http://articles.investigateanyonenow.com/rss.xml A blog about investigateanyonenow.com daily 365 1901-01-01T00:00+00:00 http://articles.investigateanyonenow.com/?a=36037 <p>by Gregg Hall</p><p>When I was growing up, I used to dream of becoming a detective like the ones I saw on television. My favorite was Columbo. He might not have been that handsome, but he got to the bottom of every crime and did so in such a way that the crooks never saw him coming. I also enjoyed Matt Helm because he always had a beautiful woman on his arm. Starsky and Hutch rode around in the coolest car and I could just imagine myself as a cool detective who solved all the crimes and got all the babes. <br /><br />The old detective shows greatly differ from the new ones. The new ones are filled with graphic violence and plots that would have made my mother ban me from watching TV. Still, I find it fascinating that they can solve a crime with a single drop of blood or strand of hair. Even Columbo would have been impressed.<br /><br />A while ago, during a moment of mid life crisis, I considered giving up my desk job and becoming a private detective. I did a little research and found out that much of private detective work involves sitting at a desk much like the one I'm sitting at now. No longer do you have to go from place to place to find out information about people, you can do most of it from your computer. Still, they do get some juicy cases like following around an errant spouse. <br /><br />They even have TV shows designed around this theme. They get hired by a person who suspects their partner of cheating on them. Then they follow that person around with a camera, recording every move that they make. What I find hard to believe is how open they are about what they are doing. They don't bother to go skulking down alleys, but openly go to restaurants and clubs with the people that they are cheating with. My favorite moment is when they are confronted by the cameras and their partners. The looks of surprise on their faces never fail to crack me up. Talk about being humiliated and on TV, in front of million of people! Serves them right for cheating, they get no sympathy from me. <br /><br />I have a sister in Pittsburgh who has started going out with a man I feel is a decidedly shady character. After six months, she still hasn't been invited to his home. They can only meet at her apartment. I offered to pay for a detective to get his background information and make sure that he is truly single and legit. She wasn't thrilled with the idea, but promised me that she would consider it. After what I've seen watching these TV shows, you can never be too careful.</p><h3 class="popup">About the Author </h3><p>Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about this as well as how to investigate anyone at <a href="http://www.investigateanyonenow.com/">http://www.investigateanyonenow.com</a></p> 2006-10-07T18:17-04:00 http://articles.investigateanyonenow.com/?a=36036 <p>by Gregg Hall </p><p>With all of the warnings about keeping your personal information private from would be stalkers or to prevent identity theft, it's actually shocking how easy it is to dig up information on people. <br /><br />Unfortunately, I'm no exception to this rule. I was in the office one day and received an email from an ex girlfriend that I dated in college. It was not a pleasant surprise since we didn't end our relationship on the best of notes, but I was cordial and asked her how she found me. She said she used a database that specialized in finding the email addresses of people. She didn't harass me or anything like that. <br /><br />She only contacted me to let me know of a reunion of college friends that was going to occur near the school that we attended. I made sure to ask her if it was ok to bring my wife, not that I was going to go, but just to let her know I was married. She said that it would be fine, since she was bringing her husband. My ego went right out the window. Later that evening I told my wife the story, expecting to get a chuckle from her, she was not amused. <br /><br />I decided to go online to see exactly how easy it was. I typed my name into one of the popular search endings and was surprised to see my last few addresses show up, including my current one. It also showed my phone number. Sure, I'm listed in the phone book, but until my old girlfriend contacted me, I never realized how vulnerable I was. <br /><br />Of course I do appreciate the fact that technology allows me to keep track of the people that I want to keep track of. My teenage daughter, for example. We gave her a cell phone for her birthday after she begged and pleaded with us. Our first response was to say no because we know how much she loves to talk on the phone. We figured that she would forget all about overage charges if she were in a conversation with one of her equally chatty girlfriends. Then we decided to give in and let her have it because it's a dangerous world out there and this way she would be able to call us in case of an emergency. <br /><br />Now I can call her when I want to know where she is and who she's with. She hates getting these calls from me, but I feel better knowing that I can track her down. The phone also has a GPS chip that would allow us to pinpoint her location if she failed to answer the phone.<br /><br />I am now considering getting an unlisted number for my home phone, for the sake of discretion. I don't know how much good it will do, since my address is on the web, but at least I can kid myself by believing that I can still have a little privacy.