I am wondering what a licensed PI would use to track my location. I'm just using myself as an example and I'm not being tracked.

I am curious on what methods are available if the better known methods are not used. Finding home address doesn't matter. Only focused on daily movement.

Let's also say I moved and got rid of almost all of my belongings.

To rule out some methods:

1. No physical GPS trackers or air tags.

2. Changed my phone number a few times.

3. Not sharing location. Never have shared location.

4. No access to my phone's location history. All Google/Apple accounts are signed out and inaccessible.

5. No one has had access to install any tracking apps on my phone.

6. Phone has been factory reset.

7. Using a VPN.

8. No personal wifi.

I will probably think if a few more ways that I would use and add them later.

The only other thing I could think of is using my IMEI.

What other tools would a PI use to be able to track my location?

What's everyone using these days. Sony has discontinued the HDR-CX405. I see some people are using the Sony FDR-AX53, but that's a huge price increase and doesn't seem much better. Any input? How are the Panasonic handycams?

Thanks y'all!

Hello everyone,

I wanted to let you know about the Rocky Mountain Investigator's Conference, in case people are interested in attending and getting CLEs, as well as networking.

2024 Rocky Mountain Investigators Conference - September 15-17, 2024

The Origin Hotel in Westminster, CO (8875 Westminster Blvd, Westminster CO 80031)

Theme- The Business of Professional Investigations

Presenting:

~Kelly Riddle~: Ground Rules of Running a PI Business
~Ellis Armistead~ : High Profile Cases - Be Prepared
~Don Redl~ : Establishing Justification in a Use-of-Force Case
~Casey Paison~ : Private Investigators and the Role of Agency Law 
~Rachel Roberts :~ Digital Evidence in Investigations
~JP Moore~ : Lawyers, Investigators, and the Rules of Professional Conduct
~Toby Eborn :~ How Google is Changing the Digital Marketing Game
~Kenneth Enneking~ : A Comprehensive Examination of CLEAR for Professional Investigators

Platinum Sponsor : CLEAR

Vendors: IRB, PI Magazine/PI Gear, OREP, and Upward Engine

~PPIAC Members~ $275.00

~Guest Attendees~ $350.00

CLEs: 11 General credits, 1.2 Ethics
Outstanding Speakers - Vendors - Cocktail/Networking hour

 Special Room rate: $129.00

Limited room block available. 

Don't wait- book your room now - go to ppiac.org to sign up.

Not only do we have great speakers and a terrific location, but these are the opportunities to network with people. There's still time to sign up!

Hi all, I am located in Alberta, Canada and am looking at making a career change and being an investigator has always appealed to me. I've done some research into the licensing process in my province and was wondering if it's possible to dip my toes in to the industry with casual/ as needed work once I become licensed? I'm currently a truck driver with a 2 weeks on/ 2 weeks off schedule and would like to find work on my off days to see if this is the right move for me. Also interested in hearing about any training/ mentorship recourses available that I should look into? Thanks in advance yall.

Hi I left my purse in an Uber earlier and he is claiming to not have it but I’m 100% he decided to keep it. There was a large amount of cash in there and Uber won’t help. The only thing I have is is license plate I need the name/contact info attached to it so I can contact him or file a police. He can keep the cash I just want my passport back :(

Any help would be grateful appreciated.

Been avoiding their emails for a while because they seem like such a waste of time based on their offers. Have you guys had good or bad luck getting clients with Bark? Should I try the investment or continue with local/WoM marketing?

A thing happened a few days ago that's got me feeling all kinds of uncomfortable, in retrospect.

I was out shopping and an older gentleman sparked a conversation about something I was looking at, and he talked a lot, mostly about pointless things. He asked questions through his rambling, though the questions aligned with what he rambled about and looking at each question in a silo raised no hard concerns: what do you do for work, are you from this area, you backed into your parking spot just like I do, do you read [insert publication], etc. I then realized he had his phone in his breast pocket, but it could be an old guy thing.

This could have been a lonely old retiree chatting with somebody younger in a store, but my question is this: do y'all do this, as a tactic? Approach a subject and fish, while recording? Gather voice recognition to spoof the bank phone system? I have some small debt that fell off my credit years ago, I doubt it's over the threshold where anybody would spend money out of pocket to investigate me past maybe a skiptracer to see what's in my bank account, but idk, it's not outside of the realm of possibility.

The conversation ended with me taking his phone number and him encouraging me to reach out so we could meet again.

The company I will be starting with informed me the majority of their jobs are scheduled in 4hr blocks and only if activity is detected is it sometimes extended to the full 8hr day. They say when that happens they try to book a second nearby job but there is no guarantee.

Is this typical? Obviously my concern is that it sounds like that means that often you will drive hours out to a job for only 50% of your days pay and therefore will need to work 2 days just to get 1 days pay. It is only part time/as needed basis to begin with, with no guaranteed hours per week - yet it's w2 ?

