Thailand Investigations Blog
Do You Want to Know the Truth?

We sometimes receive feedback from our clients whom we’ve worked for in the past. Some we cannot share due to the personal content of the messages, but this particular message was sent to us with the request to put it up in the site. We agree with the intent of this letter, and we will be publishing the letter in its entirety.

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Dear Thailand PI,

Thank you very much for your help with the problems and issues I approached your organization with. I’d like to say for the record that while we may have had some unforeseen complications due to several factors, I am very satisfied with your service in general as well as the end result of our partnership.

I am writing this message not only to you, but more so to the people who visit and read your website. I write as a person who has been where many of them are (at least I think so) so I believe that I will strike a chord in many of them. I write this not really for you, but for them, as I believe that in the end, the choice of approaching you and having you take me as one of your clients has helped me out a lot.

Suffice to say that my issue is both of a personal and financial nature. The posts here often talk about betrayal – emotional and financial – and I have experienced both. Like many who visit this site, I believe that many of you are expatriates like me – expatriates who may think that they have everything down, but in truth, there is more out there than you think.

I have been working in Thailand for more than half a decade, in a satellite office of a large western firm. I was really taken aback when this problem hit me – I never saw it coming. Looking in hindsight, as well as reading all the content on the Thai PI website / blog, I think I SHOULD have seen it coming, but well, we are all human, and that error put me where I am right now.

At the beginning, I was at a loss of what to do. I was afraid of what people might say – both the people I know and am friends with in this beautiful country (where I want to retire someday), as well as the people from where I’m from originally. I knew a lot of people would tell me, “I told you so.” I did not want to put myself through that. I’ve also heard a couple of horror stories about PI agencies here in Thailand, so I was hesitant to approach an agency and tell them my story. Plus the fact that I was terribly embarrassed to begin with, and I couldn’t imagine myself telling complete strangers about what I was going through. It was a very difficult process to try to seem normal during the day, then try to process things when I was alone. I did not talk to anyone, not even close friends.

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We’ll be continuing this letter in the next post. Stay tuned!

It can be very difficult to catch a cheating partner.

Understandably, most people do not know how to investigate a partner. But, if you want to catch a cheater, it often helps to understand the nature of the problem at hand.

Why is it so difficult to catch a cheating partner? Catching a cheating partner is difficult because cheaters have an unfair advantage when it comes to infidelity. In fact, most infidelity goes undetected, or unproven, because the rules of the game tend to favor those who cheat.

For one, they take advantage of your trust. Most people have a strong desire to believe what a partner has to say. Trusting a partner creates a sense of security and comfort. No one really wants to think that a partner may be lying, especially when it comes to infidelity (see, love is blind). Rather than assume the worst, it’s often easier to believe a “pleasant lie” than to acknowledge a “devastating truth.” In fact, some people work very hard to overlook a partner’s infidelity, because to acknowledge the alternative is much too painful. This helps explain why the partner is typically the last to know: Because knowing always causes a faithful partner the most pain. Cheating partners take advantage of this. Cheaters often exploit their partner’s desire to trust by telling their partners exactly what they want to hear (“I would never cheat on you.”).

Another thing is suspicion and your attitude towards it. You see, suspicion is a very strong emotion and it’s difficult to hide. Suspicious individuals tend to signal their doubts by making accusations, acting insecure and anxious, being overly inquisitive, and so on. And a cheating partner’s worst fear is getting caught. So, cheating partners constantly monitor their partners for signs of suspicion. And if a cheating partner detects suspicion, he/she will adjust his/her behavior to better hide and conceal the affair.

Simply speaking, suspicion tends to help cheaters cheat more effectively. If your partner is cheating, and you signal your doubts and suspicions, it’s going to be much more difficult to discover the truth (see, common mistakes). When you put it all together, cheaters have the advantage: Both, trust and suspicion, tend to work in their favor.

So, how can you catch a cheating partner?

If you suspect infidelity, do not confront your partner until you have proof. And while it is helpful to talk to partners about most relationship problems, this is NOT the case when it comes to infidelity. A cheating partner will almost never admit to infidelity, unless presented with evidence to the contrary. Even when presented with evidence, some partners continue to lie.

One of the best solutions is to get professional help – especially if you are legally bound to each other, the results on an investigation from a reliable and reputable private investigation firm may help you gain the upper hand when it comes to resolving (or dissolving) the problem in a court.

