Private investigators are invaluable to bringing crucial context to many matters of private citizens every day. However, one of the ways private investigators can have a huge impact is by serving as a second pair of eyes in both death investigations and unsolved homicides. Families of subjects in unsolved death investigations often go years without closure in their loved ones’ cases. Hiring a private investigator in a death investigation can provide the answers necessary to attain justice.
Whether it’s an unsolved homicide, or a death investigation, it’s always worth it to get more than one set of eyes on any case. Any human investigator is susceptible to tunnel vision or bias, but private investigators have an edge over law enforcement. One of the top reasons law enforcement may be unable to uncover answers in a homicide or death investigation is the lack of attention they are able to give each case. The average police department investigator can have as many as 30 cases on their desk at any given time, which means their total attention must be divided 30 times. The average private investigator handles between 3-4 cases at any given time, meaning each case gets the attention it deserves. This means a private investigator looking into a death investigation—even years after the fact—may see something that the original investigator did not observe.
A typical detractor in unsolved homicides or death investigations is time itself. The more time passes between a death and the onset of the investigation, the more time there is for witnesses to disappear, evidence to erode, and valuable leads to be lost to the tick of the clock. The same machinations that allow a caseload to hinder investigations are the same that allow bureaucracy to drive a wedge further between an investigator and the truth. Law enforcement officers who investigate death investigations are subject to a chain of command and red tape designed to protect the public at large. However, private investigators are not subject to that same chain of command. Most private investigators are either self-employed or only answer to one other supervisor above them, depending on the structure of their firm. This means that most private investigators are given a degree of autonomy unlike anything present in law enforcement. Private investigators can pursue leads and courses of action within a death investigation without having to fight the red tape.
Lauth Investigations International is passionate about applying their intelligence-gathering disciplines to unsolved homicides and death investigations. Our comprehensive field investigations and thorough reports can give families closure and answer long-pondered questions as to the fate of their loved ones. We have a 90% success rate across all of our casework, and carry a glowing A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau. For more information, please visit us online at www.lauthinveststg.wpengine.com.
No matter their talent or oversight, no business owner or CEO has eyes in the back of their head. Indeed, it is often the case that corporate culture—also known as workplace culture or organisational culture—goes sour before leadership notice the slide. Big problems like employee theft, workplace bullying, sexual harassment, fraud, non-compete violations, and all sorts of other unpleasantries can run rampant under the radar. That’s when it’s time to trigger a corporate culture investigation.
For anyone experiencing an escalation of grievances among their team, bringing in the workplace culture cavalry may be the best possible option. When internal investigations don’t seem to be improving the situation, an overarching corporate culture audit will uniquely illuminate all the real root causes that currently remain in the shadows.
In some instances, corporate entities incorporate an organisational culture audit into their standard practices in order to ensure that pervasive rot of this kind never gets the chance to take hold. However, for those unversed in the value of the corporate culture investigation, read on to discover red flags that should make contacting a workplace culture investigator the next thing on your to-do list
1. Your Team and Leadership Keep Passing the Buck
Accountability is a strong barometer of workplace culture, and when attitudes have devolved to finger-pointing, shrugs, and deflection, you can be certain that corporate culture services are required. When people are passionate about what they’re doing and believe in the values that drive their everyday role, they rarely hesitate to step up to the plate. A corporate culture investigator will be able to map out the issues behind negative patterns, and plot a clear path towards reinvigorating your team’s accountability.
2. Productivity Has Bottomed Out
A drop in productivity and an increase in passing the buck often go hand in hand, but this isn’t always the case. When productivity slows to a snail’s pace, it may be a sign that employees are unhappy, a hostile environment has developed, or communication is not flowing as it should. A workplace culture audit will reveal the source of the down-shift before helping your team get back up to speed.
3. Employees Have Lost Their Moral Compass
Strong employee ethics are a core element of a thriving corporate culture, and when evidence suggests that morality has taken a tumble, it likely means that your team is in the grips of an identity crisis. Fixing this issue requires not only reviewing mission statements and values, but also utilising an organisational culture assessment to see how those ideas are playing out day-to-day. Taking this work further, a corporate culture ethics audit will also reveal if any members of your workforce are behaving nefariously, so you can put a stop to damage being done from the inside.
4. Workforce Diversity Has Diminished and Cliques Are Taking Hold
Modern companies are increasingly clued up on the value of diversity when it comes to building game-changing brands. Conversely, when homogeneity sets in, you can be certain that your company’s potential is being stunted. A lack of diversity in terms of race, age, gender identity, or sexual orientation should always be considered a culture audit red flag. A clique mentality will degrade morale, while blinkered approaches to personnel will rob you of vital talent and innovation.