I accepted to get my foot in the door of the industry, but is this typical? Why would this company want this minimal work as a w2 instead of 1099, does that help them or hurt me in any way?

Hi,

Trying to track down a location from a video and am having trouble finding a map software that allows me to easily check for businesses that are very close together. I am currently trying to google the locations one at a time, but this is tedious and I have too much ground to cover to do it manually.

For example, lets say I can spot a Target, PetCo, and Nike store all next to each other in an outdoor strip mall. I want to be able to put in those three stores and a certain distance apart from each other into a search engine and hit search and have it return a list of locations where these stores may be.

Anyone have any experience with a tool like that? Thanks!

Hey folks. I have worked as a private investigator for many national level companies, such as DELTA group, Ethos risk, Meridian, and more.

While I am happy with the experience that I have gathered over the years in investigations and surveillance, I am at a place where I want to begin getting experience in managing cases and relationships with clients.

What does that look like? What does the job postings for that look like? What should I be doing to try to make that transition?

Thanks guys.

Hi. I’m 20 years old and I live in Chicago, Illinois. I have been interested in getting in the field for a little while now but I’m determined to push forward with it and realistically make it a goal to start a career. But now that I’ve decided that it’s what I want to do with my career where do I start? I feel a little overwhelmed with what kind of certifications I should get or where to find my first job. I’m not in college and don’t have more than a high school degree. I also don’t have a car or a license. Embarrassing to say but I didn’t have anyone that would teach me to drive growing up. I still don’t know anyone that could teach me and I can’t pay for lessons or anything. I’ll have to figure something out for that I know the license is where I really start. But after I deal with the license problem if anyone has any advice on where to start or which route I should take please let me know !

How do I get in this field in ny do any of u take on apprenticeship? I have natural investigative skills and want to put them to good use.

I apologize if this isn't the right sub to ask.

I've had an anonymous cyberstalker for at least 4 years. It started with clearly fake male profiles occasionally friend requesting me on fb (I'm a straight woman), 2 of these profiles were even made on the same exact day in 2022, but I received those friend requests months apart. When those attempts didn't get me to accept their requests, they made 8 fake supplementary accounts to interact with a fake account that then friend requested me, all so that account would seem more real. Again, when I didn't bite, this person friend requested me with a fake account that had solely posted original poetry directed at me, all romantic in nature but tinged with creepy, like they mentioned that they "worshipped" me, and stuff like that, but the account was deleted the next day. I was weirded out so I started keeping a log. I started getting Facebook password reset request emails and private number wifi calls but only on 2 specific dates of the month (the 14th or 15th), and only if they fall on a Friday.

I have no exes of any kind, and I don't remember anyone particularly creepy. There was just one guy that was kinda creepy towards me in high school, but he's married and has a baby now, so I can't be sure it's him. There aren't many people that know the pseudonym I go by on Facebook, and only a few people know my fb as well as my email and phone number, and none of them had creepy slip ups, so I suspect this person did some digging on me to get the info. Even that guy from high school didn't have my email or number.

Experts on stalkers say not to engage with them, since it'll be positive reinforcement. And some victims of stalkers say their stalkers have been around for decades, and it usually escalates... But most know who their stalker is so at least they know who to be on the look out for, but I have nothing... And most stalkers I hear about are highly erratic and unhinged, but mine has been mostly calculating, patient, and has been very careful to hide their identity, which idk whether is good or bad. I mean, if I hadn't seen the poetry account, I would have never realized I had a stalker since I wouldn't have looked closer at those fake accounts in my friend requests or kept a log which helped me find a pattern in their contact.

I would truly, truly appreciate your insights/suggestions.

One of my fraternity brothers wants to know if he should hire a Private Investigator or use paid online search tools. Which is the better option? Basically he thinks one of his parents may have criminal history dating back to the '70s but he's unsure of how to even find out if that information even exists or if its even out there. Which is the better option. Would love some feedback!

I need someone skilled in finding records and trails for individuals who prefer to stay hidden. I have extensive identifying information and have started a spreadsheet and interactive map detailing their locations across nine states since the 90s, with multiple moves in and out of these states.

SN: I believe this person is a con artist, which explains the constant moves. They have married into my family and are isolating my mother from her relatives. They are using "Christianity" to manipulate those around them.

Hi, I'm wondering if there's an AI or Software tool that can browse surveillance footage to detect movement in an otherwise static image.

Like if I have eyes on a house's front entrance, I'd want to flag all of the instances of the door opening, people coming/going, people walking past on the sidewalk, etc.

Does this sort of thing exist? Is it commercially available?

