We have all done it at one point or another—called references who were supplied by a potential employee, new vendor, or client.

It’s tedious.

You can pretty much predict what they are going to say, but it’s a “normal” course of business and generally, it’s a good practice. It’s certainly better than not calling at all.

The problem is that the information that you get is pretty much what you would expect. I mean, who in their right mind is going to provide the name of someone who would provide anything less than a glowing reference?

And we are not just talking about employment references. An investment fund may provide the name of its best client to a potential investor, or a new executive vice president may provide the name of his or her favorite colleagues.

If you want a truly unvarnished opinion about someone, contact people who are not listed as references.

Call the chief investment officer’s previous employer to ask why he left and if he is capable of running his own portfolio; call the new executive’s former boss (or—better yet—underlings) to see how other people viewed him or her within the company, how they communicated with others, and if they were considered to be a team player; or call one of the new vendor’s other customers to see how quickly they deliver.

You may be thinking to yourself, why would anyone want to talk to you?

We’ve been doing this for quite some time; you would be amazed at what people will say. People generally want to be helpful, and if they have something positive to say, they typically don’t have a problem saying it.

On the other end of the spectrum, you have the people who can’t wait to drag that person or company through the mud, and are willing to say something negative to anyone within shouting distance.

The key getting valuable information, however, is catching someone off guard.

That is when you get the truly unvarnished opinion, unlike that personal reference who’s bound to give you a glowing review.

If you are new to the investigative business, you are certainly in for a treat.

But if you are just getting started, here are some nuggets of wisdom that I have picked up over the years that may help you along.

Surround yourself with great people
One of the golden rules of business is to surround yourself with smart, talented people. There are plenty of investigators out there. More than 35,000 in the United States, to be more exact.

Some good, and some not so good.

I’ve been lucky enough to have been surrounded by great investigators over the years. Not just your run of the mill small town investigator who only conducts surveillance. Investigators from a variety of backgrounds, with varying skill sets and a range of knowledge in a multitude of areas, each of which has played a part, one way or another, in shaping me as an investigator.

Take on s**t that nobody wants
In one of my first tasks as an investigator I was asked to drive two hours each day to eastern Long Island and, page by page, review and copy 10+ boxes of a lawsuit. It took nearly two weeks to finish. Needless to say, it certainly was not the most stimulating work I had ever done.

But I quickly learned that when you do the work that nobody else wants to do, you suddenly become the guy who will do whatever it takes. You’re not just the schlep who makes copies; you are the guy who will take on whatever is thrown at him.

The alternative is being that guy who nobody wants to approach, because he is bound to be “busy” or is not interested.

Learn by doing
I couldn’t care less how many years you’ve worked in law enforcement, what degree in criminal justice you have or how many criminology books you have read. In this business you have to learn by doing.

Not that years in law enforcement don’t count, or your master’s in criminal justice didn’t teach you anything, but it’s just not the same. Practical experience in the business of private investigations is what matters most.

There are no shortcuts to experience. Malcolm Gladwell argues that 10,000 hours of practice is the key to success in any field. No amount of wisdom will take the place of experience and plain old hard work.

Get out of your comfort zone
We all have it … that area you reach just before you start feeling uncomfortable. That place where you are content and just happy to be. The problem with it is that it eventually creates boredom and staleness and is completely unfulfilling.

The investigative industry is constantly changing. Access to information, laws, types of cases, technology and skills needed.

If you get too comfortable, stop learning and get bored … you might become obsolete as quickly as you got into the business.

Be available
If you want a 9-to-5 job, you are in the wrong business. Friday night requests that need to be finished Monday and all-nighters are par for the course.

We all want to have a personal life, but do yourself a favor. Don’t be that guy who can’t stay late during the week, always has plans on the weekend and can’t arrive before 9 a.m. to wrap up a big case.

Trust me! You don’t want to be that guy.

Chris Brogan (a prolific blogger and business owner, in case you haven’t heard of him) wrote a piece a few weeks back about waiting seven minutes at a local restaurant without anyone bothering to acknowledge him.

What did he do? He walked out. And went to McDonald’s, which served him in less than the seven minutes he waited in the other place.

The point of his story was that being local doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good. It just means it’s local.

Private investigators for years worked local. The work revolved around following disenchanted spouses, surveilling people collecting disability, conducting in-person interviews or visiting the scene of an accident.

Being local counted.

Much of that work still exists, but the game has changed.