5. Returns On Your HR Investments Have Stalled
If you keep throwing resources at recruitment, training, and retention, but aren’t seeing the results you desire, then its time to answer some important organizational culture assessment questions. Leadership often don’t realize that they’ve fallen into a groove of poor recruitment, promotion, and training practices, and are actually perpetuating their own disappointment. A corporate culture audit will examine and evaluate these processes, and can even be expanded with corporate background checks.
6. You Can Cut the Tension With a Knife
The idea that working under extreme pressure is valuable has happily long been debunked. Of course, a little healthy adrenaline can be exciting in the workplace, but the balance must always remain tipped away from the perils of workplace burnout. To keep your team firing on all cylinders, it is important to shine a light on the origins of workplace tensions. A corporate culture audit will help you right the ship before it runs aground.
7. Resolving Workplace Problems Has Begun to Feel Like a Game of Whack-A-Mole
Disciplinary procedures, underperformance records, harassment complaints forms, internal corporate investigations: are these pieces of paper beginning to give you a Ground Hog Day vibe? If you’re stuck in a holding pattern, throwing resources at reoccurring issues and trying to patch up the holes made by profits lost along the way, it’s definitely time to make a change. Does any of that sound familiar? If the answer is yes, then it’s time to change the record. Comprehensive corporate culture investigation provides a wide-angle view of why businesses can’t escape their current groove. More importantly, workplace culture services also aid in building a strategy to step out of that pattern once and for all, uniting teams and driving productivity as never before. Discover more about Corporate Culture Audits from Lauth Investigations, or contact our team directly to discuss your organization’s unique cultural needs.
Working from home became an adjustment for most people at the beginning of the pandemic—and although COVID numbers are falling—many businesses are still maintaining a remote working structure in these turbulent times. While remote working has had it’s undeniable advantages, corporate leadership remains wary of how it might effect their business in the long run.
In addition to a decline in cases of COVID-19, some of the benefits that corporate leadership has seen in recent years under remote working are
Increase in productivity
Savings on physical locations
Reducing the carbon footprint
There have also been great strides amongst companies who’ve gone remote who now have access to talent in all four corners of the globe. The pool of talent for their company is no longer restricted to driving distance of their location. They can hire the very best professionals available as long as the nature of their job is conducive to remote working. This remote working structure has also allowed professionals more time to spend with their families.
However, working from home isn’t a successful strategy for some, like parents with young children, or distractions at home that do not make it an ideal environment for productivity and innovation. These professionals don’t mind the commute and would rather have the space dedicated to their working life so that they can maintain firm boundaries between their work lives and their home lives. This has left many in corporate leadership unsure of how to proceed in a manner that works best for everyone.
This is what brings us to “the hybrid model” of working life. This means that in applicable jobs, employees would adopt a hybrid form of working in which they were in the office 2-3 days per week, then spend the rest of the work week performing tasks at home. Even just reducing time in the office to just 2-3 days per week, employers can save a fortune on daily operations costs, as well as the time lost spent in travel to the office and tasks like getting up to get a cup of coffee, or running to the copy room. In this way, employers get to maintain a working environment that works for everyone, and employees get the work life balance that our national economy has craved.
If you have concerns that your company may benefit from a change in working structure, contact Lauth Investigations International today for a free quote on our corporate culture audit program. The program can be customized for businesses of all sizes and industries and can provide the crucial clarity necessary to improve daily operations. Call 317-951-1100 today for a free quote or visit us online at www.lauthinveststg.wpengine.com.
How many people do you know who met their significant other online? There’s probably a few, because tales of whirlwind romances that started virtually are more and more common these days—but sadly, so too are online romance scam stories. Unfortunately, while this particular form of underbelly criminality used to be relegated to niche chatrooms and online dating sites, they are becoming more frequent on social media. Scam artists are using their nefarious talents to sweep targets on Facebook and Instagram off their feet, meaning that just about anyone can become prey to today’s online dating scam artists. When it comes to avoiding romance scams, knowledge is the first step.
If you don’t think that a money scammer could get the better of you—or even if you’re someone who is embarrassed to have been the victim of a scammer before—you might be surprised to know that dating scams are all too common. Staggeringly, last year romance scams hit record highs, with victims unwittingly sending some $547 million to perpetrators.
Within the realm of online scams, the human quest for love serves as a tempting target pool. So, don’t underestimate the importance of knowing the warning signs—and, of course, if you have been a victim, know that you are not alone. We’ll get into what to do if you’ve been scammed momentarily, but lets begin first with red flags, and some go-to protective measures.
What Is the Usual Romance Scam Format?
You’re probably wondering how to tell if someone is scamming you online. When you meet someone who seems like the one, how can you know if its true love, or true crime? Well, the good news is that once you’re informed, there are some common red flags that you can keep an eye out for:
The person may say that they are located far away, perhaps out of the country, making it impossible for them to meet you.
