identity theft Archives - All in Investigations

The Top Questions On What Information You Can Expect From A Private Investigator

We get a lot of questions with regards to specific requests for various types of investigations. Mostly: Is it possible to get… A Driving History ~ Yes, to obtain a Driving History on an individual, we must have a valid reason to access the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. EX: Civil Litigation or Criminal Defense, Pre-Employment Background check (with authorization to release form signed by the Subject) Registration Records ~ Yes, We will pull the registration records while we are conducting surveillance to verify if in fact an individual is residing at a specific residence. We will pull a registration record in the process of serving legal documents when the defendant or witness is dodging service. We also pull registration records for a Civil Litigation Case [...]

Is the Information on Me an Error or Am I a Victim of Identity Theft?

Documentation: Official or unofficial require human input. And that creates an opportunity for inputting errors. Errors are a result of not paying attention, hitting the wrong key, having old information and/or not providing updated information. Below are examples of how incorrect information can be misleading. Example #1: Public Records: Recently we discovered that an individual who had no interest in a case was listed as one of the defendants when in fact they were the Registered Agent. They never received any notification from the court that a judgment was awarded against the rightful defendant and them, as the Registered Agent. Years later when conducting a background check upon themselves, this “error” was discovered. Although the judgment was small, the reporting error played a huge role [...]

What About Bob?

We live in a crazy world and these are wild times. Listen to the news. I may view things a bit differently than you, but at least twice a newscast, I think “they should have checked out their employees a bit more carefully.” Sure, nowadays, every company has their employees sign an authorization form for a background check, but is the information you are buying legitimate? Is it verified? Is it TRUE? Information is everywhere, and we all have access to it. I’m baffled by the amount of MISINFORMATION that is sold by the megabyte. Let’s make an example out of Bob. Bob’s looking for a job. His resume is to your liking, the education, the work history, the overseas humanitarian efforts, even his charitable [...]

It Felt Right until it Didn’t

When our Client engaged our services, he gave us some background on his son. Both he and his wife were very proud of their son’s choice of friends and extracurricular activities. Some might say he had a good head on his shoulders. After graduating from college, he enrolled in a trade school. Just a few months after classes started, he brought home a date for a family dinner. His date appeared to be friendly, but something about her didn’t sit well with either of his parents. Later in the month during a father/son outing, his son made an odd remark about his new girlfriend, she had a car, but didn’t drive, she talked about her friends, but he had yet to meet the man she [...]

Pete and Repeat Hired the Wrong Employee

We have Clients who have shared their experiences in hiring employees for their company. The first line is “You wouldn’t believe what this employee did? We had no idea they were remotely engaged in that activity. They interviewed so well”. Although we hate to hear this, we are very familiar with a hiring practice that does not include background research. With an unemployment rate as of July 2018 at 3.9% employers are finding it difficult to fill positions. And as a small business owner with less than 50 employees, health insurance to the employee is not a requirement, which makes the hiring process even more difficult for an employer. As a result of just those two factors, employers tend to overlook one of the most [...]

Identity Theft vs. Identity Fraud

Because we stay in the know, constantly arming ourselves with ways to assist our clients, is most concerned about how computers can sometimes turn our clients into victims. To explain our point, we wish to share some rather scary information with you: every two seconds, another American becomes the victim of identity fraud. In fact, according to research conducted by Javelin Strategy & Research, the number of identity fraud victims jumped in 2013 to 13.1 million. That was an increase of 500,000 from 2012. Most often, the media talks about identity theft, which occurs when your personal information is accessed, even if it is not necessarily to be used for financial gain. For example, a person steals your social security number and takes on your identity [...]