Why do people lie in relationships?

That’s the million dollar question, isn’t it? A lot of angst and hurt and trouble – in varying degrees – come from lies done in relationships. A lot people make the mistake of thinking that lying is a common feature of a relationship. It can be quite difficult to understand why people lie about themselves in relationships. The prime reason for this may be, that they fear that their partner would leave them if they open up their secrets. People lie in relationships to keep the negative aspects of their personality hidden from their partners. Many people do not admit about their past relationships or an extra martial affair, as they do not want their partner to interfere in their daily activities. The reason people lie and cheat in relationships is because they have an inferiority complex and would not want their partners to know about it. Fear in the minds is responsible for making the people lie. For example, a man may lie about his financial position, annual earnings and assets to keep his relationship stable with a woman. Here, the fear is of the woman walking out of the relationship, if she comes to know about the truth. The most amusing thing is that people lie even though they know that they will get exposed at some point of their life. However, the lie spoken gives temporary relief and a false sense of achievement and being smart, which these people enjoy.

Lying in the workplace
There are many reasons for the question – why do people lie at work, and thereby damage professional relationships. The cut throat competition to complete the tasks and achieve the higher positions, often makes people tell a lie. A lie is also used by many people for bad mouthing the rival employees, to gain their position or get ahead of them. Giving false reasons for not completing the targets is observed in many places. People also lie at the work place for improving their poor image. Many people lie for making quick financial gains. For example, a shop owner may lie to his customers about the quality of the goods he has sold.

Understanding lying and liars
The reasons why people lie and manipulate may not be always negative. In some cases, a lie is spoken to ensure the well-being of a person. In many situations, one does not have the time to explain the entire situation to the opposite person and convince him that what is being done is right. In many cases, a lie can help to control a particular situation from worsening.

Thus, we conclude that understanding why people lie psychology, is very difficult. However, a lie spoken for a good purpose should not be looked upon as a dishonest behavior. Still, as far as possible, we should avoid lying as it creates a bad impression and makes it difficult for the other people to trust us.

Asset protection has long been the driving force behind the insurance industry. However, no insurance policy can offer loss prevention. GPS asset tracking devices are an invaluable tool in understanding every aspect of your current situation, giving you the ability to do something about it. GPS tracking offers a proactive approach to asset protection with instant access to location and vital statistics for valuable personal and business assets 24 hours a day.

Our GPS Tracking system uses Global Positioning System to get information about places that a vehicle is visiting or its current position on the road at a particular timeframe in a day.It is pretty much the same like the navigation GPS system you install in your car – with a tracking system attached.

Using this system you can trace places visited by that person in that day. Not just that, you can also watch and track it remotely – to minimise getting caught by your spouse that you are spying on him.

With GPS trackers, we – and by extension, you – can learn a lot of intelligence about the subject’s movements and behavior over time at a greatly reduced cost. An analysis of the data will tell us the best times and locations at which to conduct “live surveillance” with Investigators. This approach can often save the client a substantial amount of money.

The GPS device itself is tiny, and fits in the palm of your hand. You simply slip it inside the glove compartment or under the car – or wherever you feel it will stay without being detected – and monitor the subject’s movement and position from afar. This way you won’t be fooled by alibis such as “I went out for dinner with my boss / friends,” or “I was just doing some overtime work.” You’ll know where they’ve been, and if they’re not telling you the truth, you may choose to ask them why yourself, or have us look for the answer for you.

We have found that clients are more satisfied with our results – as the GPS real time tracking system gives hard data – and clients don’t just need to trust us on our word. And while many of our clients do trust the data and information we give them, providing this kind of data from the GPS lends even more credibility to our operations and investigations and verifies our findings. This is especially important for people who have just found out that their partners – many of whom they have trusted implicitly for a long time – are not as honest as they thought them to be.

A highlight of our GPS service is that you can even try it out for yourself. You have the option of renting this neat and very useful device from 15 to 30 days – which is either more than enough time for you to determine whether or not you would like further investigation. Another advantage is that this is completely unobtrusive (and undetectable, depending on how and where you hide it) – and other people will not need to be involved yet. When you’re done, simply find the right time to retrieve the device and return it to us.

