Book Excerpt from HOW TO WRITE A DICK: Pretexting

Today, we’re offering an excerpt from our nonfiction ebook How to Write a Dick: A Guide for Writing Fictional Sleuths from a Couple of Real-Life Sleuths.  In this sample, we discuss pretexting.

At the bottom of this post are links to other articles we’ve written this week, from the new pot breathalyzer recently developed from a Swedish research group to a review of the investigative equipment we’ve purchased over the last decade to a book-giveaway.

Book Excerpt from How to Write a Dick

for writers developing sleuth/private eye characters and stories

Pretexting

“To tell the truth, I lied a little.”
- Jake Gittes in Chinatown

Pretexting is, basically, using a phony script to obtain information.  Most often, a PI will pretext over the phone.  Pretexting plays on a person’s natural desire to talk and be helpful.

PI Wise: Keep in mind that pretexting isn’t typically the first avenue of approach.  Often, the information a PI needs can be found in public records as well as in Internet and database searches.

When Pretexting Is Illegal

A PI never impersonates a police officer, lawyer or doctor.  Doing so sets the stage for the PI spending some quality time behind bars.  Here in our state, a local PI was recently nailed for not only impersonating an officer, but threatening the subject with a firearm while assaulting the subject (and this was for a process service!).  The subject, after learning the guy wasn’t a law enforcement officer but a PI, hired an attorney who filed a lawsuit against the PI.  In your story, your fictional PI might pretend he’s an officer knowing full well he’s courting a felony charge by doing so (which cranks up the tension).

Big No-No: Using Pretexting to Uncover Someone’s Financial Information

It is a federal crime to use a pretext to find out a suspect’s personal or financial information from a financial institution.  The 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley (GLB) Financial Services Modernization Act makes gaining unauthorized access to banking and financial customer data through pretext a criminal offense.

Several years back, in the Rocky Mountain News, April 2006, there was an article about James Rapp, a former private investigator, not only infamous for his abuse of pretexting, but for being one of the bad-guy private investigators responsible for the Gramm-Leavy-Bliley act.  It was Rapp’s attempt to impersonate (pretext) John Ramsey, the father of JonBenet Ramsey, to find out what Mr. Ramsey had purchased at a Boulder, Colorado hardware store that eventually led to Rapp’s downfall.  Eventually (FTC v. Rapp, CA 99-WM-783 (D.Col.), Rapp was indicted and convicted for racketeering, with a 75-day jail sentence and four years of probation.

It bears repeating that a PI cannot legally access someone else’s financial records and bank information.  It’s legal, however, if the PI gained such information through the subject’s previously submitted financial statements, Dun & Bradstreet reports and conducted interviews.

Another Big No-No: Using Pretexting to Uncover Information About an Insurance Transaction

In insurance investigations, there are considerations beyond GLB, which include whether the state has adopted the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Insurance Information and Privacy Act (NAIC Model #670) and relevant case law.  Insurance companies are regulated by the individual states in which they conduct business.  When a state adopts the NAIC Model Act, it becomes state law.

Let’s jump to section 3 of the act, which addresses pretexting:

No insurance institution, agent or insurance support organization shall use or authorize the use of pretext interviews to obtain information in connection with an insurance transaction; provided, however, a pretext interview may be undertaken to obtain information from a person or institution that does not have a generally or statutorily recognized privileged relationship with the person about whom the information relates for the purpose of investigating a claim where, based upon specific information available for review by the Commissioner, there is a reasonable basis for suspecting criminal activity, fraud, material misrepresentation or material nondisclosure in connection with the claim.

If the claimant resides in a state that has adopted the Model Act, and there is “a reasonable basis for suspecting criminal activity, fraud, material misrepresentation or material nondisclosure in connection with the claim” then it may be legally feasible for the carrier to authorize a PI to use some type of pretext.

To take it a step further, state laws may vary slightly.  For example, Minnesota’s insurance code doesn’t have the exceptions for a “reasonable basis for suspecting criminal activity, fraud, material misrepresentation or material nondisclosure in connection with the claim.”

Once again, it comes to a PI understanding the law before taking action.  Which means you, as the writer, need to understand the law before you write about your fictional PI picking up the phone and doing a pretext.  Sure, some readers might not know what the PI is doing is illegal, but others will.  Why chance an implausible situation?

Plus, it can add to your story conflict and characterization if your fictional PI takes a moment to ponder the pros and cons of an action — for example, your fictional PI based in Minnesota knows if he picks up that phone and does a pretext on an insurance claimant, it’s illegal.  Nevertheless, he’s toying with crossing the line because the claimant is a scum who hurt a child.  Even with that noble motivation, the PI is risking garnering evidence that’s inadmissible in court or may even cost him his license.  So he calls his attorney, his good buddy who’s accustomed to these gray-area calls, who says don’t be a fool, if you’re caught, it’s your neck.  The PI hangs up, torn.  You’ve just upped the stakes in your story.

