on Facebook. These should appear in the Photos tab on the left hand side. If you hover over the picture, a star and a pencil appear in the top right. Choose “Report/remove tag” and pick “I want to untag myself” from the list.

3) If you have a Google Blogger account, delete your profile there. That means that blogposts or comments you’ve made there will vanish.

4) If you’ve got a Tumblr or WordPress blog, delete that too.

Now start using a search engine, and begin searching on your name (put the first name and surname together in quotes; this works in pretty much all search engines to identify that as a phrase you’re after). Note that some sites, such as newspapers, generally won’t agree to removing your name if you’ve appeared in a news or other story.

5) If you’ve posted in forums, go back and see if you can delete your posts.

If you can’t, try asking the administrators of the sites (nicely) if they can remove your post.

Make sure you prepare a very good reason why you want something removed.

6) Remove any photos you’ve added to sites such as Flickr or, of course, Facebook. Try searching on your name in Google Images (put quotes around your name) and see what comes up: then visit those sites and ask if they would remove the photos.

7) Keep doing searches on your name and finding out what turns up, and getting in touch with the owners of the sites. Be prepared to get rebuffed, especially if the site is in the US.

8) Be aware that anything that you’ve posted outside Facebook, Blogger or WordPress might still live on in the Internet Archive . This archive which aims to crawl the entire web again and again and store what it finds, for ever. The Internet Archive doesn’t have an explicit way to remove sites once they’re in its index aE” which is absolutely huge. It does take a case-by-case approach to requests for removal.

9) Be aware too that even if you remove explicit mentions of your name, a determined searcher may be able to dig up your past through leftover postings and hints of whatever sort. Mentions by other people, photos where even though you’re not tagged, you’re mentioned in related information.

In this, we’ve not taken the more extensive move of deleting your Google web search history. If you don’t want to be (silently) tracked by Google, then stop using Google’s search (there are plenty of other search engines that won’t track you, such as DuckDuckGo.com or Blekko.com. DuckDuckGo is improving all the time, and saw a big jump in traffic with the change in Google’s privacy policies last year.

Vanishing your digital life from the internet is very, very hard. As far as is known, nobody’s succeeded but of course if they had, how would we know?

The Honey Trap: A Brief History

March 22, 2013 by BEPIA Leave a Comment

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.