Two things matter the most, when you are in the private investigation business. Skills and tools. One cannot possibly exist without the other, if you are talking about a good private investigation agency. They should have the right skills (many of which come from years of experience), as well as the proper tools to get the job done.

In the case of Thailand Private Investigators, we are proud to say that we have both.

It is a very unfortunate fact that Thailand has no law or requirement for private investigation agencies and private investigators to have a license, one can simple set up shop and call his business a “private investigation agency” and call himself a “private investigator”. But the sad truth is that many of these people have absolutely no idea how to conduct a proper investigation, much less have any investigation skills and the necessary equipment and expertise needed in handling a case. Many also assume that a couple of contacts are all they need to put up a PI agency. This is a grossly wrong thing to assume – not only is the reputation of legitimate, skilled and dedicated agencies ruined, but it is also a great disservice to the clients that are unfortunate enough to enlist their “services”.

One of the major things Thailand Private Investigations brings into the fold when we handle a case is the investigative experience we have, and not just from the cases we’ve done through the years, but also from a vast police investigative experience from our managing director, Michel Mauquoi. Having served as a police investigator in Belgium for several years, that kind of experience is valuable to private investigation.

What’s more, he personally supervises each and every case, which means that all his valuable experience – adding that to Thailand Private Investigation’s stellar investigative experience as a firm (Thailand Private Investigations began in 2002) – is utilized in every case we handle. Fluent in French, English and Thai, as well as having extensive contacts in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and Pattaya, Michel’s experience and advantage in the field of private investigations cannot be denied.

We’ve also handled a lot of different cases before, which more or less makes anything you bring to us something we’ve done before. This experience handling similar cases in the past will help us bring everything to a close much easier (both for you and for us) and deliver accurate and efficiently obtained results. We’ve pretty much seen everything, which is why we’ve also put up this site to help visitors see the most common problems, and even share selections of client’s stories and letters (published with their consent and identities concealed) so that they may serve as lessons to others. We have also implemented the use of various technologies such as GPS real time tracking, computer and phone monitoring, and others to help us resolve things more effectively. We also realize that many of our clients want things accomplished in as little time as possible – not so much for financial reasons but more on the need for closure and the burden of the case (and the problem attached to it) lifted off their shoulders.

One of the things many expats here in Thailand are looking for is a business partner. Many people just fall in love with the culture and people here that this is the place they choose to open a business so that they have some additional money in their nest egg when they retire, or sometimes they want to move here permanently. Either way, here are some prudent tips when looking for the right business partner.

1. Find a Partner That Can Bring Skills and Experience to The Business
A good business partner should have skills that support and compliment your own. No single person is a master of all things business. If you have great interpersonal skills but poor business finance skills, consider a partner who understands business accounting. The more skills you and your partner bring to the business together the easier it will be to start, plan, grow, and run your business.

2. Look For a Partner Without A Lot of Personal Baggage
If your partner has serious challenges in his/her personal life it may carry over into the business. It is nice to be willing to give someone a chance, but running a small business takes focus, time, and tremendous energy. If your partner is dealing with one personal crisis after another you may find yourself carrying the weight of the business.

3. Find a Partner That Can Offer Resources and Credibility to Your Business
It is great to have a business partner that has financial resources, but there are other contributions a partner can bring to the business that can be just as valuable. A partner with a strong business network, industry connections, client list, or certain credentials and expertise can also increase the value of your business and improve your chances for achieving long-term success.

4. Choose a Partner That Practices Good Personal and Business Ethics
Only enter into partnerships with someone you can trust. Look for someone who values honesty and practices good personal and business ethics. A poorly chosen business partner may end up stealing from the company, taking your ideas or clients to start their own business, or breaking laws that could get your business into legal trouble.

5. Choose a Partner That is Financially Stable
Whether or not your partner contributes financially to the business is less important than if your potential partner is in dire financial straits. Someone in the middle of a financial crisis may not be the best choice to go into business with for a variety of reasons. Money, asset, and time management skills are critical for small business entrepreneurs and someone who has grossly mismanaged their personal or business finances may not have the skills or discipline to make a business partnership work. Worst case scenario, they may even look for ways to steal from your business to solve personal financial problems.

You get to know all these things if you decide to have a background check done on all potential business partners. This offers you more information and will help you decide who is the best person to trust with the other half of your soon-to-open business.

