ABC News: What criminals can do after stealing your cell phone number
Thomas Martin of Martin Investigative Services is featured in this news video from ABC News.
Equifax data breach: What you should do now
If you have a credit history, you were probably affected by the Equifax data breach. Here’s some steps you can take to protect yourself now.
Valentine’s Day: Avoid long-distance relationships online
In honor of Valentine’s Day, I’d like to discuss a common phenomenon in the online dating world – the long-distance love con. While both men and women fall for romantic scams, my client base is 80% female. I will direct this post to the ladies.
There is not a day that goes by in my office without a phone call from a female having an issue related to an Internet dating site. (We actually get about ten of these calls per week.) The purpose of these calls is that the woman wants us to verify whether a man she has been corresponding with is actually who his profile says he is.
Step up your game: Private investigators are not matchmakers
This week I turned down 6 cases from people that wanted to hire us to find a missed “love connection”. While we are really good at helping people, when clients come to us with matters of love, sometimes we have to help them temper expectations with a dose of common sense. Here are some of…
Case of the week: San Diego woman conned $20K via online dating
Online dating websites purport only the positive: Romances being kindled and developed through them. In my world as a private investigator, many of the clients I see in the online dating world have broken hearts and a lot less money in their accounts. Our case of the week involves “Sara”, a San Diego, California ophthalmologist.…
Helping a father get his daughter out of amateur porn
Our case of the week was an agonizing one, exacerbated by the fact that Father’s Day has just passed: It involves a father whose daughter was lured into the world of amateur porn. “Paul” had my mobile phone number as he is a long-time corporate client and a highly successful entrepreneur in the Southern California…
Online security: Facebook, encryption & data mining
In light of stories about the NSA monitoring people’s Internet usage and threats from malicious hacker attacks, Facebook has come under a lot of fire for its security, or lack thereof. In response, Facebook has decided to boost its encryption levels, though not as thoroughly as you might like. According to NewsFactor, Facebook won’t actually…
Justin Carter & the words we post
On February 14, 19 year-old Justin Carter was arrested for making a comment on Facebook. In response to another commenter that called him crazy, Carter allegedly commented something to the effect of, ‘I’m f—ed in the head alright. I think I’ma (sic) shoot up a kindergarten and watch the blood of the innocent rain down…
The Cinnamon Challenge: Just Say No
As a former supervisory Federal agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, it would seem natural to blog about the effects of narcotics and dangerous drugs. If someone had told me that I would one day be writing about the dangers of cinnamon-abuse, I simply would not have believed it. But here we are.
Online Dating: Googling Your Date, Praying & Good Background Checks
Over the past few years, online dating web sites have exploded in popularity. Not only are sites like Match.com, eHarmony and Plenty of Fish an accepted way of dating in our culture – online dating may even becoming the norm. These sites essentially allow a person to pre-screen prospective dating partners – by being able…