The above scenario also makes your story more plausible than if the fictional PI picks up the phone and glibly does an illegal pretext because there’s going to be some knowledgeable reader who thinks, “Wha–?  I worked for ten years as an insurance adjustor in Minnesota and there’s no way a PI would ever do that and get by with it!”

Let’s say a PI typically does domestic relations work, but one day is hired by an insurance carrier to investigate a claimant.  The PI isn’t sure 1) if her state has adopted the Model Act and if it has, 2) if there are additional provisions within that state’s Model Act.  Rather than you, the writer, worrying about how to dig up this information, you can have your fictional PI contact her insurance client and ask if they have a pretext policy and obtain their permission to use pretexting.  This probably wouldn’t be the most exciting piece of dialogue, so maybe it’s briefly clarified in a flash of back history (“Having checked with her insurance client, who’d okay’d her using a pretext, she picked up the phone ready to play the ol’ ‘I’m calling on behalf of your high school reunion committee’ routine.”)

Legal Lookout: The first two resources for questions of a legal nature, outside of an attorney, would be 1-someone in law enforcement, or 2-a reference librarian.  Many PIs consult with both, although our first call would be to a reference librarian, who can research both civil and criminal laws plus most librarians are naturally analytical types.

Other Articles of Interest to Legal Eagles, PIs and Writers

This week, your Guns, Gams and Gumshoes hosts have published other articles you might find of interest:

Police Can Now Test Drivers for Drug Use via Shaun Kaufman Law

Our Private Investigations’ Equipment: From Bags of the Stuff to a Smartphone via The Zen Man blog

#Bookgiveaway: Mystery-Romance Novel The Next Right Thing via Colleen Collins Books

Have a great week, Writing PIs

Staying Legal in a Shady Business: When PIs Are Asked to Break the Law

Can You Break the Law for Me?

Can’t tell you how many times a potential client will call and ask us to do something blatantly illegal.  We’ve had requests asking us to “put some muscle” on someone who’d confiscated a car (a Ferrari, mind you) to putting a GPS on a vehicle the person doesn’t own to downloading listening software on a person’s cell phone.  We’ve politely explained that unlike Tony Soprano, we don’t do muscle and we’re not into committing felonies.  In the latter two examples (illegally latching GPS trackers on cars and wiretapping phones) we tell the caller that if he/she decides to do that on their own, they’ll be up on felony charges if they’re caught.

Wiretapping & Cell Phone Spyware

More people have smart phones these days, but “back in the day” (not so many years ago), most of us were using cell phones.  Remember them?  I now think of them as stand-alone cell phones.

It was interesting how many ads were out there (magazines, Internet) for cellphone spyware that a buyer could download on someone’s cell phone and listen to (and track) all their conversations.  No mention that the product was inviting people to commit wiretapping, a federal offense and a state crime (both felonies).  Some spyware also allowed the listener to hear conversations that occurred in the vicinity of the phone, even when it was turned off.

We had callers say, “But they claim their product is legal in the ads!”  No, they didn’t claim their product was legal, but they sure

made it sound that way.

Committing Burglary and Theft

Probably our most uncomfortable request came from a lawyer, whose name we won’t mention.  He asked us to enter a home to take something from it under a false pretense.  We reminded the lawyer that the law calls those actions burglary and theft. His response?  ”Well, use your own judgement.”

We did.  We turned down the case.

Using Shady Business in Fiction

But let’s turn this around to writing fiction–imagine how it bumps up the stakes and tension if a fictional sleuth, knowing he/she is committing a felony, does it anyway.  They illegally track with a GPS, knowing the consequences if they get caught, but they’re doing it for a compelling reason (to save a child, for example).  Adds complexity and tension to the story, doesn’t it?  Or they go into the gray zone and purchase that illegal cell phone software as a last means to track a killer.  As a writer, knowing what’s legal or not for your protagonist sleuth helps you crank up the stakes.  Plus it adds plausibility.

Have a great week, Writing PIs

Related articles

• Cops Sued for Searching Cell Phones Without a Warrant (blogs.lawyers.com)

Answering Writers’ Questions: Taping Conversations and PI-Police Relationships

Thanks to all who downloaded How to Write a Dick: A Guide for Writing Fictional Sleuths from a Couple of Real-life Sleuths during its 99-cents sale this past weekend.  As of this morning it is on three Amazon bestseller lists, and #1 on two of those lists.

The book began as a series of courses we taught writers about crafting a private eye character/story.  We got a lot of great questions over the years — today we’re sharing two of those.

