Private investigator credentials – It is a sad fact that there are a large number of people in this world who are just plain dishonest. And it is also a fact that a large number of these dishonest people do end up being investigated by professional Private Investigators.
What’s the point of private investigator credentials? Whether it is cheaters, con men or out and out criminals, a professional investigator investigates them at some point.
But what happens when it is the Private Investigator that is the dishonest one?
Despite the seedy, back alley image portrayed in many black and white films and TV shows, you will find that a vast majority of Private Investigators are lovely people and are completely honest and trustworthy. However, fraudsters and con men have started impersonating investigators in order to scam money.
Only this week in the Liverpool Echo there was a story of a gang of con men masquerading as a professional Private Investigator firm. The scam that they came up with was to take money from convicted criminals to apparently look into the legitimacy of their convictions, find new evidence, instruct lawyers on the criminals behalf and get their convictions quashed. This of course never happened and no legitimate legal or investigative service was ever supplied. In total the gang have pocketed over £200,000 in fraudulent payments in the last 4 years.
There have also been documented cases, both in the States and here in the UK, of unscrupulous Private Investigators being hired to investigate matters of infidelity. However, once the partner who has hired them has paid up, they pocket the money before going to the cheating spouse and offering to lie to their partner and say that they are not cheating for X amount more money.
So how can you tell whether the Investigator that you are looking at hiring, falls into the good category or the bad? At Alpha1 Legal Services, we recommend that it is best practice to check your private investigator credentials, the credibility and the reputation of any Investigator that you use. Details like whether the company has a website or whether there is a landline number rather than just a mobile number, all help to prove the credibility. We would also suggest asking to speak to former clients, as any reputable Private Investigator will have a large number of happy clients.
