Month: April 2022

A private investigator can be hired to solve a variety of problems. These problems are often too big for a client to solve on their own. But for many clients who have never worked with a private detective before, it can be a confusing process and most people don’t know when they should be hiring a detective.

What problems can a private investigator help you with?

Private investigators can help with everything from cheating partner investigations to bug sweeping your office or helping insurance companies with insurance fraud investigations. But the role of an investigator isn’t limited to those fields and there are many other situations where a private investigator can be called in.

When should you hire a private detective?

Most people will have a gut feeling that something isn’t right. This can be a relationship going bad, a business deal that doesn’t feel just right or when you just want to check up on something such as performing an employee background check.

There’s no right or wrong answer when it comes to the best time to hiring a private investigator, but hiring too early could mean that there wasn’t a problem to begin with and hiring too late could mean that more damage has been done than what was needed.

When to hire a private investigator all depends on your risk tolerance, our advice would be to hire an investigator when you have a little bit of evidence that doesn’t add up. In the case of a cheating partner, this could be that your spouse has said something that doesn’t add up. In a business case, it could be that the numbers for accounting aren’t right.

You can also take on board that even if you hire a private investigator too early and there wasn’t a problem then the cost of hiring a private detective isn’t as expensive as losing out on income from business fraud or losing your time spending it with a cheater.

Do you need a Private Investigator?

If you’re starting to research private investigators and content around the field then more than likely you have a problem that an investigator could fix. Picking the right investigator is important as you will need one that can solve the problem you are facing, but you will also need one that can do it on budget too.  

Cheap private investigators often don’t get their client’s results, while expensive investigators often provided additional services that aren’t needed.

If you would like to speak to a discreet private investigator that gets results talk to our investigators today. We will be happy to assist you with any queries that you may have.

When it comes to hiring a private investigator one of our most asked questions is: Are private investigators legal? Private Investigators are legal to hire in the UK.

Private Investigators aren’t police, although many private detectives do come from a police background, because of this private investigators have the same legal rights as any other person in the UK and they must abide by the laws of the country they are operating in.

Private investigators can provide a range of services such as covert surveillance, people tracing, process serving and more but if any of these services are carried out illegally then the evidence collected couldn’t be used. For this reason, it’s important that your hire a private investigator that acts legally on your behalf.

A private investigator must obtain evidence legally for it to be used in the right way.

Private Investigators – Not like you see on TV

When clients come to us, often it’s the first time they have spoken to a private detective agency and because of this, their only experience is seeing detectives on TV. Detectives like Sherlock Holmes, Columbo, Harry Bosch, Miss Marple and Poirot are all amazing characters in Books, films and TV series, but in real life, private detectives aren’t anything like them. 

A private detective can investigate like your favourite TV characters but they can’t hack people’s phones, break down doors, spy through windows and walls, hack computers or illegally record suspects.

With that said, private investigators can use a huge range of tools and call on years of experience to help their clients get the evidence they need legally.

Hiring a private investigator

If you do want to hire a Private Investigator it’s important to know who you are dealing with. The cost of a private investigator is often worth the expense if the evidence collected was collected legally, if it wasn’t then not only has that private investigator broke the law but your evidence is also useless and can’t be used in a court of law.  

Because there’s a low barrier to entry to becoming a private investigator it’s quite easy to hire the wrong firm. When hiring a private eye you should make sure that the company you are hiring has a good reputation and can be trusted to do good work. You can do this by looking at third party reviews.

Illegal things Private Investigators can do

Private Investigators technically speaking could carry out all sorts of illegal activity as they are skilled in covert surveillance. Private Detectives could easily bug a building or a room, hack into phones and laptops, follow someone on private property, look into data that they shouldn’t, trespass on private property and much more.

Private Investigators could illegally do all of the above, but as mentioned earlier on in the article this is illegal and the evidence collected this way wouldn’t be able to be used in a court of law. You also could be liable for any of the above laws being broken as the investigators are acting on your behalf.

Protecting yourself and your case

If you are hiring a private investigator for something that may go to court then you will want to hire a detective agency that follows the law while still getting results. At Covert LTD we have been doing this for over 15 years, our founders are ex-police too so we know how to follow the law and get the results you need.

If you would like to speak to a discreet private investigator, get in touch with us today.

Insurance fraud is becoming more popular thanks to larger payouts from the courts. Companies like ours help insurance companies with our insurance fraud investigation services to help crack down on this criminal activity.

Today we will be looking at some of the most common types of insurance fraud.  

1) Stolen cars

A common form of insurance fraud involves stolen cars. Many insurance scams involve stolen cars one of which is to take out insurance on a new car, drive it around for a few years and then have it stolen. The insurance company then has to replace this old car with a new one.

These cars can also be sold to illegal chop shops or garages that will strip the car down for parts and sell them on. There are many other insurance scams involving cars and we won’t give them away as we don’t want criminals using them.