Question #1: Is It Legal to Tape a Conversation with Another Person?

WRITER’S QUESTION: Is it legal to tape your conversation with another person if you don’t make them aware that they are being taped? I believe this is different for different states.  Do you know where I might search online to find these regulations?

GUNS, GAMS, AND GUMSHOES’S ANSWER: Here’s a list of state laws on recording: http://www.rcfp.org/taping/states.html

WRITER’S QUESTION:  In my story, a cop (not PI) routinely turns on a tape recorder in his pocket when he’s questioning witnesses, but there’s one time in particular that I don’t want him to have to ask permission.  I’m not worried about whether it’s
admissible in court, but if it’s a big no-no to even do it, I’ll need to change the story at that point.

GUNS, GAMS, AND GUMSHOES’S ANSWER: Unless your cop is asking permission to tape the conversation, he’s playing with eavesdropping (which is a felony). Saying that, cops have certain privileges to work around these things, such as necessity. Keep in mind a D.A. most likely isn’t hot to prosecute a cop for eavesdropping. Our suggestion is to interview a cop about your story scenario.

As PIs, we don’t record anyone without their permission. Period.

Question #2: Do Private Investigators and Police Detectives Never Get Along?

Writer’s Question: I just read a book where the police detective and the private eye kept sparring before developing a friendship. Are cops and PIs like that in the real world, too?

Guns, Gams, and Gumshoes’s Answer: We see that same kind of PI-cop conflict all the time in books, TV shows and movies, too. In reality, most real-life PI-cop relationships are characterized by professional distance and unemotional exchanges.

Many PIs Have Law Enforcement Backgrounds

We’re saying most here. A majority of PIs have law enforcement backgrounds, and with the agencies with whom they worked, they typically maintain a more collegial relationship. Do these former law enforcement PIs get perks — such as inside information, tips, and access to law enforcement databases — from their former agencies (which is also often depicted in books and film)? No. Although there are friendly exchanges and social invitations exchanged, neither party wants to be seen as improperly advancing information and displaying favoritism to law enforcement officers (LEOs).

Here at Guns, Gams, and Gumshoes, we work with various PIs who are former LEOs. Generally speaking, we have found their life experience to cause their investigations to slant toward law enforcement and prosecution. While they work for defense lawyers, they still think like law enforcement officers.

Former-LEO PIs Often Have Years of Experience on the Streets with Tough, Violent People

Meaning, a former LEO PI might have unsubstantiated bias against their criminal defense clients. In all fairness, this bias is the product of years on the street with tough, violent, and often dishonest people — easy to see how a former-LEO PI might have developed opinions about the ethics of accused individuals.

To balance this point of view, former LEO PIs are also best situated to know how current police can make mistakes in their investigation procedures, such as constitutional propriety and evidentiary processing. These PIs are best able to advise defense lawyers about how to attack the integrity of a police investigation.

We Have a Good Friend Who’s a Police Detective

For many years, the Guns, Gams, and Gumshoes PIs had a unique situation in their neighborhood. A few blocks over was a coffee shop owned and run by a local police detective (he worked at the small coffee shop during his off hours). We liked to hang out at the shop and jaw about cases, both past and current. Add to the mix that one of us is also a criminal defense attorney, there were some lively conversations and a lot of good-natured teasing about our various roles.

To be clear, we never discussed shared cases. However, both we and the police detective got valuable information about the how-tos, whys and the end results of investigations. In this particular relationship, all three of us stepped outside of our professional roles and transcended our rivalries.

Postscript: Our detective friend no longer runs the coffee shop.  We miss the java, but the friendship goes on.  So much so, that recently when a radio producer wanted to contact someone who knew us well because she needed to fact-check an interview set to run on national radio, we called the detective and asked if he’d be willing to be this contact.  He was all over it, insisting we give the producer not only his personal cell phone, but his home number, too.  Do PIs and PD detectives never get along?  Maybe in the movies and fiction stories, but not for us.

Kindle Book Bargain 99 cents: HOW TO WRITE A DICK: A GUIDE FOR WRITING FICTIONAL SLEUTHS

March 23 & 24: Kindle Bargain Book
HOW TO WRITE A DICK: A GUIDE FOR WRITING FICTIONAL SLEUTHS FROM A COUPLE OF REAL-LIFE SLEUTHS
on sale for .99! (normally $5.99)

“I was surprised how much I learned and how much fun this book is. It’s a ‘what’s going on in the field’ that’s like a pre-write fact checker…It can stand alone as an insider’s guide to the world – the real world – of the private detective.”
~David Y.B. Kaufmann

