My Cheating Mate - A private investigator's blog

Have You Considered Hiring a Private Investigator For Thorough & Professional Investigations?

2010-01-13T16:19:00.000-08:00

Do you think you may have a cheating spouse? Do you have a runaway teenager? Do you want to find someone such as a birth mother? Do you own a business and want to find out who may have stolen money or property from you? Have you been the victim of fraud or other special circumstances theft? These situations and many others similar to them come up more than you would probably think. The proper manner in which to handle these situations (above and beyond the help of the police) may be through a competent investigation by a qualified and licensed private investigator. The assistance you'll get from a quality private investigation usually pays for itself in benefits many times over, and is usually faster than other resources; like consultants and the police.

If you're not sure what a private investigator is, he or she is quite often someone who undertakes investigations for an entity, using their experience and knowledge to perform difficult to seemingly impossible feats to gather hard to find information. Business owners may hire a private investigator to find out who is behind an internal theft or fraud case. Attorneys quite often use private investigators for civil and criminal law cases. During divorce cases a private investigator may be hired to gather evidence of illegal, immoral, or improper conduct on the behalf of the "other side." Such "conduct" can include evidence of child abuse or misconduct, and/or marital infidelity. Auto/health insurance companies and worker's compensation firms frequently use private investigators to protect against fraudulent losses.

Private investigators (also known as private eyes and detectives) must be licensed in order to practice in most States. For example, in the State of California, a private investigator must be licensed in order to conduct investigations. In order to become a licensed private investigator in California, one must have accumulated a minimum of 6,000 hours of paid investigative experience, pass a background investigation, and lastly he or she must pass a two hour State board examination. Once a private investigator earns his license, he has the ability to legally conduct investigations. With this responsibility, private investigators must keep detailed records of all their findings. They must obey all State and Federal laws, as well as be willing and able to appear in court as a witness regarding any case that they undertake.

A private investigator's work may vary greatly depending upon the specialty in which he chooses to work in. Most investigative work involves surveillance, conducting numerous computer records checks, physical records inspections, interviews, interrogations, questioning individuals, and spending long and irregular hours at work. Investigations quite often involve lots of driving, conducting physical audits, and visiting many locations such as work, court, etc. A general investigation could involve talking to co-workers, relatives, friends, prior boy/girl friends/spouses, neighbors, and actual suspects.

Tips on how to find the right private investigator for you

First of all, you should ONLY hire a licensed investigator who is authorized to practice in your particular State. Look up your State's website and find out if and what requirements are needed for an investigator to practice in your State. A few States don't require much for some to call themselves private investigators. You should ask to see a copy of their license, and you should check their license status on your State's website. For example, California allows you to check the status of an investigator's license on their website under the category of BSIS (Bureau of Security and Investigative Services). Here's the link to check to see if an investigator is licensed in the State of Ca.:

Next, the best way to hire any professional (including a private investigator) is through the use of professional recommendations. Ask your friends, your attorney, or your business associates for a recommendation. You can also look for investigative associations in your State that usually have lists of investigators that you can search through. Once you have an investigator that you are looking to hire, make sure that they are licensed as we wrote about earlier, and also make sure that you are clear about his fees, timelines, hours of work, specialties (obviously very important), and special costs such as travel, court appearances, and expenses. You should also discuss what you expect from the investigation a far as results, costs, and timeline. Do you want an open ended investigative contract? Probably not; you definitely don't want a overly large unexpected bill for something you didn't make plans for.

So when you're looking for a private investigator, whether it be for a fraud case, a subject locate, or a miscellaneous civil matter, the aforementioned information will assist you in finding the right resource!

