Salgado Investigates the DIY-PR and SEO UKBF Masters

March 28th, 2008

I went along to the seminar organised by Duane Jackson MD of Kashflow. Duane has a regular get together that he does for TrustNetworkers.

On this occasion, two speakers were booked in, Andy Barr from 10Yetis and Ray Field of Tin Soldier Design. Both of these had a reputation to live up to from UKBF and so I was curious about them.

I arrived promptly at 6pm and found Andy waiting in reception all by himself. He was pretending to do some work on his laptop but I knew he didn’t want to look like billy-no-mates and so I joined him for a coffee.

Soon it was time to go in to the lecture room and after a short introduction from someone else, Andy Barr got up and started talking about PR. He gave a polished performance and a lot of good do-it-urself PR advice.

Then Ray (Tin Soldier) Field got up and the room instantly stilled as he revealed some of the secrets of his dark trade. He covered everything from how to use Alt and other meta data to how the big G’s algorithm behaves.

Afterwards a lot of us went to the pub round the corner and I managed to get five minutes with Ray who admitted to having analysed my web site and he told me my site was “slick” but needed a couple of little tweaks here and there. Ray offered me a free hour’s worth of advice which I will take up at some point.

I met up with some cool people there, a lot of them from UKBF and I managed to get my report in to my Client about the events in the pub and the half an hour trek to find another watering hole after we got chucked out from the pub.

The following day I woke up to find my name plastered over two publications (due to 10yetis) PInow.com and Maxim magazine - May edition, page 45.

Posted in General, Networking | 2 Comments »

THIEVING LITTLE BRITAINS

March 25th, 2008

A leading UK Private Investigator has found that more than three quarters of workers have stolen from their current or previous places of work. The figures show that potentially over £432m of company goods, including laptops, confidential personal data, TVs, and even an office pet in one case are stolen in the UK each year. It is also clear that very few measures are in place across companies to prevent theft from happening.

Recent anonymous online research commissioned by salgadoinvestigations.com of 1,476 British people has found that 78% have stolen from their place of work at some point in their lives. This means that with individuals admitting to stealing, on average, more than £920 worth of items throughout their careers, theft at work costs the economy nearly £432m each year. The research stipulated that office stationary did not count.

Those who denied pilfering from work however are certainly no angels, as 57% of people who haven’t yet stolen from a place of work said that they would if they thought that they could get away with it.

Jorge Salgado-Reyes, a leading UK Private Investigator is an expert in the fields of corporate and company theft, infidelity and person tracing with more than 19 years in the business, and has published the findings. Jorge commissioned the research to gain more of an understanding of Britain’s habits, and to highlight how companies can help turn this problem around.

Installing or more closely monitoring CCTV could be the saving grace for those companies who are noticing that their assets are dwindling. When asked “what would deter you from stealing an item?” 38.1% of the participants admitted that video monitoring would be the main deterrent. This was followed by 19% claiming that law involvement would be the one thing to dissuade them, with just 2.4% worried that their mum could/would find out.

Jorge had the following to say,

“In my line of work, you get used to shocking stories and facts, but these stats make for pretty scary reading. Companies are doing little to stop thefts of these kinds, with very few having deterrents such as monitored CCTV or robust asset management systems in place. The theft of confidential personal data has been in the media eye recently and for good reason – more and more companies are securing the services of Private Investigators like me to detect people committing often large-scale criminal acts of these kinds.

“It just goes to show that in today’s Britain, you really don’t know who you can trust.”

Amongst the stolen items anonymously detailed in the comprehensive survey were large sums of cash, alcohol, furniture, computer equipment and even one boss’ desk.

Posted in Retail, General, Retail Fraud Prevention | 1 Comment »

How to become a private investigator

March 17th, 2008

I bet that when you think about what a Private Investigator is, you think Sherlock Holmes or ITV’s Vincent or even Magnum. Whatever your preconception, the reality is likely to be very different.

So what is it? What do they do and how do they do it?

The SIA are preparing to license the Private Investigation industry and as a result they had to research all activities that a PI might be involved in. They came up with six main categories of activities that they might be involved in. These are to Implement Investigations, Interview Witnesses, Interview Suspects, Search for Information and Evidence, Carry out Basic Surveillance & Laws, Standards and Regulations. These form a best practice of what a PI should know and what activities they engage in. But that is not the full story.

The actual list of activities is much longer and includes over a hundred activities including surveillance, tracing, insurance fraud, interviewing to name just a few. It seems that process serving may not necessarily be a licensable activity.

There are only three routes into the industry;

1 - Find an established private investigator agency willing to show you the ropes.

2 - Buy into a franchise.

3 - Start up on your own.

So lets have a look at the first option. You will have to convince this hypothetical agency that you will add value to their business, that you will not absorb all their learning and teachings and then go and set up shop across the street in direct competition. This option is a hard nut to crack for the aforementioned reason.

The second option is a better one but only if you have thousands of pounds to give them as franchises are not cheap. I have heard that some are charging £10k or more. On the other hand, they offer you support.

The last option is what most people do. With a website, a telephone and a camera, you can be up and running quite quickly. There are some distance learning courses that are relatively inexpensive and offer good value for money and they give you the underpinning knowledge that you will need to become a professional private investigator.

And remember if you want to network with other PI’s then e-legal | Gathering is the preferred forum of the professional.

Posted in General, Private Investigators | No Comments »

When CCTV doesn’t help

March 5th, 2008

I was reading my local paper today and couldn’t help but notice the headline “Businesses hit by catalytic crimes”. Apparently there has been a string of thefts involving catalytic converters. One business captured the thieves on CCTV but unfortunately for them, the group of thieves were all wearing “hoodies”.

This was always the main weakness of a security strategy based solely on CCTV. Of course they will only conceal their faces during the actual commission of the crime but probably not on their way to the premises or on their from the premises.

It seems to me that a simple review of the CCTV in the immediate area might reveal the faces of the suspects. Case closed!

Posted in General | No Comments »

Salgado Investigations is the trade name of Archangel Research Limited

March 4th, 2008

Salgado Investigations recently incorporated under the name of Archangel Research Limited. We will start trading as a limited company from the 6th April 2008 and are busy getting all the accounts in order.

To celebrate this, we have had a website re-design and the new website can now be unveiled. One of the key features of the re-design is the sites changing look according to whether its day or night. You need to visit the site at night as well as during the day to see what I mean. Hopefully the new look will firmly establish us as the PI industries best looking website. Let us know what you think of the re-design.

Many thanks to Stephen Chown of Site Engine who has worked tirelessly on the site while simultaneously fighting off hoards of rampaging hoodies down his “yard”.

Posted in General | No Comments »