Every day there is someone coming up with another way they think will be successful in hiding assets from a former spouse, litigants or even their partners.
There is a practice becoming more and more common. We call it a “practice” because no matter how often someone does it, it won’t be perfect and eventually, they always get caught.
The practice is providing a wrong social security number by switching two of the digits when opening an account. The bad guy figures if he gives an inaccurate social security number, no one will find out – even if someone does an asset investigation searching for hidden bank accounts or stock accounts.
But someone WILL find out—it could be an investigator, the attorney or the authorities—and then everyone finds out.
One way this deceit is uncovered is that every institution has to report interest earned on a 1099. At the end of the year, that document is sent to the account-holder and the IRS. The IRS spends a lot of time and money matching up those 1099 forms and tax returns. When they don’t match up—and although it might take years, eventually, the account holders are tracked down and have to speak to the discrepancies.
The question might be asked whether it is a fat-fingered mistake or fraud. If it happens once, it might be considered a typo or an input error. Happening repeatedly to a single individual – doesn’t look like a mistake, does it?
It doesn’t take years to get results from a private investigator. Uncovering assets that have been purposefully hidden and tracking them down can be like looking for the beef on that burger – it might be difficult. In fact, it might be impossible for the average consumer. Asset investigation takes a skilled team – with experience to know how to root out all the “practices” that are out there.
When you need to know what’s really going on, call .
-Brenda McGinley, CEO, All in Investigations, All in Investigations