If you’re not a voracious reader of blogs, you’re not only missing out on funny cat videos and rumoured deaths (did you hear that Jon Bon Jovi died a few weeks ago?), but also, some interesting blogs about fraud, ponzi schemes and scams.
With 2012 upon us, we thought it would be nice to provide some blogs you might be interested in reading in the coming year.
If you haven’t learned how to use an RSS reader, it’s a great way to aggregate articles and blog posts. You can follow these 15 fraud and investigation blogs here.
Have another site to add to this list? Tell us about it in the comments.
15 Fraud and Investigation Blogs You Need to Follow (in no particular order:)
1The Confidential Resource – Richard McEachin, of McEachin & Associates, is an outstanding source for investigative research, resources and methods.
2PI Telegraph– PI Telegraph is an online magazine for the Private Investigation and Professional Security industry based out of the U.K. with topics ranging from marketing and legal updates to industry news and resources.
3ACFE Insights – The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners is on the leading edge of fraud and provides news, analysis and commentary on the global fight against fraud.
4Ethical Investigator – Philip Segal of Charles Griffin Intelligence provides some insightful commentary on current events and helpful knowledge on a variety of investigative topics.
5i-sight Blog – i-sight, an investigation case management software company, provides some great information on ethics, compliance and internal investigations.
6Investor’s Watchdog – Investor’s Watchdog, run by a former SEC enforcement branch chief at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, provides some insight into the workings of financial frauds, ponzi schemes and investments scams.
7Corporate Resolutions – Joelle Scott of Corporate Resolutions takes a different and sometimes witty (how about the check-the-box-let’s-just-make-sure-he-didn’t-kill-anyone search?) look at some current events and news topics.
8The Fraud Files – Tracy Coenen, head of Sequence Inc., takes a deeper look at fraud through the eyes of a forensic accountant on topics ranging from multi-level marketing scams to finding hidden income in divorce filings.
9K2 Global Consulting – The blog of K2 Global Consulting, founded by Jules and Jeremy Kroll (Kroll Inc.), provides expertise on compliance, bribery, corruption and insider trading, among other things.
10FIND PI – Thomas Humphreys, a Nashville Private Investigator and lead investigator of [Find] Investigations, adds a little fashion (The Sartorial Sleuth – The Well Dressed PI) and style (ever try the Blood and Sand cocktail?) into his posts.
11Highwick Associates – Nick Braak, an online reputation protection expert, gives his two cents on your online reputation, social media and privacy.
12PonziTracker – Jordan Maglich, an attorney at Wiand Guerra King, provides a great educational resource for information relating to Ponzi Schemes
13The American Private Investigator – Paul Jaeb of Heartland Investigative Group has been posting a monthly podcast since 2009 which covers a variety of topics including marketing strategies, the future of the investigative industry and ways to use social media to help your business.
14Sherlock’s Case Files – Skipp Porteous of Sherlock Investigations gives you some investigative tips, testimonials, and “tantalizing topics” relating to technical surveillance countermeasures.
15Guns, Gams, and Gumshoes – Guns, Gams and Gumshoes is written by “a couple of PIs who also happen to write” and started teaching online classes to answer questions about private investigators.
We have rounded up the most popular posts of 2011 so you can catch up on anything you missed from the past year. We didn’t quite get the 1,000,000,000,000 (one trillion) videos playbacks that YouTube got in 2011, but nonetheless…
1Mouli Cohen
Seems like Mouli Cohen has a lot of friends (or enemies). After having the most popular post in 2010, our updates on the Mouli Cohen trial and subsequent conviction were far and away the most popular posts on this site. If you haven’t had a chance to read through them, it’s worth the read:
- Samuel Mouli Cohen Denied Bail
- Samuel Mouli Cohen Trial Set
- Mouli Cohen Trial – Government to Bring Evidence of Fake Art Collection
- Mouli Cohen Found Guilty
2Can a Private Investigator Get Bank Records?
It is a question we get constantly. People always seemed surprised when they find out the answer, but would you want somebody pulling your bank records without your permission?
3Can a Private Investigator Get Phone Records?
While getting bank records might be the more popular question, getting phone records is a close second.
4Three Things Angry Birds Can Teach You About a Private Investigator
You didn’t think Angry Birds could help you appreciate some of the nuances of a private investigator?
5What Baseball Can Teach You About a Background Check
The national pastime, Bill James and Seth Godin provided the inspiration for this…
66 Tips to Search Google Like An Expert
Google is a phenomenally powerful tool, but only if you know how to use it.
7What Children Can Teach a Private Investigator
Children give you all the inspiration you need, if you just know where to look for it.
8The Anatomy of an Asset Investigation
With the economy going the way it has the last couple of years, it’s no surprise that people are looking to conduct asset investigations.
9Using a Private Investigator to Find a Person or Witness
Using a private investigator to find someone is probably your last resort, but we have provided some helpful tips to consider.
10A Private Detectives Approach to Intelligence Gathering
With the help of John Telford at Buzz Machine Studios, we created a great infographic on how we gather intelligence (the infographic alone is worth the click).
Our new slogan “We Fill In The Blanks” fits great with our new custom Field Notes Brand notebook. With a custom rubber stamp from the Stampin Place and the logo designed by 99 Designs, we’ve got a whole lot of awesomeness.
This is a great video that Valerie Parker at VGP Video made for us. Thanks to Valerie for a great interpretation of what we do at Diligentia Group.
While state-of-the-art spy tools are what most people envision when they think of a private investigators toolchest, most of the critical tools that we use on a daily basis are straight off-the-shelf products.
While these tools are not nearly as cool as a bionic ear dish or a portable voice changer, we would have a tough time doing our job without them:
Advanced Google Searches
Given the explosion of what you can find on the web, Google may seem like an obvious choice considering it is far and away the most popular search engine out there, but many people don’t take full advantage of the advanced capabilities of Google. For example the “Around” feature will search for two terms within a specific number of words near each other, the “site” operator will search a specific website for terms and the “-” (minus sign) operator will exclude a term. This is just one of many advanced search operators that you can use with Google.
Skype
There are many advantages of using Skype including free domestic calls, extremely cheap international calls and video conferencing where you can have a video chat with multiple parties. Additionally, Skype has various third party add-on’s, one of the best is the ability to record phone calls. We use Pamela Call Recorder which can turn any conversation into a MP3. Just be careful that you are not breaking the law; laws vary in each state with regard to taping phone calls.
Digital Scanner
Having the ability to scan hundreds of pages of documents in a matter of minutes used to be the kind of stuff you would see in science fiction movies, but not anymore. Scanning hundreds, if not thousands of pages of documents into searchable digital files, can save you hours of pouring through paper documents. We particularly love the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500; it’s portable, scans both sides of the page in one pass and it’s fast and reliable.
PDF Converter and OCR Software
Converting documents into PDF compatible files has many uses. For paper intensive cases, having the ability to store digital files into a searchable format can be a huge timesaver and can help you find documents quickly and easily. We use the Adobe Acrobat Standard, which we have found is reliable and very functional, despite a hefty price tag.
Google Desktop
Having tons of digital files can be a problem if you don’t know where they are. Google Desktop constantly scans your hard drive, Internet history and your emails so you will never “lose” anything ever again.