Ultimately, what private investigators sell is information. While information is still obtained by following people, conducting interviews and visiting the scene, so much more information is available at our fingertips.

Investigators have access to hoards of information through investigative databases, public records, social networks and a network of other sources.

Interviews can be conducted by telephone or even via Skype.

You can find just about anyone from the comfort of your computer.

I personally conducted hundreds of interviews last year, none of which required me to leave my computer. In fact, many calls were made from thousands of miles away from my office.

I’ve identified hundreds of witnesses and long-lost family members with nothing more than a laptop, a telephone and a couple of investigative databases.

In fact, over the last several years, I have rarely had to leave my office to do my work, meet a client or interview someone.

Of course, being local still counts, but it counts less and less.

Most of our clients have never met us. Nor do they want or need to.

They have come from as far away as Australia and Pakistan and San Francisco seeking information from all over the United States and all over the world.

It didn’t matter that we weren’t local.

It mattered that we were good.

Rutgers University is a mess.

First, their basketball coach Mike Rice was fired for verbally abusing players. To replace Rice, they hired Eddie Jordan, who said he had a degree but never actually graduated. More disturbing, and hard to believe, is that the purported degree was from Rutgers University.

Following the fallout from the coaching abuse scandal, Rutgers hired Julie Hermann as the new athletic director, who turns out to have a history of misconduct and is at the center of a sex discrimination lawsuit from 2008. In hiring Hermann, Rutgers reportedly conducted a “thorough background check conducted by one of the world’s leading private security firms.”

Yesterday, news was released that Parker Executive Search was the firm hired to find Rutgers a new athletic director and provide other support with the hiring process, which included conducting a background investigation.

Most people are asking: How could they have missed all this?

It’s an excellent question, one that can’t fully be answered at this point, but this whole process has taught us a couple of valuable lessons about background investigations.

An executive search firm should NEVER be responsible for conducting a background investigation!

First, they are an executive search firm, not a background investigation firm. You wouldn’t hire a lawyer to do your taxes, especially if the lawyer’s fees are directly related to how much money you get back on your tax return.

Second, by nature, an executive search firm has absolutely no motivation to conduct an in-depth background investigation. Why would they? To dig up dirt on their own candidate whom they spent all this time looking for? It’s a complete clash between the university’s interests and their own.

Even if a search firm hires one of the “world’s leading private security firms” to conduct the background investigation, they have no motivation to dig deep and find the stuff they need to protect their clients. They are interested in protecting themselves.

If you hire a candidate for a very public position that pays $450,000 per year and you are coming off a very public scandal, splurge on a background investigation!

Rutgers paid Parker Executive Search $70,000, which included finding the candidate, providing other services and conducting the background investigation. USA Today and numerous other news outlets ran an outrageously false headline suggesting that Parker paid $70,000 for a background check. They didn’t, I promise you. They were paid a total of $70,000, a portion of which was used for a background investigation.

Pictured above: The “background investigation” outlined in the engagement letter between Parker Executive Search to Rutgers University.

Based on what they described in the engagement letter (see above), the portion set aside for the background investigation was probably no more than a few hundred dollars (not including the reference checks).

In fairness, based on some recently reports, it looks like they went a bit deeper, but the so-called “background investigation” that they describe here is nothing short of a joke.

McDonald’s candidates get a more thorough background check.

Dear employers: Stop checking the box with those background investigations.

Background checks are one of those “check the box” things that employers do. Something to put in the file. It’s not until things like this happen that they really start looking into the process a bit more deeply. The same thing happened when the CEO of Yahoo was found to never have earned a degree.

Granted, not every candidate needs a thorough, in-depth background check, but for executive hires, C-level hires, public positions, board members or companies coming off a major scandal, don’t get a “check the box” background check for the file.

This kind of background investigation is good for the circular file, but that’s about it. Get a real background investigation done.

Oh yeah … don’t count on the executive search firm to do it (properly, at least).

Not all background investigations are created equal.

Parker’s “background investigation” included “criminal, credit and motor vehicle investigations”; confirmation of candidates’ degrees; reviewing derogatory media; and checking the NCAA for infractions, in addition to some reference checks. Oh yeah … they were supposed to have the candidate sign a statement that their bio was accurate (another sick joke).

We’ve talked about this in a previous post, but the terms “background check” and “background investigation” get thrown around quite a bit. As far as I’m concerned, the so-called background investigation that Parker Executive Search promised in the engagement letter for Rutgers is a joke, especially given the level of the position and the scrutiny that Rutgers had already been under. A lot more can and should be done.

