Confirming what you know and finding what you don't
As a researcher and investigator – and a former librarian – I’ve done a lot of online database searching. I’ve searched news, market research, public records, engineering documents, you name it. I’ve searched for information on any topic you can imagine, from silicon photonics to Jeff Zucker‘s career. I also teach other researchers and investigators […]
Due diligence background investigations come in all flavors. They’re generally customized according to industry, level of risk, and time constraints. There’s one component, though, that should be included in all background checks on people and companies – the media report. What’s a media report? It’s the section of a background investigation that covers news and […]
In a recent post, I questioned the methods used by a journalist in exposing a politician’s fraudulent college diploma. I’m all for catching this type of fraud, since one little lie can be a symptom of chronic deceit, but verifying a degree without consent is illegal (except in certain circumstances) and something this private investigator […]
I recently had the opportunity to speak at the OACFE fraud conference about online due diligence background investigations. It’s always great to meet other fraud professionals and share my strategies and sources. In this presentation, I emphasize that one of the best ways to prevent fraud is to avoid going into business with fraudsters. If […]
Have you ever run a background check on yourself? I’m not talking about just googling your name. I’m talking about checking court and other public records, news, and even social media, and taking a deeper dive into your digital footprint to see what others might find out about you. At a recent social event, I […]
I recently attended the OSMOSIS conference in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, an event geared toward open source intelligence professionals (OSINT). In addition to great networking and a beautiful venue, the speakers were some of the best I’ve seen at a professional conference. Even though many of the sessions didn’t exactly coincide with my specialty, there […]
I’m heading to the OSMOSIS conference for open source intelligence (OSINT) professionals where I’ll present a short “Bits and Bytes” roundtable session on asset investigations. When preparing for a lawsuit, conducting due diligence, or enforcing a judgment, you may need to evaluate a person’s or firm’s open, tangible, and hidden assets. But, without their permission […]
Running a due diligence background checks is a great way find out if if someone is not as honest as they appear – before you agree to do business. To do this, investigators look at past and current behavior to help predict the likelihood of future fraudulent activity. It’s the “once a crook, always a […]
Many providers of due diligence background investigations limit their media research to just negative news. Rather than gather everything they can about their subject from news and social media, they construct searches with keywords such as lawsuit, fraud, sanctions, and investigation to pull out just the bad news. If they don’t find any past instances […]
Google Images plays a big part in Phelps Research’s due diligence investigations. A photo of a subject can help confirm an identity and add a face to a name in a report. But sometimes Google’s image search results can lead to much more. On several occasions I’ve found some great non-image content that’s had a […]