Online dating is very popular nowadays. There have been a lot of people who had met their husbands or wives through this online social facility. But as it is with good people, there are a lot of bad people lurking inside online dating communities and waiting for their chance to pounce upon their prey.

And there are also a lot of instances wherein a people inside online dating community don’t give out the right information about them. There are a lot of people in there that presents themselves as another person entirely different from their own personality. And these are the people you should be careful of. It’s not that they are bad people. But being not so truthful about them would indicate that they wouldn’t be truthful about anything else either.

Here are the things you should do to find out if the person you are talking to is speaking to you in all honesty:

1. Know more about the person.
Learn about his physical appearance. Ask him to describe himself to you. Then check his profile if it matches his uploaded photo perfectly. This way, you can be sure that the person you are talking to is the same person as the image he had uploaded. And constantly bring up his other features while the conversation progresses. Ask him about his black hair. If he had mistakenly told you that his hair is brown and not black, then that should be a warning sign that he’s fooling around with you.

2. Check the person’s background.
Always ask the person’s name, age, and hometown before you start chatting with him. Most of the time, these are all indicated in his profile. Ask him again to be sure. Then try to search for his background over the free people search sites around the internet. If they match then you are on the right track, to say the least.

3. Check his friends.
Online dating is a social networking site. Sometimes, people can see each other’s friends from there. If you personally know somebody included in his roster of friends, then you have a good place to start your own little investigation. Ask that person about this friend you met over an online dating site. He or she will be able to give you a lot of information about your new friend, both good and bad.

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The Internet banking community – particularly online banking customers – is in an uproar. In the advent of online banking, banks had been virtually enthusiastic in providing customers with the best safety and protection measures. But as online fraud appears to become more sophisticated in the passage of time, banking firms seem to be having second thoughts of their original position. More importantly, they seem to be inclined to shift all the blame to the customer’s shoulders.

The first sign of trouble came from the side of New Zealand. The New Zealand Banker’s Association had made major revisions of its code of practice. Most of it appears to make customers liable for losses due to online fraud if they are able to prove that the customer hadn’t taken all the necessary steps to make online transactions as safe as possible. Continue reading "Online Theft and Online Banking – Banks May Be Pointing Fingers to Customers for Online Losses"

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Hiring a private eye is always sure to cost people money, but sometimes, the cost is more than enough considering how the truth, no matter how painful it may be, could set you free. Here are the reasons that can prompt you to hire a private investigator:

Infidelity –Women often do this just to catch their husbands in the act red-handed and vice versa. Results of private investigation can then serve as highly damaging against the other party in divorce and custody cases.

Identity – If you have enough money, you can hire a private eye to know the identity of just about any individual in the world. Adopted individuals do this usually to find the identity of their birth parents. Parents who gave away their children for adoption do the reverse. Other long-lost family relations may also be uncovered with the help of private investigation. People or even pets who have gone missing may also be located with the help of private detectives.

Business –Companies hire a private eye to do a number of things like identifying employees suspected of conniving with competitors, causes for unexplained losses and discrepancies in accounts, or finding out what their “opponents” are currently busy with.

In the event that you do find a legitimate and valuable reason to hire a private eye, here’s what you should do to ensure that a trustworthy detective will be handling your case.

Firstly, always check if the private eye or the agency he belongs to is properly licensed. Agencies with complete licenses tend to have more resources and occasionally more reliable than those without. Check for bonding and insurance coverage as well.

Secondly, consider the years of experience the private eye or agency has not only in handling investigations but also in involvement with the type of case you’re presenting them with. When you’re pregnant, for instance, you would want an OB Gyno to check on you and not just any doctor, don’t you? The same goes with choosing a private eye.

Ask for references. Check with the Better Business Bureau and see if they’ve received any complaints about the agency. And last but not the least, do ask how much they’ll be charging and the payment options you can choose from.

Of the 15,000 private agencies in the United States today, only more than one thousand of them are registered and licensed. Many of them are fly-by-night operators, but this may soon change if a proposed bill recommending regulation of these agencies and individuals would push through.

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Majority of the public is surprisingly unaware of the existence, much less the definition, of the term policeware even if it has been already used by the United States government since 2001. There are two well-known incidents, in particular, where use of policeware has been acknowledged.

