A question we are often asked is can private investigators hack phones? We touched on this briefly in our blog about the legalities of a private investigator but I think it deserves a whole chapter of it’s own due to the misconceptions surrounding private investigators hacking mobile phones.
If I had a pound for every time I have been asked if I could hack someones phone or track someones phone I would have quite a full piggy bank. Usually the request will come from a partner or spouse that suspects infidelity on their other half and would like to access the messages and call logs on their phones to quench their thirsts for answers to their suspicions. These questions are often asked in good faith and not wanting to break any laws but often because the general public think that we maybe have powers to do such things and be within the law.
Unfortunately we are bound by the same laws as everyone else, in as much as our hands are tied as this would be considered a serious breach of data. M.R.Investigations being a respectable company refuse to get involved in any such illegal activities as this would not only land us in court but would ruin our business. We are there are various software options available for sale on websites but again that is not anything we would get involved with. The only legal way to do this is if the owner of the phone gave us their written permission to analyse the phone. In real life situations the probability of this is very slim.
So you cant hack phones, is there any way round this?
The simple answer is yes. The way round it is to carry out another line of investigation that is legal. Quite often a client will call us with expectations of how we can resolve their issue and for various reasons including legalities we will advise them of another method on how we can resolve their concerns and keeping us and the client on the right side of the law. If you suspect your partner of cheating we can get to the bottom of it using a number of methods other than hacking phones.
As surveillance specialists we have often over the years come across certain situations that make it difficult for us to carry out certain tasks using conventional surveillance techniques. This could be for any number of reasons, such as a remote location making it difficult to put a person or vehicle near to the property we need to place under surveillance without being detected. Or a surveillance aware Subject who scrutinises all persons and vehicles in his street before setting off on a journey.
Private Investigators Get Tech Savvy
Over the last couple of years we have been slowly been building an arsenal of covert cameras to aid us with surveillance. We make our own bespoke cameras to suit various scenarios for either rural or urban environments. These are disguised as everyday things that you may see, such as foliage, rockery or street furniture and are so well made that they remain unseen by the general public or indeed our subjects of enquiry that we are investigating. If they are seen which they sometimes are, especially in urban situations where they are hidden in plain sight, it does not register with the person as they are disguised as common everyday items.
Our Surveillance cameras can be hidden in plain sight.
The covert cameras are also great for intelligence gathering prior to carrying out a physical surveillance but also good as an aid for physical surveillance allowing us to keep out of the eye of our subjects and use them instead of another man to give us a heads up of movement away from an address or location.
A few weeks ago we were tasked with proving that someone was working whilst off sick from his employers and claiming sick pay. The employer had received a tip off that the employee in question had been seen a couple of times in a red work van and believed to be working as a roofer on a building site, most probably being paid cash in hand. The investigation began and initial conventional mobile surveillance showed that the supposed sick employee was believed to be working at a rural site on the outskirts of Leamington Spa working on a large barn conversion, which was going to prove very difficult to obtain the required video evidence of him working without risking a compromise, as any strange vehicles would arouse suspicion.
The team discussed the situation and it was decided that we would use the covert cameras placed in strategic locations looking on to the site to obtain the footage required. The following morning in the early hours under the cover of darkness three cameras were installed, each covering the three entrances into the building site.
Let the surveillance begin.
The surveillance began with one operative at the home address and the other near to the work address to receive his arrival and obtain some initial footage of him arriving for work. The Subject was seen to come out of his house at 06:00 dressed in manual work attire. He was seen to stand and wait for a short while, coffee mug and sandwich box in hand, when eventually a red Ford Transit van arrived to pick him up and he was whisked away. Normally in conventional surveillance operations we would follow him to the work place in case he went elsewhere but we were confident that with this renovation of the barn being in the early stages, that he would return there.
