Private Investigations - 101

With school starting back up this fall, students prepared mentally for the challenge. While some focus on new clothes and outward appearances, many look to rekindle relationships. Others begin the grueling practices hoping to gain a spot on the first string. Student’s minds are filled with anticipation, anxiety, expectation, identity and a host of other emotions. It’s a wonderful time of year. Everyone starts with a new slate, a fresh chance to make the grade and excel. The playing field is new each year.

Likewise each day, private investigators field questions from callers whose needs vary. It’s amazing the types of questions posed them.

For example, this morning a female asked me for a copy of a cell phone billing statement, “just one month” she said. I asked her if she was on the account, suspecting she was a victim of infidelity, and “no” she replied. Well then, I told her, that would be a felony to pursue this information and she should be aware of it. That call ended just as quickly as it came in.

Others want to know if a “loved one” or “birthparent” can be found and retain the assistance of a private investigator. To which the answer normally depends.

While another client wants help with a neighbor who troubles them. He’s a parolee that spends too much time watching them.

Lawyers engage the services of private investigators to prepare a defense and collect evidence to protect their client’s interest. These cases take shape depending upon the nature and scope of action. Those charged criminally must defend themselves and therefore a private investigator is tasked to unearth witnesses, records, documents, evidence that might change the course of a court battle.

Each assignment has an elements including risk, uncertainly and challenge.

For instance, a private investigator conducting surveillance gets confronted by a subject. This overt confrontation will be the subject of a civil case where the behavior will show a propensity toward conflict and aggressive tendency. This is a twist to that investigation and an unexpected consequence - favorable to one side and not the other.

Most people think private investigator sneak around following seedy people.

Unless someone like me, a veteran private investigator myself, with real world insight and more reliable picture, this myth might continue on without merit. Insurance companies routinely need field investigators when a claim is submitted. And in a tight financial market, disproving a claim with video evidence that controverts allegations, or facts to help deny a claim is very smart business. Too often, claims are exaggerated for monetary reasons which have been in my experience the case for many decades. Workers compensation claims that offer a “total disability” equates to a life time of paying on that one claim. Most insurance clients have no issue with justifiable claims that deserve to be paid out. It’s those individuals who seek to enjoy an “early retirement” or "free ride" that drives premiums upward.

It is not unusual to be asked to perform a service that is “outside” the realm of normal assignments. People suspect things and are willing to pay for professional help from a private investigator. Some call needing an opinion, insights or strategies to overcome a situation, while others want a letter delivered to an “old flame”.

Political parties hire private investigators to conduct backgrounds on their opponents. And of course, assignments can vary by location.

To define the complete picture of private investigations can only be summed up as “interesting and challenging.” More to follow...... Until then I am -

Bill Mitchell
Private Investigator, Author, Speaker and Infidelity Expert
Mitchell Reports Investigations, LLC
2131 Woodruff Road, Ste. 2100-299
Greenville, SC 29607
(864) 756-1828
http://www.mitchellreports.com/

Private Investigator offers tips about Spam Email

Great information that we should all read.

By now, I suspect everyone is familiar with www.snopes.com and/or
www.truthorfiction.com for determining whether information received via email
is just that: true/false, or fact/fiction.
Both are excellent sites.

This advice from Snopes.Com <http://Snopes.Com/> is excellent and very important!

1) Any time you see an e-mail that says:
"forward this on to '10' (or however-many) of your friends",
"sign this petition, or you'll get bad luck, good luck", "you'll see something funny on your screen after you send it", or whatever
it almost ALWAYS has an e-mail tracker program attached that tracks the cookiesand e-mail addresses of those folks you forward to.
The host sender is getting a copy each time it gets forwarded
and then is able to get lists of 'active' e-mail addresses to use in
SPAM e-mails, or sell to other spammers.
Even when you get e-mails that demand you send the email on
if you're not ashamed of God/Jesus .....
that's e-mail tracking and they're playing on our conscience. These
people don't care how they get your email addresses - just as long asthey get them.
Also, e-mails that talk about a missing child or a child with anincurable disease - "how would you feel if that was your child".....
e-mail tracking!!! Ignore them and don't participate!

2) Almost all e-mails that ask you to add your name and forward on to othersare similar to that mass letter years ago that asked people to send businesscards to the little kid in Florida who wanted to break the Guinness Book ofRecords for the most cards. All it was, and all any of this type of e-mail is,is a way to get names and 'cookie' tracking information for telemarketers andspammers - - to validate active e-mail accounts for their own profitablepurposes.
You can do your friends and family members a GREAT favor by sending thisinformation to them; you will be providing a service to your friends, and willbe rewarded by not getting thousands of spam e-mailsin the future!

If you have been sending out (FORWARDING) the above kinds of e-mail, you now
know why you get so much SPAM!

Do yourself a favor and STOP adding your name(s) to those types of listingsregardless of how inviting they might sound or make you feel guilty if youdon't!... it's all about getting email addresses - nothing more!

You may think you are supporting a GREAT cause, but you are NOT!
Instead, you will be getting tons of junk mail later and very possibly a virus attached! Plus, you are helping the spammers get rich! Let's not make iteasy for them!

Also:
E-mail petitions are NOT acceptable to White House, Congress or any otherorganization -i.e. Social Security, etc. To be acceptable, petitions must have a
signed signature and full address of the person signing the petition,
so this is a waste of time and you're just helping the e-mail trackers.

Please read the full story here: http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/petition/internet.asp
Also: when forwarding mail, delete the senders name and e-mail address beforeforwarding. You can do this after you click "forward," then just backspace thenames and e-mail addresses of those who sent it to you off of the e-mail that you are forwarding.