The more recent of the two referred to the quest of the FBI for the identity of a bomb threat hoaxer using email service provider Hushmail and a MySpace account. The FBI was granted permission by the courts last June 12, 2007 to use a spyware program called CIPAV. When implanted, the CIPAV would be able to send critical information to the FBI such as the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the person’s computer as well as other data found within the computer. Continue reading "Policeware – Some Viruses are for Your Protection"

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Hiring a private investigator is not easy. When hiring one, you’ve got a lot of things to consider. For starters, you should have loads of money to cover the fees and expenses associated with it. Good private investigator works on a certain standard. And the things he primarily does are background checks, finding persons, and gathering of confidential information.

There are a number of instances that may require you hire a private investigator. Here are those:

1. You would want to know where a missing loved one is.
Is somebody you have loved been missing for days or weeks? A missing person means he location cannot be determined because he don’t answer his calls or respond to any of your or other friend’s and family’s messages. If you want to find him fast and easy, you are going to need a good private investigator to help you.

2. You want to know if an employee is robbing your company.
Embezzlement is a common case. Whenever you feel that somebody in your company is committing that crime but you are not so sure who that person is, you should start hiring a private investigator before you run out of money and is forced to close out your business.

3. You need evidence of your husband’s infidelity.
A lot of cases of divorce has been filed and successfully completed in American court with the help of private investigators providing the necessary proof of either a husband’s or wife’s infidelity.

4. Pre-employment investigation.
If you are starting up a new company and would like to hire only the best people, you’ve got to hire a private investigator. You can’t be too sure on what applicants put in their resumes these days. So for you to verify the information contained therein, you are going to need somebody that knows how to do that exactly.

5. To aid a certain case.
Should you be involved in a certain case in court, either criminal or civil, a good private investigator can help clear your name if you were really innocent of what was being imposed on you. In these cases, you have to make sure that you hire only the expert, especially when your life and freedom depends on it.

These are the five common instances that you need a private investigator for. And whenever you do have a need for them, don’t postpone contacting one. Because with them, every single minute counts.

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Sooner or later, some of us would want to take a look at public records for one reason or another. Public records are an excellent source of information and data and will be a valuable tool for certain searches and inquiries. Whether you’re a private individual or a business person, you will find plenty of uses for public records.

Common uses of public records
Public records are records of legal proceedings made available for use by the public – meaning, they can be viewed by just about anyone. Although legal records automatically become public after proceedings are concluded, not all records of this type are filed as public records. In cases involving minors and sexual abuse, for example, records are kept private. The most common sources of public records are county and state agencies and courts, who release public records for a variety of uses, including:

Proof of identity or status
Public records are often used to prove one’s identity and status. Certain situations or events, such as marriages, divorces, claims to wills, inheritance or titles, often require the use of public records.

Genealogy
Public records, such as those sourced from churches, are often used for tracing family history. They are often used as a reference by genealogists and hobbyists to try to find lost relatives or complete a family tree.

Background checks
Probably the most common use for public records is to conduct background checks. Background checks usually involve criminal records, when employers try to determine the criminal history of a prospective employee. It is commonly done as a way to preempt any chances of criminal activity happening, especially if employment involves money, children, confidential documents and sensitive material.

Many landlords also use public records before making a decision to rent out an apartment to a prospective tenant. This allows them to avoid allowing any problematic tenants into their neighborhood.

Another use of public records for background checks is to determine the financial viability of a person. This is often performed by businessmen on prospective business partners before entering into a contract with them.

Purchase of property
Public records are also often used to check the history of properties before purchase. It is common practice among prospective buyers to go through public records to find out about certain information about the lot, including its former ownership, how it was used in the past and what type of structures once stood on it.

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Marriage licenses and registers are deemed by many as the two most important types of marriage records because of the data they provide and the various purposes they serve.

A marriage license is a permit provided by a US state to citizens with the intention to marry each other. A marriage license would usually include information like the couple’s names, birth dates, addresses, races, occupations, and data about their parents. Marriage licenses are fairly easy to obtain and come with an expiration date.