They may push the relationship forward fast, sharing a lot of intimate information about themselves and being quick to say they love you, or even to propose marriage.
If on an online dating site, they might try to move communication off the site quickly.
They might repeatedly promise to meet, but always cancel at the last moment.
Eventually they will begin asking for money, whether it is because of a crisis—like a medical or legal emergency—or for a plane ticket to come see you.
They may ask for your bank account information under the guise that they will send you money, when they actually intend to use your data to commit fraud.
What About Precautions and Questions to Ask a Romance Scammer?
If you are using online dating sites, or even more broadly chatting to new connections online, you can adopt these tactics along the way to better protect yourself:
Do a reverse image search of the person’s profile picture to see if they are who they say they are, if their picture is being used anywhere else online, and if it appears in any directories of online dating scammer photos.
Google their name to find out more about them and check it isn’t on an online dating scammer list.
If using a new online dating site, do a little research, check independent reviews, and ensure that its not on a list of scamming websites.
Take your time, asking the person lots of questions and keeping track to ensure that everything adds up.
Beware if the person requests private pictures of you, or for any kind of sensitive data, such as home address, social security number, or financial information. Never share anything that you wouldn’t want in the public domain.
Don’t allow someone you met online to isolate you from friends and family.
Never send money, credit, or vouchers to someone you haven’t met in person.
If in doubt, talk to a friend for a second opinion.
What To Do if You’ve Been Scammed
Many people who have fallen prey to a romance scammer feel embarrassed or ashamed, but it is important to remember that you are the victim of a crime, and that the scam artist is the one at fault. If you suspect that you have been scammed, it is important to report it to the FTC right away—both for your own sake, and to protect potential future victims. There is often an emotional fallout following romance scams, in which case seeking out a romance scam support group may be helpful.
If seeking justice or hoping to reclaim money lost to a romance scammer, your greatest ally is certainly a romance scam investigator. This is because a private investigation firm like Lauth Investigations International is in prime position to focus greater resources on seeking out the culprit and, all importantly, providing the necessary evidence to shut them down. For victims who feel that traditional law enforcement have let them down in this area, launching a private romance scam investigation can be a fantastic way to reclaim power and achieve peace of mind. Whether you’ve been impacted by dating site scams or romance scammers on social media, the Lauth Investigations team has your back. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you turn the tables, leaving dating scams in your rear-view once and for all.
Both experts and laypersons alike have argued that in utilizing the internet for purposes of automation and convenience, we have sacrificed our security as our personal information floats in the ether. In an age where a great deal of the fraud that occurs in the United States happens in cyberspace, consumers are being cautioned more than ever to steel themselves against the ever-evolving mousetrap of cyber fraud. From our private investigators, here are the best ways consumers and corporations can protect personal information online in 2022.
Strong login credentials
When everything is online—banking, shopping, email, asset protfolios—it can be difficult to remember every username and password, and therefore users may be inclined to use the same username and password for every account. However, experts insist that in order to best protect personal information, users must have a unique username and password for every account and platform where their personal information could be vulnerable to cyber fraud.
Use both upper and lower case letters, numbers, and special characters like the “@” symbol to strengthen the credentials.
Do not use personal information as passwords
Do not store passwords on internet sites where they can be vulnerable to cyber criminals.
Avoid phishing scams
Phishing scams involve using deceptive correspondence, typically an email, in which the sender requests personal information of the target, often masquerading as an official agency such as the IRS. To protect personal information from these phishing scams, users must be vigilant and educated of the signs of phishing scams.
Be wary of images such as logos or color schemes that appear similar to a branded company or agency, but contain differences that the consumer eye may not immediately notice.
Be wary of any unsolicited communication from a corporation or a federal office.
Refrain from clicking on any images or hyperlinks in the emails as they could contain malignant viruses that can infect your devices.
When in doubt, just delete.
Social media scams
Social media connects billions of people in seconds—a feat unlike anything we’ve seen in the history of mankind—but this is also how scammers can connect to their targets on a personal level in the interest of stealing their information.
Scammers can use hidden URLs by virtue of tools that shorten hyperlinks, thereby obscuring the destination. This can lead to malware being surreptitiously downloaded onto your device.
Other forms of these scams include a bait-and-switch operation in which answering questions to a personality quiz can be used against you to steal your information.
Remember to always keep your anti-malware and anti-spyware protections up to date so that your devices have a first line of defense in preventing cyber fraud. If you have been the victim of cyber fraud, contact Lauth today for a free consultation on how we can help you find the criminals responsible at 317-951-1100, or visit us online at www.lauthinveststg.wpengine.com.