Background investigations will go as far as you want them to go.

A background investigation can be whatever you want it to be. You might consider a Google search to be a background check (it’s not). Or a criminal record search in the county where a candidate lives (sort of a background check). You can go as far as you want and call it whatever you want.

The fact is, it’s impossible to dig up everything, but at the end of the day, you get what you pay for. A background investigation firm may recommend conducting a $20,000 investigation, which in this case would not have been outrageous.

Rutgers, I am sure, would have balked.

Now, Rutgers is paying for what they got … in spades.

Recently, we were tasked with trying to obtain records relating to an individual’s entries to and exits from the United States.

I was certain that these records were not considered public record, but the case related to an ongoing criminal defense matter in federal court, so obtaining a subpoena was not an issue.

[Crib Notes: You can obtain your own records through the FOIA or through a subpoena. There is no other way to do it.]

Early on in the research, I found information on the U.S. Department of State website relating to obtaining copies of passport records. Upon closer inspection, however, I determined that “passport records” with the Department of State do not include “evidence of travel such as entrance/exit stamps, visas, residence permits.”

While this may be useful in other cases, in this particular matter, I needed information relating to travels in and out of the United States—not just when the passport was issued.

After hours of research and telephone calls with a number of contacts and sources, I was able to get some more details on how to subpoena records relating to entries to and exits from the United States.

Border crossing records

Officially, the term is “border crossing records.” These records include any entries or departures by ground, sea, or air from the United States, and are housed in the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Sources indicated that border crossing records dating back 75 years are available through U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

TECS and BCI

There are two separate databases that can provide access to border crossing information: TECS and BCI.

TECS is the principal system used by U.S. Customs officers to assist with screening and determinations regarding the admissibility of arriving persons. TECS can also be accessed by law enforcement personnel. In addition to information relating to entries and departures, TECS also includes information such as wants and warrants and terrorist watchlists.

The Border Crossing Information (BCI) database is described as a “subset” of the TECS database; it is for information relating to requests from persons other than law enforcement officials, including FOIA requests.

Individuals can access information about themselves through the FOIA to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Where to issue a subpoena?

For legal matters, border crossing information can be subpoenaed through the 20 regional operations offices, using the one that is closest to the court case at hand. (A subpoena can also be issued to the headquarters in D.C., but it would be forwarded to the closest regional office, which would add time to the process.)

What to expect …

I spoke to a representative of the regional office that was closest to the case we were working on, who provided the information outlined below. Keep in mind, each of the regional offices may operate differently, and I would strongly recommend speaking to someone in the legal department of the local regional office before obtaining a subpoena.

That person indicated that the subpoena should reference “border crossing records” and indicate the specific time period for which the border crossing records are needed.

Most subpoenas typically request two to five years of travel information. The representative was not clear if border crossing information was available for individuals who traveled into and out of the United States on a non-U.S. passport and was not clear how far back the records went; however, other sources indicated that U.S. Customs and Border Protection has 75 years’ worth of records.

In the subpoena, you should include information relating to the name of the person in question, their date of birth, and their passport number (if available).

The representative also suggested sending a copy of the criminal complaint with the subpoena or, alternatively, the case number so they could research the case themselves. I was told that they would respond to either a subpoena ordered by the court (“so ordered”) or a subpoena sent by an attorney, but that a subpoena ordered by the court would receive less scrutiny.

Once the subpoena is received and goes through the intake process, it will be assigned to an attorney in the office and will be responded to in due time. Typically, it takes a few weeks to respond.

The regional office that I contacted only accepted subpoenas by mail or certified mail; it did not accept personal service.

Also, the representative warned that the U.S. attorney assigned to the case would “probably” get notified of the request.

In closing …

So there you have it. Google didn’t help me clear up how to proceed when I was looking, but hopefully this information can be useful to someone else.

Over the past few years, we have covered the Samuel “Mouli” Cohen Story quite extensively. Now, his story is the subject of CNBC’s season premiere of American Greed on Thursday, May 16th at 10pm EST.

I don’t know about you, but my DVR is set.

