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Down Under Investigations – The Truth
Down Under Investigations – The Truth
Becoming A PI, Scam-Proofing Your Life, Raylene The Skip Tracing Expert
In this episode we cover topics such as:-
1- How to become a Private Investigator in Australia;
2- Top 5 ways to avoid being scammed;
3- Interview - Meet Raylene, The Skip Tracing Expert;
4- Question of the day.
Got a question for our podcast or do you need to contact Simon and the Down Under Investigations team? Simply email info@downunderinvestigations.com or call 1300849007 or check out www.downunderinvestigations.com
Welcome to another episode of Down Under Investigations The Truth. Our host, Simon, has over 20 years experience in the private investigation industry, and he leads the team at down under investigations who pride themselves on their professionalism, integrity, and ability to get results. This podcast will open up the world of private investigations, discussing real life cases, latest news, surveillance, and skip tracing techniques, legal issues and support. Let's jump in and join Simon now.
Speaker 2:Hi there, Simon here. Very excited about today's show. We've got an interview coming up with Raylene, who is one of our team. She is a private investigator with 14 years experience, and uh, she's got a great interview coming up. We're also gonna talk about Scam. She's got our question of the day and our top five list as usual. So stay tuned for a great podcast. We're very excited to have a colleague of down under investigations. We've got Raylene here who is a 14 year pi. She's been doing this kind of work for 14 years and is a specialist in skip tracing, gathering information and background checks. So welcome Raylene to the show.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you Simon. Um, I'm very glad to be here and I look forward to our chats.
Speaker 2:Yeah, very good. So, first question I'd like to ask is, how did you become a private investigator?
Speaker 3:Well, how I became one was I just decided at some stage, I, I think it was October, 2008, I have in, in Queensland, we have certain steps we have to take. We have, we have to ring the Office of Fair Trading now. I think that's got a new name now. But anyway, it was Office of Fair Trading and they referred me to somebody, funnily enough, somebody in a different state who had an academy. I rang up and found out what was necessary, the price, how long I could take to do the assessments, and just really it was go from there. We were told that we had to finish the assessments or the assignments under 12 months. Well, I just snuck in by 11 months and was fast. Why I took so long. The reason was I had a part-time job as well as a secretary, but that's how I became, uh, a private investigator. Uh, why? Yes, why is a different question, I think.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Well, that's a good question. Why did you become a pi?
Speaker 3:Well, this is, might be a bit long and involved, but it's a truth, isn't it? It's an interesting little situation. When I was a teenager, I was quite unruly and had a habit of running away from home. Well, I only ran away twice. Mind you, I was 13 and 14 consecutively and I remember clearly, absolutely, clearly sitting in the back seat of the police car with a police officer, a female who was chastising me big time for making my parents worry and wasting their valuable time by picking me up with a second, second time. Uh, anyway, this officer was just lovely and she convinced me by the end of the, by the time I reached home to become a police officer. However, I was two centimeters short of the required
Speaker 2:Oh no.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and<laugh>,
Speaker 2:I should have worn some high heels or something,
Speaker 3:<laugh>. Oh, I should have, but I was only 13 of 14.
Speaker 2:Fair enough.
Speaker 3:Anyway, so what I did was I followed another path, which was becoming a secretary, and I followed that for many years. My father died in 2008 and he left me a legacy and I thought I might set up business pay for my tuition and all the thrills that go with it, with that money. And that's actually why I became an investigator second best of becoming a police officer. But as it turns out, much more rewarding I
Speaker 2:Think. And I guess some of the good things about being a PI rather than a police officer is the ability to set your own hours. And, uh, I've heard of a lot of police officers who really miss their social lives and miss their family lives and, uh, things along those lines. Do you agree?
Speaker 3:I do certainly agree. I do set my own hours. You can work seven days a week, 20 hours a day, or you can work two hours randomly. It's, it's really a very good profession to be
Speaker 2:In. Absolutely. So Raylene, what's your favorite type of investigation? What's your greatest skills as a pi? What do you enjoy doing? What's your favorite kind of work as a private investigator?
Speaker 3:Well, Simon, I do enjoy locating people because of the, there are a lot of different reasons for needing to locate people for clients. Law firms, for instance, would like to locate beneficiaries. Uh, birth mothers sometimes need after 20, 30, even 40 years to locate the little babies they had to give away, not willingly, but they had to back in the fifties. The other part of locating is debtors. I don't mind that kind of work. However, they can become a little bit nasty at times and you just use your skills and be careful what you say. And I've never had anything turn out bad or dangerous. So I'm happy with that. My greatest skills, I think I believe are phone calling. I do tend to be able to chat with anyone from 18 to 80, not just 80 older. And I enjoy the chats and quite often obtain information that's quite important to the inquiry itself.