He was seen to arrive by the other operative who took some initial footage and then it was over to the covert cameras to do their work. This procedure went on for a full week and the evidence was irrefutable and damning. The covert cameras caught him throughout the day going up ladders working on the roof. He was also seen to take coffee and dinner breaks which were mainly taken in the van and at the end of the day he could be seen assisting in a clean up operation and assisting in loading the van with tools for the other workers. Not bad going for a man who was signed off due to a back injury!
So what did we do whilst all this was going on? We pretty much chilled out really and monitored the activity on our ipads as these cameras are not only covert but WiFi IP capable enabling us to watch his every move whilst tucked up safely in our vehicles ready to react should the Subject leave early or visit another site. The cameras also record everything to SD card and the video evidence was presented to the employer on conclusion of the investigation.
This is a classic case of private investigators moving with the times and using technology to assist us with our work. We are under no illusions that had we not had the benefit of these devices, the end result would have not been as good. We feel that these devices give us an edge over other investigators in many similar situations.
We are now listed in the top 20 private investigator blogs at
Since the coronavirus epidemic started and people were furloughed we have seen a dramatic rise in the number of employers calling on our services. Some people have had to work through these times including manual workers such as distribution firms, parcel delivery companies and warehouse staff. All considered as “key workers”. We first started receiving calls from employers and HR departments in the beginning of April, regarding employees saying that they had symptoms of coronavirus and due to government guidelines they were having to self isolate.
One client told us that it appeared that their staff were actually taking it in turns to take time off. Becoming suspicious, they decided to employ us to see if these individuals were indeed self isolating or whether they were up and about, socialising and going about business as usual. This has been achieved by surveillance and we backed up our findings with irrefutable footage showing the activities of the individuals.
The surveillance begins
Our first case was an employee of a company and they believed was using the time off with isolation to work elsewhere. In this case there was no movement over a period of three days so it was assumed he was telling the truth.
Three further investigations however, into other individuals showed that on each occasion they were out and about, sometimes very active and not practising any social distancing measures at all. In one case the individual unbeknown to us at the time, until the client saw the footage actually met up with another employee from the same warehouse, who was also off from work “self isolating”! The client got two for one in this case. These people were clearly using the pandemic to their advantage, taking time off work and receiving pay. Our evidence was handed over to the clients and no doubt the correct disciplinary measures were enforced.
This week already we have taken instruction from another employer wanting us to investigate and put an employee in Warwickshire under surveillance that has taken time out due to developing symptoms. Our report will be in his inbox the following day.
Breach of coronavirus
As of late we are also seeing an increase of private clients calling us to investigate a breach of coronavirus. This is usually in situations of divorce proceedings where they are looking to discredit their estranged spouses for any number of reasons such as to place doubt into their credibility or to hit them financially where they may find themselves in a position that any evidence obtained would be passed on to their employers.
It has been long considered that a cheating partner in Coventry or anywhere else is likely to see their secret lover at some point on Valentines day. This could quite well be true but in reality it is most likely to be the day before on the 13th February and in our experience in carrying out numerous investigations into cheating husbands, cheating wife or partners in the Coventry & Warwickshire areas we have found this to be true.
Mistress Day
The 13th of February has in fact been titled as “Mistress day” for this very reason. The cheating partner will usually meet his or her lover on mistress day. Statistics reveal that 71 per cent of British cheating husbands plan to see their mistresses on 13 February, leaving Valentine’s Day itself free for a date with their quite often unsuspecting wives.
Statistics also show that the mistress is far more likely to receive a better valentines gift than the wife who is likely to receive the obligatory bunch of flowers, whilst the mistress receives an expensive watch or necklace.
42 per cent will be booking a hotel for their illicit encounter and 35 per cent will be taking their “bit on the side” to the pub, the majority of men will book a meal in a restaurant for their wife the following night (Valentines day), complete with tablecloths, candles and a bottle of wine.
