. In this age where almost everything can be accessed digitally, your password falling into the wrong hands can mean letting thieves get access to your sensitive data that they can use to steal your identity, steal your money, steal your reputation, and a lot more.
I often get asked, “With the amount of information found using open-source techniques, are traditional investigative methods becoming obsolete?” The answer will always be a resounding “No.” While the amount of information found online can often rival that stored on police and government databases the two are very different.
It can be a disturbing feeling to have a hunch that your partner is cheating on you without a way to verify the truth. Sure, asking your partner is an option but cheaters are not likely to be honest and will probably flip the situation when cornered. If you want to know the signs of a cheating partner that you should look out for, take note of the following tell-tale signs shared by our top private investigators in Toronto.
Skip tracing is a process that is used to find someone who is difficult to find or may not want to be found. With more people skipping on payments and vanishing without a trace from debt collectors, skip tracing has become an invaluable tool to find debtors who are trying to avoid their legal responsibility of paying their debt.
In today’s business world, most upper-level management personnel and business owners believe that their organization is safe from fraud. Most are under the impression that their employees, co-workers, and possibly co-owners have only the best intentions for the organization. It would be ideal if that were true, however, that’s often far from the truth.
In our continuing series examining frauds that target corporation, we will examine a scam known as duplicate payment fraud. Duplicate payments may not always be attributed to fraud. In many cases, the duplicate payment may be caused by poor administration of a company’s master vendor file. Or a duplicate payment could be initiated through a billing error by the company who is owed the money. These errors are often detected and usually reconciled through communication between the vendor and the customer.
Online romance scams have been prevalent since the dawn of the internet age. Each year, hundreds of thousands of individuals from all walks of life fall victim to online dating scams. In fact, the U.S. alone recently reported that their annual tally on online romance scams reached $230 million.
One of the most important tools for private investigators in the digital age is the presence of easily accessible public records. Although not much has changed regarding what information is available publicly, what has changed is that what used to require countless hours of sifting through paper a few decades ago can now be accessed with just a few clicks, as almost everything is available digitally.
You’ve met that perfect person online ? they make you laugh, they’re charming and you feel really connected to them. The problem is, they say they live in another country. Not only that, but they have also been asking you for small amounts of money, or gifts, over the time you have known them. You send the money and gifts because they are… perfect. What you don’t know is that this person may not be the dream come true you think they are.
Frauds targeting businesses and organizations are rampant. The reliance on electronic transactions, e-transfers, electronic communications and other modern day business systems eases the processing of corporate transactions, however, these same systems can be quite vulnerable to manipulation by professional fraudsters. Your organization has to take steps to thwart these online criminals. Just as having a fire alarm or burglar alarm, organizations must evaluate their fraud risks and take steps to mitigate these risks.