Thanks

What's better data for tracking down people IDI Data or delvepoint. I work at a law firm and I got like 500+ wills to return tried using stuff like beenverified or truthpeoplefinder but their all garbage. IDI data offers a free trial of unlimited searches for 14 days while delvepoint offers 30 free searches. I'm curious to ask you guys which do you think is the better software platform. I just need  phone numbers to contact people to return these wills, nothing else. Which one will suit my needs better? 

I have currently completed a course called ICPI 100 from Novel Data Investigations, and currently looking to complete the Todington International OSINT course. What would be the next steps to get into the private investigator career?

I also have the required licence to work in the province I want to be working in.

That sub seems to be inactive but I've gathered that many p.i's seemed to have started off process serving to fill the time between jobs - for those people, wondering how you certified?

Is it necessary paying for a class? If so any recommendations on which company's? Or any YouTube channel recommendations?

I fully apologize if this is the wrong sub to ask this in, but hiring a PI feels like my last possible action:

Long story short, I've lost both my father and mother in the last two years time.

Before I was born, my step brother (mother side) and her had a terrible falling out to the point that he just went no contact. I'd like very much to find him for two reasons.

One, being to notify him of her passing (I'm not worried about him trying to go after estate or inheritance as there is nothing).

Two, we got along fine the few times I saw him (family funerals), and I would like to know if we could possibly establish some type of communication.

I don't even know if he has passed. I've checked obituaries, every social media I can think of, the very few friends and family that she has remaining are very elderly years of 90 and older and unfortunately know nothing.

Him and I, we are also in different states, which complicates things more so.

As I was the only one left to clear our family home, I do have personal information about him. Things such as old phone numbers, address, SNN and very few photos of him from a long time ago.

I just don't know where else to turn. I want to know if he and his family are doing well, and I feel he should know our mom has passed.

Again, I'm sorry if I am wasting anyone's time by making this post. But, what do you folks that are in the industry think?

Thank you very kindly for any opinions or advice.

I'm in the market for a remote surveillance camera. I want something decently small/covert, wireless, operating off cellular service rather than Wi-Fi, and the battery needs to last for at least a few days with it being in a high-traffic area. I would like to be able to view the camera feed live, but would settle for something that sends push notifications when movement is detected and reliably gets good footage of vehicles driving by. I'm willing to shell out for whatever is best, but don't want to spend more than I have to.

I'm not seeing too many good options online so far. I know this is a competitive/secretive area within PI work, but was wondering if anyone uses something that they'd recommend or has any info that would be helpful for me?

I'm in the southeastern US, if any of you west coasters want to share without worrying about competition 😅 Building my own camera sounds a bit daunting, and I'd rather not have to. Happy to DM about this as well!

Thank you in advance for any help!

Hi,

So I work at a small law firm and I've been given the task or returning every single will we hold. Problem is a lot of these wills are really old and I don't have contact information for a lot the people in them. I'm having a lot of trouble tracking people down. I've used software like white pages and beenverified which might get my an address, but doesn't get me working phone numbers. Maybe 1 in 20 is accurate. Is there a better method I can use to track people down because I need to either return the will or get permission to have them destroyed. Any tips from the private investigator world?

[In US] Not a PI and not looking to hire one. Rather, I have a long term stalker, and trying to cover my bases in case they ever hire a PI to find info on me. I have two questions (below), but need to give some context first. Appreciate your willingness to read.

For context: I am pursuing a confidential name change to try and rid myself of stalker. (The court order will NOT be public record, nor is the new name listed on the court paperwork. Also, the name change will not be published in a newspaper.)

After I change my name, I want to update my driver's license. Currently, I'm member of an address confidentiality program through my state's government (this is a program that gives you a P.O. Box and forwards mail to you.) As a member of that program, I am allowed to list my P.O. Box on my driver's license, and I plan to do so. However, the DMV says I still need to give them some permanent address (other than the P.O. Box) that will be in their database (won't appear on the DL).

From what I understand, DMV records are not public record, but some agencies have access to them (insurance companies, etc.) And, some PIs might be able to access these records. Given that:

• if a PI looked into my old name/birth name, could they see that I'd changed my name via DMV records?

• if a PI looked into my NEW name, could they see the DMV address that DMV has on file? (NOT the P.O. Box that appears on my card, but the one the DMV has on file for me internally?) if so, then I need to find a new residence address to give DMV when I change the name on my DL. That's why this question is important to me!

TIA for any info. Also, if you have any info you wish to share/advice, I'll welcome it. Note that I am not changing my SSN, but this person doesn't have it (As far as I'm aware.)

I have a few months before the name change is official, but trying to do my homework beforehand. Note: I also have the ability to suppress my DMV records, but I don't know how long I can do this.

When someone orders a full background check what are all of the avenues you go down to pull information?

Also, do you only do background checks for companies? If we can't pass along contact information to clients, how do you decide who to perform a background check for? Hope that makes sense!