David Schulman, PI is a licensed California Private Investigator for Schulman P.P.I. (Schulman Professional Private Investigations), a general investigations firm which focuses on workplace fraud and safety. Hire David Schulman, PI or learn more about how to hire a private investigator by contacting him at 714 743-3078 or http://www.schulmanppi.com, License #25758

5 Warning Signs Of E-Infidelity

2009-08-19T15:02:00.000-07:00

Look for these red flags to help protect your marriage.
BY DR. SCOTT HALTZMAN

http://www.hitchedmag.com/article.php?id=786

Throughout history it’s been easy to recognize infidelity, even if you personally haven’t experienced it. If you’ve ever been to the movies or watched a soap opera, you have some idea of what it looks like: the surreptitious glances, the hurried meetings in unoccupied hallways, the quick stripping of the clothes, the sweaty bodies, the quick throwing-on of the clothes followed by the, "Who, me?" look.

Yes, you may think you know what cheating looks like, but the fact is that infidelity has changed in the last two decades. It involves all kinds of communication, interactions and hooking up that neither Shakespeare nor D.H. Lawrence could have ever dreamed up, and it’s harder than ever to figure out whether your mate has broken your marital vows.

So forget the advice about looking for lipstick on his collar. Here are some tips for figuring out whether your spouse is staying true in the electronic age.

1. Private phone calls. Does he go off into another room to answer his cell phone? Of course, if your husband or wife works for the CIA, then privacy might be necessary. But if there’s no special person outside of your relationship, then there’s no special reason why all conversations shouldn’t be public. You may not care to hear discussions about how the neighbor just bought a new leaf blower, but if it were an innocent conversation, your spouse wouldn’t be running into the next room to take it.

2. Erased history. Do they frequently erase text messages or the call list on their cell phone? The, "Oops, I’d love to show you who called, but I just erased the inbox" excuse runs thin after a while. It’s just not human nature to meticulously erase lists of calls, and often doing so may be a sign that there’s someone sending those texts besides work or family.

3. Private access. Have they recently changed their password or e-mail, or otherwise denied you access. About a decade ago, I counseled a 75-year-old man whose wife threatened divorce because she discovered his emotional affair after she intercepted a birthday card from another woman. Before telephones or computers, the unfaithful spouse would frequently communicate through the postal service. Now, however, things have changed and many affairs are conducted via e-mail correspondence. Couples with nothing to hide should not be hiding e-mail accounts from each other.

4. Powering down. Do they frequently shut down the computer when you come into the room? Chat rooms offer a wonderful way to establish intimacy, which is great if you want to share feelings about having a loved one at war or how to cope with chronic illness. But when chatting is used to establish intimate connections between two people who have an emotional or sexual connection, its wrong. Anything that your spouse is willing to chat about should be something that you should be able to see.

5. Late night logons. Is your spouse on the computer late at night and then their "history" is erased the next day? Some affairs don’t ever have to include meeting a person face-to-face (although more often than not, rendezvous do happen eventually). If your spouse is going on sites to "meet" people, or pornographic sites that involve live chat, then there’s a good likelihood that the connections being made can unravel your marriage.

Being discreet or meticulous about your electronic life doesn’t prove that someone’s having an affair, but if you see any warning signs, you should bring it to your partner’s attention right away. If there is an affair going on, the sooner you know the better. But if there isn’t, then this would be a good time to talk about who should be allowed to electronically intrude into your relationship, and what you should do together to preserve your marriage.

Scott Haltzman, MD is a clinical assistant professor at Brown University Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior. Dr. Haltzman is also the author of "The Secrets of Happy Families: Eight keys to building a lifetime of connection and contentment," "The Secrets of Happily Married Men: Eight Ways to Win Your Wife's Heart Forever," and "The Secrets of Happily Married Women: How to get more out of your relationship by doing less." You can get more information at his website, www.drscott.com.

Welcome to My Cheating Mate - A private investigator's blog

2009-08-19T11:43:00.000-07:00

My Cheating Mate

This blog is for the men and women who believe that they may have a cheating boyfriend, girlfriend, fiancee, or spouse. You will find regularly posted information on topics you should find helpful regarding the possibility of infidelity in your relationship.

My Cheating Mate will discuss signs of cheating mates, why mates cheat, if used what process a private investigator uses in an investigation, and repairing your relationship - if that is what you wish.

So bookmark or follow us, and you'll have a growing resource on a subject that literally breaks hearts.

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