Insurance scams like these aren’t victimless crimes, as a result of these fraudulent claims, all of our insurance premiums increase because of them.

2) Staged accidents

Some criminals will stage accidents so they can claim from their insurance companies. These accidents could be anything from fraudsters breaking quickly so that a car will hit them. Staged accidents can also occur in public or private buildings where a person will claim to have slipped because of a wet floor or trip hazard.

3) Staged Fires

Homeowners can commit insurance fraud by setting fire to their homes while removing their most valuable items first and then claiming for them. Although this entire scenario sounds crazy, it’s more common than you may think.

Insurance fraud investigators however can easily tell if a fire was set deliberately and often they can tell you if those items were in the house at the time of the fire.

4) Commercial Fraud

Companies will purchase employer’s liability insurance and public liability insurance and then commit fraud by making up accidents that never occurred or by exaggerating ones that did. This insurance scam involves a lot of planning but can be very profitable for the claimant.

5) Theft fraud

If an item or object is insured then there is a chance that someone may try to commit fraud by claiming the item was stolen. Homeowners may stage burglaries or car owners may have a friend steal their car before getting an insurance payout.

Insurance fraud is very common and the insurance fraud examples above are some of the most common. Thankfully insurance fraud investigators like us are hired by insurance companies to cut down on this type of behaviour.

If you need help with an insurance fraud claim please get in touch with us.

Becoming a private investigator is both a challenging and rewarding job. Today we will be looking at how you can become a private investigator and by the end of our article, you should know if becoming a private detective is a good career choice for you.

What is a private investigator?

Private Investigators are usually employed by police forces, law firms, private companies or individuals to help them with legal and personal problems.  

Private detectives can be hired for a wide range of problems including corporate investigations, cheating partner investigations, missing persons, bug sweeps and so much more.

Private Investigators will work on behalf of their clients to uncover and record any evidence they find and they will then show it back to the client in an easy to understand way.

As a private investigator you may need to:

• Meet with clients discreetly.
• Research information.
• Track someone.
• Use social media and other databases to find a missing person.
• Perform background checks.
• Conduct surveillance.
• Interview people.
• Prepare reports.
• Investigate crimes.
• Study public records.

No two days are the same as a private detective and while it can be a difficult job it’s often very rewarding when you can provide someone with the truth that they need.

What qualifications do you need to become a private investigator?

In the UK there are no formal qualifications needed to become a private detective. There are no governing bodies and no regulations that a person has to stick to, to become a PI. You don’t even need to sit an exam or have a license.

The barrier to becoming a private investigator from a legal sense is pretty low, therefor the private detective agency world is full of fly by night agencies. If you do want to become a private investigator you will have to tackle that problem when you try to land clients.

Generally, most private investigators will come from a police or military background. Although this isn’t a requirement it does help when becoming a private detective as you will have experience in carrying out investigations. If you come from a background of investigation it will help when you transition to becoming a private eye.

Why become a private investigator?

There are many benefits of becoming a private investigator so this all depends on what you want out of a career. A private investigator can be well paid if they are good at their jobs and can get clients. You may also go into private investigation if you want an exciting career. As a private investigator, you may one day be investigating a cheating spouse and the next day you could be performing surveillance or sweeping a corporate office for bugs.

Private investigations aren’t like the movies though and it isn’t all exciting, there may be times when you are sitting in a van for hours on a surveillance job or you could be scanning a warehouse for bugs and not find a thing. Just like with all jobs, being a private investigator will have its good and bad days.

Job satisfaction is also another good reason for becoming a private investigator. Often your clients will be anxious, nervous or in dire need of help and being able to help people in these situations is a great feeling. Especially when you can provide them with the evidence they have suspected for a long time.

Salary for a private investigator

If you work for another private detective agency then you may be put onto a salary but if you consider being self-employed then your wage will be determined by the jobs that you take. For example the cost of hiring a private investigator changes by the job.

If you want to earn more money maybe you could focus on one area of private investigating that pays the most amount of money while being quick to perform. You could also build out a team of private investigators which will allow you to take on more jobs.

How to get jobs as a private investigator

If you are starting and you don’t have any clients you will need to advertise your services. This can be done by creating your own website, setting up social media and posting content that potential clients would like to see.

You could also contact other private investigators to see if they have any jobs that they don’t want or need or if they have jobs they need help with. This will give you experience as well as a wage for you to keep going. By doing good work you will build up a network of other private investigators and clients and you will ramp up your work volume quickly.

Final Thoughts

If you want to become a private investigator having a background such as coming from the police or military is going to help. Especially if you do any type of legal document handling. However, with that said it isn’t a requirement as there are no regulations to becoming a private detective in the UK. If you are a critical thinker, have an analytical mind and can follow evidence then you can be a private investigator.