Telephone numbers and address information are the lifeblood of private investigators. Getting in touch with people either by phone or in person is absolutely essential to any private investigator, regardless of his or her area of specialization. (Note: These databases are available primarily to private investigators, so this article is a bit nerdy for the […]
Intelius vs. Spokeo vs. BeenVerified — A Private Investigator’s Review
I frequently get asked about commercially available investigative databases such as Intelius, Spokeo, and BeenVerified. The truth is that I have never used them, so I could never really give an intelligent answer. The professional databases that I rely on that are most comparable to Intelius, Spokeo, and BeenVerified can only be accessed by licensed […]
101 Investigative Links for Digging Up Information on People (2019)
This post was originally posted on March 27, 2014, but was updated on May 3, 2019 with new information. As private investigators, it’s safe to say that we use thousands of online websites and databases on a monthly basis. While the types of websites that we visit depend on the case that we are working […]
Avoiding the Investigative Rabbit Hole
It’s pretty commonplace for investigators to get stuck going down a rabbit hole into a vortex, which sucks you into a dark place that renders you nearly powerless. One thing leads you to another to another and another, which will inevitably get you to a YouTube video of cats. And you have no idea how […]
The Best Way to Keep Your Secrets Safe?
“Would anyone be able to find out ____________?” is a question that people pose to me quite often. The truth is that any motivated party with enough time and resources can find out pretty much anything about anybody. Granted, there are people who do what we do legally and aboveboard; while others might use more […]
What Does a Private Investigator Really Do?
Anytime an old colleague of mine was asked what he did for a living, he replied that he was a garbage man. It always flabbergasted me that he wouldn’t tell people what he really did. Private investigators have pretty cool jobs; at least, that is what I always thought. So I asked him. “I got […]
Investigation Lessons: 6 Months and 192 Telephone Interviews Later
Since May, I have done about 192 (give or take) telephone interviews for various investigation matters. The interviews that I have done have ranged from being for massive product liability cases to in-depth vetting of a possible CEO. In every single one of these cases, the names of these individuals were developed through open sources. […]
25 Takeaways, Quotes and Tools from the 2018 OSMOSIS Conference
Last week, I attended the OSMOSIS Conference, held in Las Vegas and put on by Cynthia Hetherington of the Hetherington Group. After years of going to conferences of a large national organization (that will go unnamed) and coming back less than fulfilled, I found it fantastic to attend a conference that was oozing with brilliant […]
What Is the One Quality That Every Investigator Should Have?
A few weeks back, I was on a radio show (~18:50 mark) with Los Angeles private investigator Scott Ross, where he asked me about the one quality I looked for in a private investigator. The question came up again in a PI Education webinar with Hal Humphreys titled “The Business of Investigations,” when a listener […]
8 Things This Private Investigator Wish He Had (Legal) Access to (but Doesn’t)
In every investigator’s most pleasant dreams, we have access to loads of information that would, quite simply, make our lives so much easier. But what would be the fun in that? There are a number of things that make a private investigator’s job interesting. For one, every case and every day are different, so that […]