Speaker 2:That's fantastic and I think we've seen some great results of that locates and skip tracing you've been able to obtain and you are definitely great on the, on the phone and, uh, doing those sorts of things, obtaining information, keeping people talking and disclosing things that they wouldn't normally disclose. And I dunno how you do it. And uh, I think that's a trade secret, which, uh, you can keep close to your heart.
Speaker 3:It certainly is Simon. Yes. I must add that. Um, in actual fact, when you are trying to obtain a date of birth of a beneficiary, it can become quite difficult because of all the media coverage about scammers. And I have to convince that person who is quite entitled to some money, uh, some good dollars that they need to prove to me who they are and that that part is a bit difficult.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Especially with all the media coverage around those sorts of things. Cuz what scammers tend to do, I guess is they mimic a, a legitimate, uh, kind of thing like finding a, a beneficiary of a will and uh, then they take it to the next level and use that information to scam someone, to steal an identity and that sort of thing. It's time for our question of the day, which comes from Instagram. The question was asked by Angela Baruch, how do you become a private investigator? Well, firstly, the definition of a private investigator is a private investigator is a person who on behalf of another person is employed or retained to obtain and provide information regarding the personal character or actions of any person or regarding the character or nature of the business or occupation of any person. Alternatively, an investigator may be employed to search for missing persons. So to become a PI in Victoria especially, you need a certificate three in investigative services. You need to fill in the application, which is through Victoria Police and includes police checks, medical reports, fingerprints and references. Now I'm gonna extend on the question and say how to become a great pi? You need to be a lateral thinker. You need to think sideways. You need to be a perfectionist. Have a night for detail. You need to be flexible. You need the ability to think and adapt to different situations and information as it comes straight away. And you need an open mind cuz you never know where an investigation's gonna take you. You need to be creative, think outside the box, and you need to be patient. Thanks Angela, for your great question. Send us a PM and we'll get your prize to you. If any of our listeners are interested in becoming a private investigator, why not get in touch with us, Send us an email, use the contact form on our website. We'd love to hear from you. Got
Speaker 1:A question for Simon and down under investigations, we are running a questions of the month competition. If your question gets answered by Simon, we will send you a prize valued at a hundred dollars. To ask your question, simply use the contact page on our website at www.downunderinvestigations.comoremailpodcastdowninvestigations.com.
Speaker 2:And we're back here with Raylene. What do you believe makes a great pi? Well,
Speaker 3:Firstly Simon, I believe that staying within the law at all times, I mean no exceptions, that is a must be yourself, state your name, give a general reason why you are phoning. You don't always have to be a hundred percent upfront, especially if it's a debtor you are speaking with. However, you must be honest to a point. And when I go on surveillance, I always carry my ID card with me just in case I have to produce it. Now in 14 years, I've only had to produce it twice. So that's, I think personal preference. The other thing is t and empathy, just plain kindness unnecessary when speaking with certain clients. If for instance, you had a birth mother who was looking for her, um, child that she gave away, sometimes they were in tears or very close to tears, you have to understand where they're at. Anyway, in 14 years I've only had to produce my ID card twice and that was on surveillance. Uh, I don't do a lot of surveillance, so I I don't really need to carry it with me all the time. Patience is important. I believe that you have to listen and have good listening skills to attend to an inquiry, whatever it is.
Speaker 2:That's right. Definitely being patient with the person that's your client patient. Sometimes some skip traces, you know, it may take days, weeks, months to, to get the successful result, but having that patience is a, a big key to that. So what's your most memorable case?
Speaker 3:Well, I was thinking about this Simon, and I thought of three and I decided on this one. It's kinda sad and very, very unusual and really hard to believe, but I can tell you it did happen to me. It was about, I was four years into my PI work and a male client phoned me and he said he wanted me in Brisbane at a place called South Bank. Now is um, populated, lots of people walking by. So I was quite happy to do that. He was going to buy me coffee and wanted to explain to me what his problem was. So I traveled in there and sat down, met him, lovely young man in his late twenties and we had a check. He slept$2,000 on the table. Wow. Pushed it towards me, this is in cash, pushed it towards me and said this is a, a retainer. I was absolutely gobsmacked, but I did take it, put it in my purse and waited to hear what he had to say. There were no red flags at this point. However, further into the conversation he said to me, all he wanted was a background check done on four of his associate employees. I didn't get a red flag then either. However, something bothered me when I asked him why exactly, because I do like to know why you can't just do background checks on people and give the client the information willy nilly. You really have to know why would be a really bad reason. They want to know. Anyway, going back to the story, I asked him why and he said, I hesitate to say this, but it's true, I think they are from a different planet. I believe they're aliens
Speaker 2:<laugh>.
Speaker 3:So what?
Speaker 2:Goodness me,<laugh>.
Speaker 3:I know. So what I did was think, how am I gonna get out this? I'm not taking this man's money, but then maybe aliens Simon, I don't know. I've not proved, proved it<laugh>, Yale name, but I didn't feel comfortable. Then the red flag popped up and I had to get out of that situation. I gave him back his money and I'm happy I did. He may have gone to somebody else, I don't know, but I just couldn't take his money. That was my most memorable case. Wow.