Many people think, though, that it isn’t necessary to hire an undercover private detective. They think that it’s possible to move forward on their own to do the research. What they don’t consider are the benefits that come from hiring an undercover private detective.

The first of these benefits is that an undercover private detective understands that there are risks associated with investigating someone. He or she will know that there are right ways to conduct surveillance – ways that will allow them to go unnoticed by the person that is being investigated. By staying undercover, a private detective can gather more information than you would be able to.

Private investigators are also better at collecting information because of their training, experience, and their lack of emotional involvement. Many people who try to catch a cheating spouse on their own, have a difficult time knowing what to look for or they become too upset while the process unfolds. We have heard from many people who have wasted months of their time trying to figure out if their spouse is cheating, but were unable to do so because they lack the investigative skills and tools which are needed. And people also tend to become too emotionally volatile when investigating their own spouse. People have a difficult time NOT confronting their spouse before they discover the full extent of the betrayal that occurred. Professional investigators simply have the added advantage of knowing how to investigate a spouse in a more objective manner.

These moves may be determined by the activities that the subject of the investigation is involved in; they may also be determined based on information collected from the investigation up until that point. An undercover private detective will have the skills and experience that will allow him or her to analyze a paper trail as well as interviews and actions to determine what the next step should be.

More importantly, however, he or she will have experience to fall back on. Through experience, an undercover private detective will be able to tell when an answer that he or she receives is less than honest. He or she will also be licensed as an investigator, and therefore will have an easier time investigating someone more closely – without the risk of breaking any laws or rules.

In and of itself, that is a great benefit that comes with hiring an undercover private detective: he or she will know what the legal limits are as they apply to the investigation. A private investigator will have a better sense of laws as they pertain to surveillance and will be able to avoid breaking them; on the other hand, for example, a spouse following his wife or her husband may in some places be accused of stalking if they are caught following the other.

Because an undercover private detective will have a better knowledge of the rules and, therefore, will be better able to follow them, you can be sure that you will get the information that you need. And, as an added benefit, you won’t have to take time off from your full time work in order to research someone’s background or to track their activities.

A couple of posts ago, we had some tips for you when confronting a cheating partner. Here are more points we feel will help you out when a confrontation with a cheating partner becomes inevitable.

1. Absolutely DO NOT let them change the subject.
Once confronted with facts, they will try to pull a trick on you by calling you crazy, stupid, psycho, insecure, childish, petty, ridiculous, looking for trouble or trying to start something. All of this will occur before responding to your question about who they were having drinks with after work last Friday. Don’t let them twist the issue. Once you allow them to turn the tables, attack you, and then leave the confrontation, you will likely never get to the bottom of the story because he/she will have gained additional time to get their story straight.

2. Never make them explain.
10 times out of 10, a cheater will always try to explain his or her behaviour. The trick is not to let them do that. Cheating is wrong, period, no justification or explanation needed. In other words, never get drawn in to the game where they expect you to explain why they would or are doing what you suspect them of doing. A typical cheater will say something like this, “Why would I resume a relationship with my ex when you know how important this family is to me?” or “Why would I have an affair with someone at work when I know your sister/cousin/ best friend/dog works there?” or even, “Why would I do that to you when you know how much I love you?” These are tricks to confuse the victim and make them rationalize why someone wouldn’t have an affair. For committed, unselfish, honest people these rationalizations make sense, but when a cheater is caught up in the throes of an affair, normal, rational thinking is replaced by whatever selfish behavior is necessary to accomplish their goals.

3. Don’t tell them who told you.
If you decide to end your relationship, don’t do the cheater any favors by letting them know how you obtained your information. Let them go through the rest of their lives thinking that you are a psychic genius. If you decide to reconcile your relationship, you would not want your mate to know how you caught them in case you need to check up on them again. Therefore, there is never, ever any good, smart, or reasonable reason to divulge your sources.

4. Don’t be fooled by tears.
Even though tears may be a good starting point for reconciliation, be mindful of who the real victim is here. Don’t run to console the hurt, devastated cheater. Your feelings of anger, hurt, rage, disgust or confusion should in no way be minimized in order to deal with the cheaters outpouring of guilt, sorrow, shame, etc. For once, it should not be about them, but rather about you and you alone.

