Surveillance is frequently done in three-day increments. In most cases, insurance firms believe this to be enough time to gather a good sample of your activities.
Why do insurance companies use private investigators?
Insurance firms want to protect their profits, so keeping an eye out for fraudulent claims is a routine aspect of their job. Surveillance also helps to screen out some false cases from an already overburdened legal system. An insurance company’s investigator, for example, might look at your social media pages.
Question:
My fiancé was involved in a terrible vehicle accident. He had major injuries, including fractured bones, and was in a coma for three days. He is unable to return to work and will require lifelong medical attention. Casing around our house was caught on camera by a private investigator, who even had a person impersonating as an insurance representative. They arrived unannounced and fled quickly when I demanded identification.
Answer:
Private investigators are frequently hired by insurance firms to conduct surveillance on personal injury claimants. They have the legal right to do so. You have nothing to be concerned about as long as you tell your doctors and insurance company reps the truth about what you can and cannot do as a result of your injury. I’ll tell you that the insurance company either believes your fiancé’s claim is worth a lot of money and is looking for a way to reduce their risk, or they have cause to suspect your fiancé is embellishing his claim right now. In any case, I strongly advise your fiancé to get legal counsel as soon as possible. Once a lawyer initiates a case against the party responsible for your fiancé’s injuries, the attorney will have access to the surveillance videos and the investigators’ depositions.
Can insurance investigators tap your phone?
You are most likely not as paranoid as you believe. Insurance firms frequently use private investigators to track employees who have sought for workers’ compensation benefits in order to prove that they are not as injured as they claim. This is sometimes necessary to identify bogus claims. Surveillance, on the other hand, is a common method used by insurers to avoid paying for even genuine claims.
In general, private investigators are not prohibited from observing you in public locations and taking photographs or films of you. This does not rule out the possibility of them going to great efforts to obtain incriminating evidence against you. Trespassing on your private property, entering your home without your permission, hacking into your email or mobile phone, installing a tracking device on your automobile, or impersonating law enforcement officers are all things that private investigators are not authorized to do.
Despite these restrictions, private detectives can amass crucial evidence against you simply by following you around in public while you run errands, go to doctors’ appointments, or mow your yard. They may be allowed to capture photos or videos of you inside your home in some states if they can see you through a window from public land. Even in jurisdictions like Minnesota, where secretly photographing or recording through a house window is illegal, it’s only illegal if the person being filmed reasonably expected privacy (Minn. Stat. Ann. 609.746(b) (2018)). When you’re walking in front of the living room window with the curtains open and visible from the street, it’s difficult to argue that you have a reasonable expectation of privacy.
Fortunately, there are things you may do to avoid a private investigator damaging your workers’ compensation case. Make sure that your public actions are consistent with your injuries, even if the insurance company hasn’t challenged your claim. Also, avoid putting yourself in circumstances that may appear negative if taken out of context. Allowing oneself to be photographed or video filmed lugging heavy boxes, gardening, or horsing around with your kids, for example, is not a good idea if you damaged your back at work in the fall. You may believe it is acceptable to do these things and then quit as soon as you experience pain. However, a snapshot of a single moment (or a brief video clip) can make it appear as if you’re physically capable of performing these things.
Also, be cautious about what you share on social media, particularly photos. Before you upload a photo, consider whether it could be used against you in your workers’ compensation case. If you’re on temporary disability due to an injury, for example, don’t upload photos of yourself hiking, even if you drove all the way to the top of a hill and stopped to take a picture.
Finally, keep in mind that private investigators use telescopic lenses and are trained to take high-quality images from distances of more than a hundred feet. Just because there aren’t any photographers in the area doesn’t mean they aren’t there.
If the insurance company contests any aspect of your claim, particularly if it has images or recordings that portray you in a negative light, you should see a workers’ compensation attorney. An expert attorney in this field can assist you rebut that proof, put it in context, and obtain further evidence to back up your argument. (Learn what a good workers’ compensation lawyer can accomplish for you.)
Do insurance companies check surveillance cameras?
In today’s digital age, cameras are almost always recording in public places. To improve security and deter crime, businesses install security cameras and closed-circuit television (CCTV) recorders. To catch red-light runners, cities install traffic cameras at junctions. Individuals can also use their smartphones to begin filming immediately during an occurrence such as a car accident. Insurance companies may request access to traffic and security camera footage as part of a claim investigation following a traffic accident, with the intention of demonstrating fault.
Do insurance adjusters spy on you?
Insurance firms can monitor accident victims in a variety of methods, including:
- Insurance adjusters may conduct short online searches on sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Google, and Tumblr, among others. Adjusters will look for photos of you, videos you’ve posted on social media, and other proof to show that you’re not as badly harmed as you say. Insurance firms aren’t above altering a photograph.
- Passive surveillance – If an insurance company detects fraud or believes you are not as seriously injured as you claim, the company may engage a private investigator to follow you around, photograph you, or even film you.