“If [this book] had been around when I was fiction editor for THE THRILLING DETECTIVE WEB SITE, my job would have been much easier.”
~Gerald So, editor, writer, book reviewer, moderator DetecToday

“If you want authenticity in creating a fictional private investigator for your stories, then this is a must-have reference book. Its authors, Colleen and Shaun, are living breathing PIs with years of actual experience in the PI game.” —R.T. Lawton, 25 years on the street as a federal special agent and author of 4 series in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine

To purchase, click here

Book Blurb

The private eye genre has come a long way, baby, with new subgenres — from teenage PIs to vampire gumshoes to geriatric sleuths — attracting new readers every year. Unfortunately, most writers are not aware of the state-of-the-art developments that shape today’s professional private investigator, which sometimes leave writers floundering with impossible and antiquated devices, characters and methods in stories. Which is why we wrote How to Write a Dick: A Guide for Writing Fictional Sleuths from a Couple of Real-Life Sleuths, whose material we culled from our combined 14 years as private investigators, and also from our teaching online classes and conducting workshops at writers’ conferences about writing private investigators. How to Write a Dick isn’t about how to write a novel, but what you need to know to write an authentic, compelling 21st-century sleuth character or story.

Book Excerpts

Click link to read excerpt:

How to Write a Dick: Catching the Cheater

How to Write a Dick: Financial Investigations

How to Write a Dick: Intellectual Property Investigations

To purchase How to Write a Dick, click here.  Remember, book is .99 March 23 & March 24, 2013 only.

Have a great weekend, Writing PIs

Private Eye Fiction Groaners

Here at Guns, Gams, and Gumshoes, we’re not only private investigators who also write (one of us is also a trial attorney), but we enjoy reading the private genre, too.  But sometimes we read something so implausible, we groan out loud.

A year ago, we wrote about a few private eye bloopers that ripped us right out of the stories — something writers strive not to do to their readers.  Some bloopers require some common sense to correct, others a little research on the writer’s part. Today, we add to that blooper list.

Without naming names or titles (in fact, we’ve disguised some story attributes so authors/books aren’t identifiable), we’ll discuss a few instances where we groaned out loud…and sometimes gave up on the story altogether.

The PI Isn’t Licensed Because…You’re Kidding, Right?

We’ve read stories where the private eye character isn’t licensed in a state that requires licensure.  In the recent HBO series Bored to Death (which supposedly is being made into a movie, and we hope this rumor’s true) the private eye is unlicensed in New York, a state that requires PIs to be licensed.  The PI character Jonathan Ames kick-started his private eye business by placing an ad in Craigslist.  As real-life PIs, it bothered us that Jonathan continued to work undercover and unlicensed show after show…finally, a reference was made that, yes, he was unlicensed and courting legal trouble if were to be caught.

That was enough for us to buy into the story’s plausibility.

Then recently we read a story by an author writing a private eye series with a major publisher.  The private eye is unlicensed in a state that requires licensure.  Okay.  The PI character admits she is unlicensed, but gets around this problem by not advertising herself as a private investigator but as a legal researcher.  Okay.  Then, out of the blue, the PI character explains why she never pursued a private investigator license: Because to obtain a license in that state, an applicant must either have a legal degree or past law enforcement employment.

Hello?

Neither of us had ever heard of any state making such a requirement, but to double-check, we reviewed that state’s regulatory requirements for PI licensure.  It took us all of 5 minutes to fact-check this. In this state, as with other states, a law enforcement background can be helpful (often, an applicant with that background gains credits toward earning a PI license).  But there is no requirement to have been employed in law enforcement, nor to have a law degree.  The writer seemed to think it necessary to add this made-up reason, but the character has already explained she wasn’t advertising herself as a PI. At the very least, any PI, PI-hopeful, person who might work with or hire PIs (paralegals, lawyers), law enforcement officers thinking of working as PIs after retirement would find this added reason silly.

If you’re writing a private eye story, and you’re not sure about licensure, below is a link (courtesy of Pursuit Magazine) that provides links to each state’s licensure requirements.  Note: Some states, such as Alaska and Alabama, do not have PI licensing requirements, although the state will require a business license and some cities impose additional PI licensure requirements.  Also, in Colorado, there is a voluntary licensure program–the keyword being voluntary–but there is no requirement to be licensed.

Listing of PI licensure requirements by state: Pursuit Magazine: PI Licensing

Clueless, Really?

We just read a novel, actually one that is part of a series, where the private eye team met with an individual.  As readers, we had

PIs Don’t Leave Their Partners Clueless

no idea who this individual was, but considering the fictional PI team was hot on the trail of a case, obviously this person was someone who might have pertinent information about a suspect or the crime itself, or maybe was an eye witness, or…well, we were ready to find out.