It would be rare for a cheat to take out their secret lovers on Valentines night due to the expected night out with the spouse, although sometimes there maybe be a day time liaison. February the 15th is a definite no-no as that means the mistress would be seen as an afterthought and coming second best.
Now that we have given you food for thought. If you suspect your partner of cheating then please do not hesitate to give us a call on 024 7512 0316.
There are a number of reasons a HR department may contact the services of a Private Investigator to carry out services on their behalf. The HR (Human resources) department is the hub of any large company, responsible for such things as recruitment, payroll, employment policies and benefits. They often act as a go-between for employees and managers, and can clarify basic company information such as maternity leave and sick pay.
Also they keep the company fully au fait with changes in employment laws and employee disputes between the employee and the employer, which they try to resolve and keep the business turning with as few glitches as possible.
Sometimes disputes cannot be solved without some outside help. An employee may claim workplace injury and is looking to claim against the employer. Nobody minds paying out for a legitimate claim but sometimes it is suspected that a claim isn’t as genuine as what the claimant is making out.
We are often called to investigate the validity of such a claim. The only way to do this is to get hard evidence to prove if the claim is genuine or not. M.R. Investigations will in such cases place the claimant under a period of surveillance and covertly record the claimant by means of video.
Surveillance services
Our surveillance operatives will collate the evidence over a period of days and will furnish the client with a written report that is admissible in any subsequent employee tribunals. Just recently we received excellent news from one of our HR clients about a case we covered for them which was featured on the ABI website https://www.theabi.org.uk/news/the-employer-client-was-right-to-suspect. (Certain details such as locations etc. were changed to protect individuals).
Another time a HR department will use our services is if an employee is on long term or regular sick leave. It is one of the responsibilities of the HR team to keep note of such things and quite often gossip from the shop floor filters through line managers and back to the HR department.
They are then left with a choice, dismiss it as idle gossip or investigate the whispers. If they decide to investigate the rumours there is only so far they can go before they will need to find out what is really going on and will need to call upon the services of a private detective agency.
In our experience when an employer suspects an employee isn’t being truthful it’s usually for a good reason and employing a private investigator is money well spent and quite often saves the company thousands of pounds in the long run.
Again as we would investigate an employee making a claim against the company we would place the person under a period of surveillance and gather video evidence. Stills cameras have no place in these situations as sometimes a medical expert will be required to study the evidence and focus on the fluidity of the person.
Suspicions of theft are another cause for concern and cost businesses £190 million pounds each year according to one website. This could be from something as small as stealing toilet paper to something far more expensive. Theft is something that needs nipping in the bud as soon as possible before it gets out of hand and again private detectives can assist HR departments in such situations.
Keeping it legal
With HR departments always keeping abreast of legal developments, so too must any professional investigation agency. With being members of the Association of British investigators we have to adhere to the laws just like anyone else. There would be no point us conducting an investigation illegally as any such tactics would result in a case being thrown out of court.
All such investigations will be carried out to the letter of the law. With surveillance for instance, that would be knowing when and where you can lawfully obtain video evidence without encroaching in to intrusive methods.
The preconceived image of a shady PI lurking in the shadows with a trilby hat and burberry mac, using any dirty trick available to obtain a result has long gone. (we would still strongly recommend you carry out due diligence prior to instructing a detective agency as there is always one rotten apple in the basket).
Keeping it secure
Any self respecting private investigation agency will be up to date and fully compliant with GDPR. At M.R. Investigations we take data protection very seriously. Before the new 2018 DPA was rolled out to replace the old 1998 DPA (incidentally the same year we started out as private investigators) We implemented the requirements of the new data protection act.
One HR department we met with as GDPR was being introduced, that required an employee investigating were very impressed with our knowledge of current data protection laws and went on to say that it was a concern of theirs, hiring a private investigator for the first time and was a question they were going to ask us. We went on to inform them of how we intended to share documents, video evidence etc. securely and they admitted that we had an answer to some questions that they had not got an answer for and would be using some of our methods in the future.
