Working undercover is my favorite part of the job; it can bear much fruit. When you need information about someone, there’s no better source than that person himself. The trick is to get that person to trust you enough to share the information that is vital to your case.

S. Brian Mathews of LA Intelligence was recently interviewed on Between Takes where he provides some very interesting and informative information regarding private investigation services. Brian recounts some of his most interesting cases and discusses the extreme amount of fraud that is taken place in our society.

At some point my client and his wife realized that the money given to the decorator was not being used for its intended purpose — furniture, accessories, etc. They attempted to contact the decorator but to no avail, so he sued him and won a money judgment for more than $550,000 by default. Clearly, he had no defense — so why show up!

A fellow P.I. recently referred an interesting client to me. This new client had a judgment in favor of a previously well-respected designer decorator for more than a half million dollars. The client knew there was little chance of collecting, not only because the decorator didn’t have the client’s money anymore, but because the laws that govern “post judgment recovery” are complicated and expensive.

Most private investigators, at one time or another, have investigated fraudulent workers compensation claims and in fact, many train on that type of work, as these claims always seem to be in good supply. Much of my earlier experience involved insurance claims and my biggest client in my early days was a large insurance defense firm.

The most gratifying kinds of private investigator cases are the ones where I feel I made a profound difference in the end. Catching a cheating spouse can be far from the end. It’s actually just the beginning in some cases, even here in California, a “no fault” state where assets are divided evenly, and here’s why…

Over the years, I have had my fair share of cases where the circumstances were far from routine and in order to satisfy my client, a great deal of thinking, planning and research was necessary in order to deliver results. Let’s face it – people choose to hire a private detective when there’s nowhere else to turn and the assignments can be very demanding. I always pride myself on delivering what I was hired for and have developed a reputation for just that.

Unless you are an insurance agent or a lawyer, hiring a private detective is not a typical course of action for the average individual. That being said, there may times and situations where you will need the services of a professional private detective. These can include serving legal documents to those who are difficult to find or maybe you suspect your spouse or partner may be cheating on you. No matter the reason, having a good, experienced private investigator on your side will no doubt affect the outcome of your scenario.

A normal process service is where subpoenas, summons, restraining orders, tenant evictions, foreclosure notices and a host of other writs are served on an individual. Difficult process service is where serving up these types of documents becomes very tricky and even...

Driving a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs is a crime. But what exactly defines a DUI (driving under the influence) or DWI (driving while intoxicated)? The following infographic compares drunk driving laws and practices in the USA and Canada. Find out what the penalties are and when can you get charged with DUI or DWI.