</p><h3 class="popup">About the Author </h3><p>Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about this as well as how to investigate anyone at <a href="http://www.investigateanyonenow.com/">http://www.investigateanyonenow.com</a></p> 2006-10-07T18:12-04:00 http://articles.investigateanyonenow.com/?a=35790 <p>by Gregg Hall</p><p>In this day and age it is difficult to tell what kind of people we are dealing with. An impressive resume can be copied from the internet and a nice suit can be bought. This potential employee can give you intelligent answers to all your questions. You may think this is an ideal candidate for the position. Then when everything seems to be going well, you do a simple background check. In this background check you can find out previous employment history, criminal background, education, and credit history. You never really know what a person is like based on what they articulate during an interview or how they look.<br /><br />Prescreening employees can eliminate the costs associated with hiring, training, and then firing a dishonest employee. There are several ways to do a background check. One is on the internet. There are many different sites that can give you information about anyone with some basic information. <br /><br />A criminal background check is very important to many businesses. There are issues of security with information, merchandise, or money depending on the type of business you have. You certainly wouldn't want to hire an accountant who has been in prison for embezzlement. <br /><br />Drug testing has also become a mandatory part of the prescreening process for many companies. Some online sites have their own network of clinics that can do drug testing and physical exams, reporting to the background check company. Then as the employer all you receive is one bill for the whole process eliminating the need to keep track of the outside payments associated with this procedure.<br /><br />Another way to do a background check is to contact a business that only does background checks. These businesses have become quite successful in recent years. The need to hire honest hardworking people can make or break a business in this fast paced economy. The businesses will call previous employers and references. They will do a criminal check and even a credit check. The best part is that they will give you a comprehensive report on all the information they have gathered to help you make the right decision about a potential employee.<br /><br />There is also software that can be purchased to help the Human Resource professional. Depending on the package it can allow you to search the internet, receive hit notifications, and securely retrieve and archive completed reports. <br /><br />There is also the need to find out if the employee can legally work in this country. With all the illegal immigrants coming into the country and buying false identification, it is difficult for employers to determine the legal status for them. Hiring an illegal can cause a lot of trouble with legal fees, fines, or even incarceration for extreme violations.</p><h3 class="popup">About the Author </h3><p>Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about this as well as Background Investigations at <a href="http://www.investigateanyonenow.com/">http://www.investigateanyonenow.com</a></p> 2006-09-21T23:52-04:00 http://articles.investigateanyonenow.com/?a=35789 <p>by Gregg Hall</p><p>Genealogy has become a popular pastime. Searching for ancestors can be fun and an interesting way to learn about history. While looking for your ancestors you will learn about the time and place in which they lived. How politics, wars, and economics affected their lives. It will give you history on a more personal level.<br /><br />The easiest way to start your search is to interview your living relatives. Often there is one elder aunt, uncle, or grandparent that knows a lot of information about the family. The first questions to ask are dates of births, deaths, and marriages. In any family search this type of information is the most commonly found; these events that have been recorded somewhere outside the family and will have public records. Full names are also essential. There could be fifty men named John Jones born in New York City, in 1906. Therefore you have to be very specific on which one you are looking for. <br /><br />Learning about your family and where they came from can answer questions you may have about family traditions that have been passed through the family. Maybe your whole life you wondered why grandma baked braided sweet bread only at Christmas. Then you learn through your search it is an old German tradition that started several hundreds years ago. It is something she grew up with and has always done without really knowing why. And know you can tell her how it started.<br /><br />The Internet has opened a whole new world for genealogy buffs. Old archive records have been made available on many different websites. It may take some time and a lot of searching for the correct information, but a lot of it is out there. When doing this type of search it is better to start with a living person, like a grandparent, then move backward through history. You should never start with an event or name and try to link it to yourself. This can very difficult and frustrating, usually leading to misinformation. When doing your family tree you should try to keep it as factual as possible even if you find information you don't like.<br /><br />Another new source of information is with your own DNA. It is now possible to test your DNA to find out your families origins. This information can give you a global overview of your genetic makeup telling you what percentage of your DNA is shared with different ethnicities. For more tribal societies like Africans and Native Americans, DNA can confirm what tribe you are most likely to have come from. These results are not always 100% accurate, they can tell which group you are predominately from, but because of population migrations there can be many different ethnic markers in one persons DNA.</p><h3 class="popup">About the Author </h3><p>Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about this as well as Investigate Someone Online at <a href="http://www.investigateanyonenow.com/">http://www.investigateanyonenow.com</a></p> 2006-09-21T23:49-04:00