Stick or Twist: Improving your chances of landing a fundamental dishonesty ruling

Picture this…

You are months deep into an investigation, and having conducted a few desktop enquiries of your own, you are confident that a fundamental dishonesty result is on the horizon. A great result is within your grasp, justice.

You decide to have one last look at the subject’s Instagram profile before instructing NetWatch to give you the full picture, and notice that your claimant has uploaded an active Instagram story! You click on it, and see your claimant surging down a waterslide at Siam Park, Tenerife. Result. You click past it and see the next four Instagram Stories, showing a pairs of legs sticking out on a sun lounger, with a cocktail in hand. All on a Tuesday morning no less. Satisfied, you head on lunch.

Half an hour later, belly full of the cafeteria’s latest offering, you sit back at your desk and unlock your laptop. You hit refresh to see if anything new has popped up…

Oh dear…

The Risk of DIY Investigations

The above may seem farfetched, but we have encountered several instances where an  investigation has been compromised, when a client takes matters into their own hands, or has jumped the gun without securing evidence appropriately. We’ve seen the subject make their accounts private, hide certain posts, or delete their accounts altogether as a result of being tipped off about the investigation.

It could be the case that you:

• Viewed a subject’s Instagram Story, unaware that your account leaves a visible footprint.
• Accidentally added the subject as a friend on Facebook, sending an automatic notification direct to them.
• Visited a claimant’s LinkedIn profile from your personal account, not knowing that the claimant can check who has viewed it.
• Liked the subject’s Strava activity, which had countered their reported claims.
• Scrolled through their TikTok account without realising profile views are tracked.
• Let the claimant’s solicitors know that you have seen them back at work on Facebook.
• Attended a settlement meeting armed with a smattering of haphazard internet research – instead of a comprehensive NetWatch Evidence Pack.

Whatever the reason, all of these instances are ultimately avoidable, and here at NetWatch we take pride in our ability to maintain operational security, and not give the game away. We wholeheartedly recommend that no matter how juicy the case may be, to leave the investigation to us.

Trust in NetWatch

We have spent hours and hours, stretching across years, perfecting and improving our operational security to ensure that our investigation practises are air-tight, leave no footprint, and that any intelligence we obtain can be used evidentially.

This extends to the level of creating bespoke tools such as our specially crafted Temporary Intelligence Capture™ tool which was made with anonymity in mind. It allows us to secretly and covertly capture Instagram Story uploads made by your subject – to save a repeat of the scenario outlined at the start of this article!

Ultimately, NetWatch Evidence Packs are a failsafe to protect against changes in privacy settings or the deletion of posts or accounts. Once the contents of an Internet Profile are secured in this format, it’s submissible in court as bona fide evidence.

All we need from you is to pass the case over to us, put your feet up, and we’ll take care of the rest.

Please contact enquiries@netwatchglobal.com with the details of your latest case, or if you are looking to equip your team with skills in how to maintain operational security, contact training@netwatchglobal.com or register here for NetWatch’s latest development programs.