Imagine our surprise when one of the PIs had no idea why the meeting was taking place! The individual with whom the PI team was meeting asked the clueless PI (very loosely paraphrasing the dialogue here), “You don’t know who am I?”  The clueless PI answered, “No.”  The individual turns to the other PI and asked, “Your partner doesn’t know why the two of you are here?”  to which the first PI quipped something like, “Yeah, I don’t like to tell my partner everything — it’s good for [the clueless PI] to be surprised.”

What?  A PI team goes to a meeting with a possibly important resource/witness/contact, and one of the PIs is purposefully left uninformed and clueless?  This was one of several clueless episodes in this story, and the one that made us finally shut the book for good.  There is no way one of us would drive the other to such a meeting and not brief our partner on the ride. It’s to the benefit of any case we’re working that we’re both as informed as possible.  We both have our strengths, our styles of interviewing/investigating, and if we’re both well informed, we’ve just doubled our chances to unearth that telling detail, maybe even solve the case.

This isn’t PI rocket science.  Even in the business world, who wants to purposefully take a clueless person to a meeting?  Or how about leaving your car for repair at a shop and not tell anyone what you want fixed or looked at in your car?

Enough said.  Onto the next PI peeve.

Cell Phone, Really?

It’s fairly safe to say that the majority of current-day PIs have basic-to-advanced technological skills. For example many of us rely on our smartphones to do a handful of investigative tasks that used to require a bucket load of equipment.  For example, at our agency, we use our smartphones to record and transmit witness interviews, take photos, even scan and transmit documents.  Cool stuff.

Here’s our techno-peeve: We recently started to read a story set in 1990 where the PI didn’t answer her cell phone because she’d forgotten to charge it.  Uh, what?  Cell phones were in common use in 1990?  To be fair, we researched cell phones on the Internet.  According to “The Evolution of Cell Phone Design Between 1983 and 2009,” the first truly portable phone was the Motorola MicroTAC 9800X made in 1989 — a monster affair with a ruler-size antennae.  According to Wikipedia, the 9800X’s price tag was between $2,495 and $3,495.  This wasn’t a rich PI by any means — in fact, this gumshoe had to scrimp on food and other essentials to make the monthly rent.  Seriously doubt this fictional PI could afford a cell phone that cost several thousand dollars. Heck, even today, my business partner and I wouldn’t blow that kind of money on a cell phone!

By the way, the next cell phone was the digital hand-size mobile telephone called the Motorola International 3200 made in 1992, two years after this story took place.

It’s a small point, maybe, but cell phones are such a part of our world today that this inaccurate factoid stood out like Philip Marlowe at a nunnery.  Wouldn’t have taken much research for the writer to realize the PI probably used a landline in 1990. Still can’t figure out how this slipped past the editor…maybe he/she was too busy on their cell phone to notice.

Have a great week, Writing PIs

Related articles

• How Dangerous Is It to Be a Female Private Eye? (writingpis.wordpress.com)
• Private Investigators and Murder Cases (writingpis.wordpress.com)

 

On Sale: 99 Cents March 4-6 – HOW DO PRIVATE EYES DO THAT?

“A must have for any writer serious about crafting authentic private eyes.  Collins knows her stuff.” ~Lori Wilde, New York Times
bestselling author

Writer and Guns, Gams and Gumshoes PI Colleen Collins is offering her nonfiction ebook HOW DO PRIVATE EYES DO THAT? for only .99 March 4 – 6, 2013.  If you’re a mystery writer, researcher, investigator, looking for a long-lost cousin, or just plain curious about a fascinating profession, this book is for you.

To download, click here or on the book cover to your right. Remember, it’s free March 4-6 only.

No Kindle?  No problem.  Amazon provides free, easy-to-download apps so you can read it on your browser, your PC or Mac, even a variety of mobile devices.

Excerpts from How Do Private Eyes Do That? (click on link to read):

How PIs Are Used in Cases Where DNA Evidence is Employed

Never Sleep With Someone Whose Troubles Are Worse Than Your Own (infidelity investigations)

Free March 4 – 6: Private Eye Novel THE ZEN MAN

Semifinalist Best Indie Books of 2012, The Kindle Book Reviews

Like reading about fictional private eyes?  March 4 – 6, The Zen Man by real-life PI Colleen Collins is free.  No need to have an ereader because Amazon makes it easy to download the ebook on browsers, PCs, Macs, and a variety of mobile devices.

To download your free copy, click here or click The Zen Man banner, above.
Remember, it’s only free March 4, 5 and 6.