A marriage register is kept by the same clerk who had issued the couple’s marriage license. It is signed by the couples, witnesses, and officials. It contains the couple’s name, date and place of marriage, as well as the name of the marriage official. Continue reading "Use of Marriage Records – It’s Not Just a Piece of Paper"

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Information is often critical. Just ask any businessman about to sign a contract or an employer about to hire someone or a person about to marry. There are just times when you need to perform some investigation to learn about a person’s identity, status and other relevant information. These days, private sleuthing just became easier, thanks to availability of information online. Want to do online background checks on your own? Here are ways how:

Use search sites.
Search engines are an excellent source of information about a person if you’re doing an online background check. Google, Yahoo!, Live Search are just some of the search engines you can use for this purpose. Search engines will show you anything that has been posted online about the person you want to investigate, whether it’s that person’s profile on his website or any mention of him in the news.

Use social networks.
MySpace.com, LinkedIn.com and Xing.com are just some of the most popular social networking sites on the internet and very often, you’ll find plenty of information there. Many employers and hiring managers actually use these sites to perform online background checks on their potential employees.

Search employer sites.
Most employer sites will only post supervisory and managerial-level employees. If you’re performing a background check on someone who doesn’t belong in those levels, you can always obtain the company’s contact number and call them to inquire.

Search clubs and organization sites.
Is the person you’re doing an online background check about affiliated with a certain club, association or organization? Check their websites. You’ll be able to corroborate whether or not the person truly is a member as he claims. If the information is not available, you can always get the club’s number and make the call.

Check licensing board sites.
If you’re dealing with professionals such as lawyers and doctors, you can check licensing records. No person can claim to be a professional if he hasn’t passed the licensing board. You will find important information such as name, educational background, specialization and even disciplinary actions that might have been taken against that person.

Use public records.
Many courts make their records available online. If you need to know about a person’s criminal background, for example, you can search these sites to find out about his past. Start with local sites and move on to state sites. GovEngine.com and recordsitereviews.com are excellent sources you can also use.

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People go to agencies or check out sites online to request for public records. The reason for this varies – to perform background checks, to confirm information, to obtain data, etc. Are you about to request for a document or information stored as a public record? Here are ways to handle your request:

Get in touch with the appropriate office.
There are many agencies that provide public records. All you have to do is to know where to look for them. Depending on the type of public record you’re requesting for, you’ll have to go to specific courts or agencies. Criminal records, for example, have to be checked with criminal courts, bankruptcy records with a bankruptcy court, and so on. If you need to check land records, you’ll have to check with state lands agencies.

Check your state laws as well. Although almost anyone can access public records, some states might have certain limitations. Certain information and documents considered as public record in some states, for example, may not be considered as such in other states.

Will you be charged?
If you will be requesting for a copy of the public record, you will be charged. This charge is limited to photocopy fees, cost of personnel time and equipment. You will not be charged for the search.

Requesting public records
In most cases, requesting to view public records doesn’t often require that you need to prove that they are relevant. Meaning, you don’t have to inform the custodian what your purpose is. In fact, the request doesn’t even have to be made in writing. You will also have to make the request during regular office hours.

However, if you will be using the public record for commercial use or will be viewing public records of high historical value, you will need to state your purpose in writing and send this letter of request several days (or even weeks) before the search. If you prefer to do the search yourself, you will also have to do this during office hours.

When your request might be denied
The only time your request may be denied is when the custodian finds any reason why the record must be kept from view. However, that reason must rest on authorized grounds. Certain documents, such as research records, donor information, student records and records involving minors are often kept confidential.

Another reason why some records might be kept from public is if the release might invade someone’s personal privacy, which could outweigh the need and right of the public to know. If it is also detrimental to the city’s, town’s or state’s interests, the record may also be kept confidential. Certain government records may also be treated in the same manner.

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If your main line of business is over the internet, you should be cautious about the hacking incidents that happen very rampantly. Hacking on a website, or any computer system through the internet follows the same technique as programming hacks.

Every website operator, from the simplest blogger to the e-commerce site owner, should know better than use programs that can easily be pried into by unscrupulous individuals. Here are the tips on how to investigate hacking:

1. Learn all about programming and how it works.
Depending upon what you are protecting, be it a file, a website, or a computer system, you should first have a substantial knowledge about programming or at least how these things work before you can successfully investigate on any hacking instances that could have happened in your system. Without the right knowledge, it might be even impossible to know that you have been hacked all along! Continue reading "How to Investigate Hacking"

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