Business scams are on the rise, as fraudsters and cheaters recognize the potential of victimizing people who are looking to increase their income. Many of these people have capital (thus, cash) as well as very little time to attend to their investments, making them very ripe targets for scams. We here have listed three of the most common business scams used to dupe unsuspecting victims:

Ponzi Scheme
This is a type of pyramid scheme that we have discussed here in the site before. A Ponzi Scheme is where money from new investors is used to provide a return to previous investors. The scheme collapses when money owed to previous investors is greater than the money that can be raised from new ones. Ponzi schemes always collapse eventually.

The Pump and Dump
On the other hand, the Pump and Dump is a highly illegal practice where a small group of informed people buy a stock before they recommend it to thousands of investors. The result is a quick spike in stock price followed by an equally fast downfall. The perpetrators who bought the stock early sell off when the price peaks at a huge profit. Most pump and dump schemes recommend companies that are over-the-counter bulletin board (OTCBB) and have a small float. Small companies are more volatile and it’s easier to manipulate a stock when there’s little or no information available about the company. There is also a variation of this scam called the “short and distort.” Instead of spreading positive news, fraudsters use a smear campaign and attempt to drive the stock price down. Profit is then made by short selling.

Off Shore Investing
These are becoming one of the more popular scams to trap investors. Conflicting time zones, differing currencies, and the high costs of international telephone calls made it difficult for fraudsters to prey on discerning investors. The Internet has eroded these barriers. Be all the more cautious when considering an investment opportunity originating in another country. It’s extremely difficult for your local law enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute foreign criminals.

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One of the things we have always advocated here is the background check. Have a reputable agency or PI firm do it for you. Your investments should help you earn money, not lose it. It is essential that before entering into any business agreement, not only should you read the fine print of any contracts you sign, but you must also know who exactly are the people you will be entering into a business with. Especially in this day and age where global economies are struggling, it is more important to get a good sense of what you are getting into before plunging into it and committing any amount of money. Some might sweet talk you into initially investing into their schemes, and your natural desire to make more will simply make you commit more funds. A good private investigation agency will help you know whether or not the money you are investing is safe in the hands of the people you are dealing with.

Okay, you’ve finally discovered the worse – that a significant person in your life has been cheating on you. It hurts, and you will feel a need to confront that person. However, you cannot just walk right up to that person and let all hell break loose. Facing that person and saying what you know or suspect can take a toll on the most courageous person and possibly destroy a relationship. On the other hand, failing to speak up when you have evidence to suggest that someone you care about is cheating behind your back will leave you feeling miserable and suspicious. It’s better to bring out the issues face to face and deal with them once and for all. So a confrontation is inevitable – and here are some tips that might help you:

1. Have evidence.
If you plan on confronting a cheater, collect the evidence that points to the deception. In the case of a straying partner, this could involve a chart listing each day of the month the partner came home late, a record of calls to the office that that person was not there to answer, and a series of question marks resulting from the lack of explanation. If you have enlisted the services of a private investigation agency (which is highly recommended), it is also good to have that evidence in hand as well.

2. What does your gut tell you?
For many people, suspicion starts with a gut feeling. Listen to your head and heart, or in the absence of hard facts, to what some call intuition. If you have a gut feeling that something isn’t right, ask yourself why. Review recent events, details, and conversations to see if a link points to deceptive activity. If not, keep an eye on things for a while to see how events shape up. If your suspicions grow or a link does seem to exist, follow the trail until you have enough evidence to confront the cheater.

3. Be calm.
It’s much easier said than done, true, but you maintain the high ground by always being calm and collected. Being rash can lead to some bad decisions and may put you at a disadvantage. No matter how personally upset a deceiver can make you feel, force yourself to stay calm when it comes time for confronting a cheater. This is no time to hit the roof and scream at the top of your voice. Be prepared to state your concerns firmly and clearly, and then allow the suspect to respond to them. Use good listening skills to provide an objective hearing.

4. Take setting into consideration.
It’s not a good idea to confront a cheater in public, like in a restaurant or at a theater. Wait until you are in a quiet place where others can’t overhear you. Confronting a cheater can lead to a serious accusation; so find an empty room or hallway niche to quietly express your point of view. Of course, certain situations, like classrooms and jobsites, will limit the location of your confrontation.