“A fantastic read from start to finish. Reminded me a great deal of the works of Robert Crais and Robert B Parker.”
~MacKenzie Brown

“This book immediately drew me in. The wonderfully descriptive setting, the quick pace and story that promises to deliver a delicious thrill. Miss Collins has a way of weaving mystery, intrigue, romance and a touch of NOIR that is not often found much less executed this well.”
~Michael Benning

Have a great week, Writing PIs

Related Articles:

• How Dangerous Is It to Be a Female Private Eye? (writingpis.wordpress.com)
• Has the Private Eye in Movies Lost Its Myth? (writingpis.wordpress.com)
• Author Spotlight no.174 – Colleen Collins (morgenbailey.wordpress.com)

How Dangerous Is It to Be a Female Private Eye?

Guns, Gams and Gumshoes PI and writer Colleen Collins is a guest today at writer Morgen Bailey’s blog.  Below is an excerpt from Colleen’s article (to read the rest, click the link at end of excerpt).

How Dangerous Is It to Be a Female Private Investigator?

by Colleen Collins

I suppose people read and see fictional private eyes doing all kinds of dangerous, risk-taking actions in books and film so they assume that’s how it is in real life, too.  My general response is that, like many things in life, it’s wise to practice common sense and take precautions when necessary. For example, when you go to a store at night, don’t park in a dark, isolated area–better yet, go during the daylight hours. That kind of common sense guideline.

However saying that, private investigations can be dangerous at times if the person isn’t paying attention and taking precautions in certain situations. I’ll discuss two of these potentially dangerous situations below.

Process Services: Get In, Get Out

When my husband and I started our investigations business nearly a decade ago, we would sometimes talk to the people to whom we were serving legal papers.  The person might ask, “What are these papers?  What am I supposed to do?” And we’d take the time to explain that the attorney’s name and contact information was listed on the papers and they should contact him/her to discuss it.

Then a male private investigator (PI) in our state was murdered while serving legal papers.  Why?  He got overly involved with the people to whom he was serving the papers.  He went inside their home to try and pacify an angry situation, which resulted from the service of the papers, and the PI was killed.

Therefore, I now limit my conversation to verifying the person’s identity and to briefly explaining that I’m serving business or legal papers to them. Then I leave.  In other words, I get in and get out.  No dawdling. If they say, “What are these papers about?” I might say over my shoulder as I’m walking away, “Contact the attorney listed on the papers.”

But I don’t hang around to chat.

This past year, I’ve had two women go ballistic on me after serving them legal papers. Both times, the women followed me to my car, yelling and screaming and calling me a few colorful names.

Did the danger level differ because I was a female versus a male PI? It is conceivable that people might stereotype a female PI as being more vulnerable, but to my mind, it wouldn’t have mattered if a man or woman served papers to these two women. What was important was for me to not engage in a verbal confrontation, and to leave immediately.

Surveillances in Bad Neighborhoods

In the past, I’ve conducted surveillances in some bad neighborhoods, and yes, I have felt more vulnerable being a female PI in those instances. My safety precautions have included:

(Click here to read the full article)

Have a great week, Writing PIs

Related articles

• Author Spotlight no.174 – Colleen Collins (morgenbailey.wordpress.com)
• Our Top 10 Posts About Private Investigations in 2012 (writingpis.wordpress.com)
• Has the Private Eye in Movies Lost Its Myth? (writingpis.wordpress.com)

Crime-Fighting with Google Maps

Wordmark of Google Maps (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The world of a society being constantly surveilled as depicted by George Orwell in his novel 1984 is here.  But we don’t need to worry about installations of cameras and surveillance equipment as he wrote about in the book, oh no, because we have Google Maps.

A writingpis Stares Down the Google Maps Truck (or “The Surveiller Being Surveilled”)

One of the writingpis (Colleen) decided to look up their home address on Google Maps the other day, and guess what?  Right in front of the house stood the other writingpis (Shaun), who was staring at the Google Maps truck as it drove past, recording their home and him standing in front of it, staring right at the camera. Colleen zoomed in on the object in Shaun’s hand and saw a camera.

Colleen: “Where were you going?”

Shaun: “Out on surveillance.”

Colleen: “Did you see the Google truck drive by?”

Shaun: “Yeah, I was reading the word ‘Google’ across the front hood, and saw the camera sticking out of the top.”

Colleen: “Did it bother you?”

Shaun: “No.  I was actually amazed how the world is being documented.”

Crimes Being Documented by Google Maps

More and more, all kinds of activities, including crimes, are being documented by Google Maps.  Below is a sampling of crimes pinpointed by Google Maps:

In 2007, officers in Racine, Wisconsin, arrested Dean Brown for possession of 18 pounds of marijuana.  Around his neck he

wore a GPS unit that pinpointed the coordinates to all his other plants in the area.  Cops easily found these plants by plugging these same coordinates into Google Earth.

