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Next Edition Topics:
Stacking the Deck: Maximizing investigative success through effective analysis
Left Behind: Employees who supply information to corrupt former co-workers
In this edition of VantagePoints, we start off 2018 by presenting two topics that were the substance of recent discussions with clients.
The first article highlights the need to properly establish a subject's actual residential whereabouts before beginning a surveillance, in order to prevent the waste of valuable resources. Such preparation is increasingly critical as the prevalence of online account transactions has greatly facilitated the use of invalid home addresses.
The second involves the use of polygraph examinations in financial loss investigations, and how regulations and peripheral issues have greatly constrained what was once a staple of the investigative process.
Your remarks concerning VantagePoints are welcomed and greatly appreciated. We also hope you will recommend our publication to your colleagues. If you have particular investigative topics you would like us to address, please send them to: [email protected].
J.R.Skaggs
Founder, Owner, and Manager
Find 'Em First: Verify the whereabouts of the subject before conducting surveillance
One of the most unfortunate wastes of fraud investigation resources is conducting surveillance at the wrong location. Often such waste can be attributed to a failure to conduct the proper advance research to verify a subject's residential whereabouts.
People move and people lie. Never assume that even a once-valid address applies, especially in the case of someone who is believed to be involved in fraudulent activities. Such a person might be expected to provide an old or fictitious address in order to avoid scrutiny.
In a number of cases handled by ResultQuest, targets were discovered to be reporting addresses of a relative, in order to shield their true whereabouts yet still receive critical correspondence. Others were discovered to have recruited straw tenants or intentionally sublet properties, thereby avoiding the usual "footprints" by which most folks can be tracked.
Further facilitating the concealment of one's physical place of residence in this electronic age is the ability to access and pay accounts online without the need to have a valid address.
Although the traditional methods used to ... Read More
To Tell the Truth: Application of polygraph examinations in financial loss investigations
The polygraph, or lie detector, once a staple of financial loss probes, has been extensively constricted from use as an investigative tool for private sector employers. The Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA) of 1988 greatly limits the scenarios in which polygraph examinations are permitted in loss investigations. Furthermore, a number of states, including Texas, have ruled that polygraphs are not reliable enough to be admitted as evidence.
The act requires that the employer must not only have suffered an economic loss, but also that the employee(s) selected for examination must have had direct access to the specific location where the loss was caused or occurred - and, more importantly, there must be a reasonable suspicion of involvement.
The concept of reasonable suspicion can be difficult to define. A thorough investigation of those with opportunity, combined with effective interview techniques, can be instrumental in clearing such a hurdle. However, the results may well resolve the issue and avert the prospect of asking people to submit to polygraph testing, which can cause untold damage to the morale of a company - especially to innocent parties.
One corporate client of ResultQuest requested help in testing all employees who worked on the floor where an executive came up missing an expensive piece of jewelry. We advised... Read More
About Us
Our purpose is to increase our clients' competitive advantage so they can assume a position of superiority.
Our mission is to deliver an investigative product that provides an advantage in litigation, mediation, or negotiation. We tap into our vast investigative experience and global resource network to analyze the client's position, establish proper objectives, formulate and execute a plan of action, and report the results in a timely, concise, well-written and logical format.
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