While the internet age has brought about many ways for criminals and scammers to defraud businesses and individuals, it’s also provided the means by which these criminals often out themselves! Social media presence and easily traceable online activity act as evidence against fraud that’s easily obtained by any savvy private investigator in Los Angeles. Our investigators are already skilled in locating individuals via online methods and performing services such as in-depth record retrievals, so applying these skills to insurance defense cases are the next logical step for our team.
While preliminary and preemptive surveillance can be the most revealing, not every client can stretch their budget early on in an investigation. Before jumping to an activity check, asking a skilled private investigator to perform online intelligence gathering and social media surveillance can yield convincing results, all while staying within the confines of your or your client’s budget. While you might think that social media surveillance is as simple as going to their known profiles, you’d be wrong – private investigators have access to both public and private databases, and often partner with digital intelligence experts to uncover things like unknown or private accounts. They can also uncover information that can guide in-person surveillance later on, such as their regular daily activities, favorite neighborhood bars, or preferred grocery stores. The quantity of available information, whether directly incriminating or just relevant to later discussion and activity, is greater than many of our clients initially expect.
While PIs can gather records ranging from real estate transactions to birth certificates, digital surveillance often stretches into more social engineering territory. Imagine the subject has a private instagram or facebook account – one of our investigators or digital experts can create a completely convincing fake account, and go about being granted access to the subject’s friends list simply by requesting. Obviously, creating convincing fake accounts takes time, skill, and a network of resources to do properly, which private investigators are uniquely skilled at performing. We won’t unveil all our secrets, but there’s more than a few tricks up our sleeves when it comes to gathering information online.
At Paramount Investigative Services, we pride ourselves on being the county’s top surveillance experts. Our reputation for surveillance was earned in the field, but extends into the online space. When dealing with a fraudulent personal injury case or workers’ compensation claim, any and all relevant information you can use to prove your case isn’t just nice to have, it’s crucial. A court will examine every shred of evidence, and any that doesn’t stand up to scrutiny will be scrapped. A skilled private investigator will couple extensive online research and intelligence with their in-person activity checks, to form a nearly indisputable profile against the fraudulent subject in question. Give us a call today for a free consultation, or to learn more about our online surveillance services!