Dwight Foster didn’t want to go through the hassle of legally disposing his boat, so he abandoned it 15 miles south of Pensacola, Florida. A sheriff’s deputy searched through an archive of Google maps and found the boat had previously been berthed at, guess where?, Dwight Foster’s dock.  Dwight was arrested for illegally dumping a boat, which carries a $5,000 fine and 5-year jail term.  If he’d gone through the hassle of properly disposing the boat, it would have cost him $18.

Using Google Earth’s historical imagery,  a telling image was found that had been taken a month after the girl’s disappearance.  It was the first lead the police had, and according to this article, they were planning on excavating the area based on the image.

And Sometimes It’s Just a Google Search That Solves a Crime

When Jeff Gundlach was robbed by art thieves, he gave investigators a case-nailing tip: See who, besides Jeff Gundlach, had recently googled the name of his grandmother because that is how the thieves learned about the location of the paintings and their worth.

Regarding this last case, be careful what you search for!

Have a great week, Writing PIs

Related articles

• Google Maps App Back on iOS & Available for Download NOW (epicagear.com)
• Elsewhere In The World: Woman Catches Her Dirty-Dog Boyfriend Creepin’ When He Shows Up On Russian ‘Google Maps’ Locator With Another Woman (bossip.com)

Google Mobile Search App, Google Search Tips, Fun Giveaways

Google Talks Back

Did you know Google’s mobile search app not only lets you speak your question, but the answer speaks back?  You can download either an Android app or an iOS app.

Quick Google Look-Ups

There’s a variety of search engines out there, but bottom line: Google is the best for finding information.  Yes, Google gets a bad rap for its privacy issues, and deservedly so, but did you know you can use other search engines like DuckDuckGo and StartPage that also offer Google search results without sharing your data and compromising your privacy?  Give one of them a try.

btw, here’s an entertaining infographic by DuckDuckGo that explains how Google tracks users and where your personal information goes (click here to read).

Here’s a few easy lookups and reverse searches.  The words in blue are the Google command format; italicized commands are examples.

What’s the weather like?

The command weather city (for example weather denver) gives you weather for any city.

What time is it?

The command time city (for example time denver) gives you time for any city.

What area is that zip code in?

The command  zip code number (for example zip code 80202) returns the town and a small map.

Whose phone number is that?

Type the phone number (for example 303-444-0000) and Google returns online listings and other public information about the number (Note: If no information displays, the number might be a pre-paid cell phone number)

Like Winning Free Stuff?

We’re not always about sleuthing here at Guns, Gams and Gumshoes.  Sometimes we share some fun stuff, like the below giveaways.

Colleen Collins’s Valentine’s Day Giveaway

Guns, Gams, and Gumshoes’s Colleen Collins is giving away books, a $25 Amazon gift card and a box of chocolates (for the Valentine in your life).  To enter, click on The Next Right Thing book cover, below (btw, it’s a private eye-romance wrapped in a legal mystery).

Kindle Book Review Giveaway

They have all kinds of fun giveaways going on at the Kindle Book Review, from a free Kindle to a $50 Amazon gift card.  To participate, click on the graphic below.

Have a great Super Bowl weekend, Writing PIs

What to Do If You’re Stalked on Amazon or Anywhere on the Internet

Over a year ago, we were stalked on Amazon (and Barnes & Noble and other sites).  The stalker didn’t even bother to write a review, he just copied and pasted portions of an irrelevant, inapplicable public record that, taken out of context, was made to seem like a current indictment.  The content wasn’t even remotely related to books or writing.  And, of course, he (yes, we had a very good idea who it was) always used bogus IDs unless a site allowed “anonymous” comments.

We Contacted Amazon and Barnes & Noble

We explained that someone, hiding behind anonymous or bogus IDs, was copying and pasting non-book-related material as comments, and requested the comments be deleted.  Unfortunately, neither company responded quickly, so the material stayed up for weeks.  Approximately a month later, the offensive content was finally removed on both sites.

Others Have Been Stalked on Amazon

Unfortunately, it happens.  Sometimes in a big way, as shown recently by a Michael Jackson fans group who bombarded a book on Amazon (which they felt was derogatory about MJ) with hundreds of one-star reviews.

Mostly, it’s people who, out of the blue, realize they have their own personal stalker.  Below are some articles and threads written by writers on this topic.  Although some say Amazon suggests responding with your own comment to a stalker’s comment, we advise against this (see “Tips for Handling a Cyberstalker” below).

KDP Thread: Dealing with a Stalker

I Was Stalked on Amazon.com

The Stalker Followed Us on a Book Blog Tour

The stalker didn’t stop at fake reviews.  He saw where one of us was on a book blog tour and posted derogatory comments at each site.  Yes, we had our own tag-a-long book-blog stalker.  He hadn’t even read the book, how rude.