- Active surveillance In high-value instances, some insurance firms will conduct this type of surveillance. A private investigator may chat with witnesses, neighbors, coworkers, and even family members.
Can an insurance company hire a PI?
Although it is legal for insurance companies to use private detectives to track injury victims, there are limitations to what these individuals may do.
A person who has been recruited to spy on you cannot be intimidated by a private investigator. Intimidation is defined as inducing fear or fright in another person through their behaviors, such as following them aggressively or making verbal or nonverbal threats.
Furthermore, private investigators are not permitted to intrude on private property in order to monitor a person. If an investigator is on privately held land and is asked to leave by the landowner, the investigator must comply.
While the private investigator may observe, videotape, or photograph you outside of your home, in your car, or elsewhere in a public environment, he or she may not photograph or videotape you via an open window of a private residence.
Conversations can be recorded by private investigators, but Indiana law requires that at least one person involved in the conversation consent to the recording. That means private detectives are not allowed to wiretap your phone and listen in on a private discussion under any circumstances.
Do employers hire private investigators?
Have you ever wondered who hires private investigators and why? With nearly 94,000 private investigators (PIs) in the United States, it’s no surprise that a wide range of people and businesses turn to PIs for assistance. Some individuals believe that only spouses concerned about an unfaithful partner or parents of a missing child hire investigators because of misleading television dramas and movies. Most private investigators, on the other hand, provide a wide range of services, such as fingerprinting, private investigations, and background checks. Indeed, depending on the services they require, a wide spectrum of clients hire them. Continue reading to learn about the different types of clients who use private investigators.
Business Owners
PIs are frequently hired by business owners to conduct background checks on possible workers or new business partners, whether they are employing new staff or establishing new business relationships. This provides concrete evidence as to whether or not these potential employees or partners are trustworthy, dependable, and do not constitute a threat to their company. This could explain why 96 percent of employers do at least one type of pre-employment background check, with only a small minority employing alternative methods to assess employees.
By employing private investigators, business owners can rest assured that their PI will do a thorough background check on a potential employee. As a result, having all of this information will assist business owners in determining whether or not this person is the best fit for their company.
Property Owners
In the United States, an estimated 43 million dwellings are rented each year. Property owners engage private investigators to discover whether applicants are at a higher risk of skipping payments, damaging property, or getting evicted, whether they rent single family homes or many apartment buildings. Owners that fail to do tenant screenings on potential tenants risk having their property destroyed, facing legal and financial problems, or even losing it.
Private detectives can do thorough tenant screens to ensure that you sign leases with trustworthy, stable people who will pay their rent on time and not cause damage to your property.
Lawyers
Private investigators are hired by lawyers to assist them in a number of cases. A lawyer, for example, may need a private investigator to unearth important information on an opposing party, interview eyewitnesses, and assist with court proceedings. In other circumstances, lawyers use private investigators to deliver subpoenas or locate difficult-to-find witnesses and litigants. When a lawyer is swamped with cases, employing a private investigator to acquire critical evidence for a case might be the difference between their clients winning and losing.
Human Resource Professionals
HR professionals wear numerous hats, one of which is that of hiring dependable, qualified staff. HR professionals use private investigators to do background checks on potential employees in order to ensure that those open positions are filled with quality people. This allows HR experts to properly analyze a candidate’s application based on the results.
- Is their résumé accurate in terms of their skills and work experience? For example, private investigators will check to see if they received their degree and worked for the companies listed on their résumé.
- Do they have a track record of sexual harassment allegations against them from former employers?
PIs can swiftly and properly gather this information, saving HR and the company time, money, and irritation by avoiding selecting individuals who could jeopardize the company’s success.
Parents or Legal Guardians
The safety and well-being of their children is a key responsibility for parents and legal guardians. As a result, it makes sense to run a background check on potential babysitters or nannies when they need someone to watch their children. Indeed, parents and legal guardians use private investigators to conduct a comprehensive background check on a potential nanny or babysitter for their children.
It’s only normal to want to make sure your new nanny or babysitter is reliable, responsible, and qualified to look after your children.
What should you not say to an insurance investigator?
Never apologize or admit any form of wrongdoing. Remember that a claims adjuster is searching for ways to decrease an insurance company’s liability, and any acknowledgment of fault might jeopardize a claim.
Do not declare you are OK or better than you were. This is especially crucial to remember when responding to the customary first question, “How are you?” Make no reference to your current state of health.
Do not make assumptions about any injuries you believe you may have experienced. Your comment could cause complications if your true diagnosis is more serious than your self-diagnosis.
Any offer to make a recorded statement should likewise be declined. During their initial calls, insurance adjusters will frequently try to get victims to give recorded testimonies, claiming that the recording is for the victim’s own safety. Don’t be duped. Conversations that are taped can be used against you in court.