As the world goes online, cases of fraud are on the increase. Identity theft and scams are becoming commonplace and often local law enforcement do not have the resources to conduct a thorough investigation, relying on credit card companies and banks to replace lost funds and never bringing the perpetrator to justice.
Here at OpSec solutions we believe fraud prevention is better than the cure, and using a private investigative firm to help protect your personal life and your business is a useful step to take if you are concerned about your family and assets.
Fraud prevention measures are offered by most reputable private investigation firms and private investigators in the UK, but how can they help?
Personal fraud prevention
When it comes to personal fraud prevention, a private investigator will obviously need the relevant experience and skill level to successfully utilise the same innovative tools that criminals deploy. This includes ensuring that they stay ahead of the game by immersing themselves in newly developing strategies and methods.
Private investigators can assess your current home network security, perform online checks to look for your information and possible data breaches, and run background checks on dates, online acquaintances, and friends.
- Protect your computer and network
- Online Harassment and abuse
- Fake profiles, impersonation, and identity theft
- IP tracing
With social media so prevalent, private investigators can also advise on how to protect yourself whilst using any apps or social media network, to help reduce the chance of you falling victim to fraud or ransomware.
As always, regardless of whether you hire a private investigator, here at OpSec solutions, we recommend never giving out your personal details, banking details or passwords to anyone online, and if you are unsure if an email or phone call is genuine, please check first.
Corporate fraud prevention
Manual fraud prevention and management on the scale needed by large businesses is hugely time-consuming, especially if they have a considerable number of third parties, employees, and assets. This can often cause issues with compliance due to poor or non-existent audit and security controls. This increased risk from compliance issues can cause both reputational and financial damage and in a crowded market with organisations searching for any competitive advantage, any failure to meet current standard and regulations, will have negative repercussions.
Therefore, hiring a private investigator is a cost effective solution for businesses looking to improve their online security and prevent instances of fraud.
Using technology to monitor a range of media and with legal access to video and audio recordings, corporate phone call records and computer activity, as well as reviewing documents and internal audit controls, private investigators can help assess any weaknesses where security breaches are likely to happen and provide recommendations on how best to protect your business. Risk assessments can form part of a wider strategy by private investigators to help protect your business from fraud.
As well as performing weakness assessments for your corporate security, private investigators can also use vehicle tracking devices to electronically track the location of one or more vehicles as part of a package of preventative measures.
Corporate fraud prevention should also extend to your business locations. This helps protect your property, your employees, any assets, or information being held on-site, and prevent theft. Creating a safe working environment has been proven to have a beneficial effect on the productivity of your staff and so security systems located within your premises should form an integral part of your overall corporate security management.
This may include use of surveillance services, which can not only help prevent issues from occurring in the first place, but if you have instances of wrongdoing, surveillance can provide the evidence needed to support any action.
Background checks are a key preventative measure when it comes to fraud, and private investigative firms such as OpSec Solutions, offer thorough employee background checks to ensure anyone you hire is unlikely to cause damage to your business.
Private investigators can offer security solutions such as installing security systems and alerts for round the clock protection as standard, and make sure there is a good understanding and culture created around the seriousness of security and the responsibility that is involved.
- Protect your property by examining on-site movements
- Monitor employees’ activity if you suspect possible theft or absence
- Regularly assess whether someone in the company is emailing or calling people they shouldn’t
- See how (and where) company cars or vans are being used
What if you suspect fraud already?
It doesn’t matter if it is a personal or corporate issue, fraud affects everyone, so if you suspect dishonesty or something illegal may be going on either at home or in the workplace, you may want to look for a private investigation firm with private detectives specialising in fraud and with access to the latest technology.
Private investigators are trained to spot irregularities and will often come from corporate and police backgrounds, ensuring you get the experience and expertise required to put together the portfolio of evidence you need to act.
What can they investigate?
- Insurance claimants
- Employee theft or absence
- Embezzlement
- Industrial and corporate espionage
- False accounting
If you believe you have been a victim of fraud and would like investigated, then it is important you choose a reputable firm. So make sure they are a member of an industry trade body such as the Association of British Investigators (ABI), the Institute of Professional Investigators, and the U.K Professional Investigators Network. This means that, when employing anyone to help you with fraud prevention, you have peace of mind that these experts will find the truth and any private investigative services, methods and techniques are carried out ethically, legally and with full confidentiality.
How OpSec Solutions can help
OpSec Solutions balances a team of highly trained personnel, with years of experience in the private investigative sector, with state-of-the art equipment and technology, to help identify fraudsters and criminals, either on a personal or a corporate level. We also understand that preventing fraud is a better solution than investigating after the fact, which is why we take a proactive approach to protect your home network, organisation, information, identity, and assets. Our fraud prevention strategies are hugely successful in preventing cybercrime and data breaches before they happen.
As life moves forward digitally, security services such as the ones provided by OpSec solutions, can identify areas of vulnerability, and provide the framework to help protect homes and businesses and manage, mitigate, and eliminate any threats.
Hiring a private investigator when you have fallen victim of cybercrime or fraud can often be a daunting and embarrassing process. We want our clients to be able to trust us and feel comfortable about how we operate. By using a reputable firm such as OpSec Solutions, you ensure anyone working on your case has the required skills to investigate your issue and they are fully supported by our use of innovative technology solutions. This means we use techniques that will allow us to stay discreet and considerate of you or your business and give us the best chance of finding the perpetrator and bringing them to justice, as well as helping in the recovery of stolen goods and assets.
If you are in need of our help and have been a victim of fraud, or if you suspect fraud within your business enterprise, then please contact us here at OpSec Solutions, we are just a phone call or email away. Contact our team using our contact form on the website or call us on 0844-664-1125.