We contacted our blog hosts ahead of time, briefly explained that we had our very own personal stalker and suggested the host monitor all comments and delete his offensive rants.  Oh, and to please forward us the stalker’s IP address, thank you.  Gee, imagine our surprise (not) to see all these derogatory comments were from the same IP address.

One of our hosts (decorated ex-military, unafraid to tangle with anyone) posted one of the stalker’s rants, and publicly censured the stalker for acting like a cowardly baby hiding behind his mommy’s skirts. That must have hurt the stalker’s feelings because after that his public shenanigans stopped cold.  Just…disappeared.  Poof!  Like smoke.

We didn’t know that particular host would do that — in fact, if we had been told ahead of time, we would have requested there be no public exchange.  Our approach had been to ignore the stalker.  We don’t specializing in stalking cases, but we have been contacted by writers and others who are being stalked, and we always suggest they ignore the stalker and document all activity in case the person wishes to later involve the police or hire an attorney.

What Is Stalking?

Classically, it is a repeated pattern of unwanted, offensive contact intended to harass or frighten the subject. The Internet, unfortunately, provides opportunities for stalkers to anonymously intimidate their victims.

We’ve Been Stalked Before

Wish we could say the Amazon-B&N-book-blog-tour stalker was our first.  It wasn’t.  He was our third.

Stalker #1.  The first time, we followed the trail to a former investigative subject who wasn’t very happy that we found evidence that she had lied to the federal government (who were, in turn, extremely unhappy with her deceit).  Because we were working on behalf of a law firm, one of the lawyers wrote her and threatened to bring up her stalking in court if she didn’t stop.  She stopped.

Stalker #2.  The second time, we were serving a restraining order on a rather infamous stalker who had bilked millions of dollars from a famous rock star.  I know, sounds like a smarmy Entertainment Tonight story, but it’s true.  The stalker discovered our identities and began stalking us.  She was rather good, too, as in knowing how to send emails from public IP addresses so she couldn’t be tracked, moving undetected from one residence to another, and so forth.

Again, because we were working on behalf of the rock star’s law firm, they included us in the restraining order as an agent of the rock star who was the primary protected person.  The law firm informed the stalker, in very clear terms, that if she stalked us one more time, they would file a motion for contempt and request she go to jail.  She stopped her stalking.

Colleen wrote about this in her article “How We Handled a Rockstar’s Cyberstalker Who Decided to Stalk Us, Too”

Stalker #3.  We had a good idea who this third stalker was.  After accruing the various IP addresses from his anonymous postings on blogs, we traced them to the region where he lived.  Anyone can trace an IP address to a region (but it requires a warrant or subpoena to request an ISP customer’s personal information).  Here’s an article on this topic:

“How to Locate People by IP Address” by Colleen Collins for eHow

If he hadn’t stopped his harassment, we were prepared to hire an attorney to subpoena the ISP for the stalker’s personal information, after which our attorney would write the stalker to cease and desist from continuing such postings.  But he stopped, so we didn’t take these steps.

Tips for Handling a Cyberstalker

Here are some tips for handling a cyberstalker.

1. Save all correspondence, including header information in emails and other forms of electronic correspondence.

2. If you are 18 or under, let your parent (or an adult you trust) know about the cyberstalking.

3. Respond in writing with a cease & desist request. Then do not engage further with the cyberstalker. Clearly state that the contact is unwanted and that the cyberstalker should immediately stop all forms of communication. Check the filtering options on your email (and other communication services, such as social media) and apply the filtering options to halt the cyberstalker’s messages from reaching you.

4. Contact your Internet Service Provider (ISP) and file a complaint. If you’ve learned the cyberstalker’s ISP, also file a complaint with their ISP, too. ISPs have policies in place to handle cyberstalking, such as eliminating incoming messages from the cyberstalker, if known.

5. If the cyberstalking continues, contact your local law enforcement or local prosecutor’s office to see what charges (if any) can be filed. Save these communications as well, including any police reports.

6. Consider changing your email address, phone numbers, ISP, and other contact information the cyberstalker is using. Also considering using encryption software.

Resources on Cyberstalking

HaltAbuse.org: Working to Halt Online Abuse

Reputation.com: How to Prevent or Defend Against Online Stalking

Women’s Web: Violence Against Women – Stalking

Have a good weekend, Writing PIs

Related articles

• Cyberstalking is a Real Crime: One in Five Americans Affected by Unwanted Contact (virtual-strategy.com)
• Laurence Fishburne Granted Stay Away Order From Convicted Cyberstalker (malikalovenotes.wordpress.com)
• National Stalking Awareness Month 2013 (nichellemitchem.typepad.com)