Speaker 2:<laugh>.
Speaker 3:Um, I don't believe I know, but it happened to me.
Speaker 2:Oh, well it's great that you've got the integrity to not just take the money and, and run and send him some sort of weird report<laugh>, but actually see, see that the gentleman probably needed some other sort of help. Um,
Speaker 3:I know
Speaker 2:Some professionals to intervene there. Um,<laugh>. I think so. Oh, very good. And do you find private investigation dangerous? Do you ever get sort of worried or do you get scared when you're conducting yourself? No,
Speaker 3:I don't get worried or scared. I used to do a lot of long surveillance at night and being a female rather short. Yeah. So I was wary, put it that way. Always had my doors locked. I was approached and I my way out the situation. So the bottom line is no, I'm not, it's not dangerous. It isn't for me. And I, I'm not scared. However, I have had a, uh, couple of clients on the phone who intimidate me or try to, and the easiest way to get out of it is just say, Look, I'm busy. I'm sorry, I would've liked to have taken on your case, but I really can't afford the time. I'd like to give you a lot of time and it's just not possible. That's when someone starts swearing at me or getting upset. So is it dangerous? No, I don't think so. Am I intimidated? Sometimes? Yes, but I can talk my way out of it. I'm a bit of a drama queen, my family tell me. So<laugh>, maybe that comes in handy.
Speaker 2:And you've also got the gift of the gab as far as I'm concerned. You're, you're brilliant at
Speaker 3:What you're doing. Thank you
Speaker 2:Ralene, thank you so much for speaking with us today and thanks for all your information and, and great stories. Um, we really appreciate you down under investigations and everything you bring to the business and and to what we do. So have you got any final words you'd like to say to our audience?
Speaker 3:Yes, I'm glad to have done this podcast with you, Simon. We work well together and that's about all I can say down under investigations. It's a lovely company to work for and thank you for inviting me today.
Speaker 2:No worries. You have a great day. Thanks very much.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 2:Well here it is folks, your favorite part of our podcast. It's our time for our top five list today. It's all about the top five ways to avoid being scammed. First thing, top five ways. Number one, be alert. Be aware. Be aware that there's scams out there. Be alert that there is people that are wanting to steal your money, they're wanting to mislead you. Be deceptive and take what rightfully belongs to you. They're gonna use all ways and means to do so. So be alert and be aware. Number two, confirm the identity of whoever you are talking to, whether that's online, over the phone, via text message, via messenger. Make sure you confirm the identity. One of the greatest scams at the moment, according to the a c is the high mum scam where a child or an adult pretends to be a family member and they will contact you and they'll say, Hey, I'm in trouble. I need money or I've lost my phone and that's why I'm contacting you on this device. Um, can you please transfer me money to this account? And you know why these scams work because people fall for them. That's why they continue. So make sure you don't fall for scams and make sure you confirm the identity of who you are. Talking to Our third point, be careful what you click. Be careful when you are clicking around on the internet and adding your personal information. Be careful, make sure you're looking at the right websites. Make sure you're looking at uh, if you're going to purchase something, make sure you are on legitimate websites that have guarantees and, and can really, uh, do the security checks for you. Make sure you're aware. Number four, don't allow remote access to your computer or device. Never allow someone to remotely access your device. Once they do, they can access all of your password information, all of your banking information, anything you've put on there, all of those passwords for your social media accounts, all of your important documents. When, so you allow someone to remote into your computer, they can see and access absolutely everything the way they do it. Uh, there's a common way they call you over the phone and they say, Hi, I'm from, for example in Australia, Microsoft, I need to jump onto your computer. Um, can you go to your computer? Click on this link that I'll email you and then click okay and allow us access. Don't let anyone remote into your computer. They will always try and scam you by doing so. And number five, make sure you change your passwords regularly. Make sure you got different passwords for all your different apps, for all your different social media accounts, for all your different devices. Make sure they're all different and make sure you're changing them often. Make sure you're not just sticking to the same one. Do you know what the number one password in Australia is? Password one, don't ever use it. Make sure you're using those encrypted passwords and make sure that you're not using the same one over multiple apps. Also, you've gotta ensure you've got two factor authorization verification active on your devices and on your passwords. That way when you log into one of your accounts or onto a device, you'll get either a text message or email with a separate code that you need to enter as well. So someone can't simply just hack one password, but they've gotta get through two devices. They're the top five ways to avoid being scammed.
Speaker 1:We would love if you would review and subscribe to this podcast and also check out our social media. If you would like to get in touch with Simon and the down under investigation team for any reason, please check out our website at www.downunderinvestigations.com or call 1300849007 or email info@downunderinvestigations. com Thanks for listening.