• “Red Flags” You Should Have Seen – A Look Back at Mouli Cohen
• Update: The Ongoing Saga of Samuel “Mouli” Cohen
• Mouli Cohen Trial – Government to Bring Evidence of Fake Art Collection
• Samuel “Mouli” Cohen Found Guilty
• Samuel “Mouli” Cohen Sentenced to 22 Years in Prison
• Mouli Cohen – All The Trappings of Success

“Daddy,” my son said to me the other day, “what have you been working on?”

I had been putting in some extra hours in my home office getting together two presentations that I need to finish.

“I am going to do a presentation for some other people,” I told him. “What’s it about?,” he asked me.

So I told him.

For the next 20 minutes, I started giving my presentation.

He asked me questions. Good questions. Questions I hadn’t thought to ask myself.

I explained some additional details that I hadn’t thought of providing, and kept his attention for 20 minutes straight.

When I was finished, I realized something magical had happened.

In the hours and hours it had taken me to put together this presentation, it was the best 20 minutes I had spent.

Why?

I had to speak in plain language.

I wasn’t worried about what I said or concerned about following my notes to a “t.”

Or missing missing part of the story.

I made complex points into simpler, bite-size pieces so that he could understand.

I used simple language. No industry jargon that we all get wrapped up in. I didn’t assume that he knew what I was talking about.

And the questions that he brought up weren’t just questions that an eight-year-old would have had; they were questions that other people would have had too.

For those 20 minutes, I was just plain old story-telling. To an eight year old. And I came to realize that it had made more of an impact on my presentation than anything else I had done.

So from now on, when you need to make an awesome presentation, tell it to an eight-year old.

You might be amazed what you will learn.

If you are interested in hearing more about the presentation, you can join me for a webinar, Background Investigations – Beyond the Basics on May 30th, or live at the 24th Annual ACFE Conference for a presentation on How to Utilize Open Sources/Public Records for Investigation in the United States on June 26th.

This article was originally published on PInow.com.

When I was growing up, I never really enjoyed writing. I didn’t like reading much either. (That probably explains some things.)

I wasn’t a particularly bad writer; I just never enjoyed it.

That would not be terribly surprising for most kids, but my grandfather happened to be an author and happened to co-write one of the best screenplays of all time, The Graduate.

Today, I am a writing machine. I have a personal blog, I write more than 50 articles a year for my business, and have written dozens more for Pursuit Magazine and for the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, among others.

What I’ve come to realize is that writing is one of the most important skills an investigator can have.

Here is why.

Articulating Your Ideas

Writing—and reading—constantly brings me new ideas. (I have a list of about 100 ideas that I want to write about.)

When I first started, I was not terribly good at articulating those ideas. The ability to take a complex thought or idea and put it on paper is not something that we are all born with.

As an investigator, it’s what we do, though. We take vast amounts of information and try to articulate that information in a concise, easy-to-digest format. Although I have had plenty of practice at it over the past 10+ years, my writing proficiency is still a work in progress.

But writing continuously helps me get to where I need to be.

Blogging for Business

What if I told you that you can have more than 50,000 people a year knocking on your door to inquire about your investigative services? Sound enticing?

I’ve bought into the whole idea of inbound marketing. Instead of spending all my time trying to find clients, I let them find me. I blog about something they care about, they find me on Google and voila; I have people knocking on my door (not literally, thank goodness) who are qualified and ready to hire me. (It’s not always that easy, but you get the idea.)

More than 20 percent of my business comes from the Internet. I expect that to rise dramatically over the next few years.

What’s even better? Almost none of it is from my local area. It has opened my doors to the entire world instead of to a limited radius.

Practicing Makes Perfect

I have never been a particularly good writer. I could put a few phrases together, but nobody ever called upon me to come up with a perfect sentence. And grammar is about my least favorite thing.

When I first started writing I had about as much confidence as I do in the Mets’ chances of winning the World Series this year. (Not much, for those of you who aren’t sports fans.) I would have three colleagues read it before I would post it. Even then I’d be worried about what people thought.

Over the years, I have gotten better. Little by little, I’ve found a “voice” and gained confidence. I can articulate my ideas better and pump out a pretty well-written article in as little as 30 minutes. (It took me 43 minutes from idea to finished product to write this one)

And another thing … whatever is written is never going to be perfect, so you shouldn’t even try for that.

Becoming an Expert

Many calls I get from the blogs I post for my business start with something like “You seem to be an expert in …”

I know a thing or two about investigations, but I am humble enough to know that I still have many moons to go before I am an expert in anything. The truth of the matter is, I don’t know any more than any of you do.

The difference is that everything you know is in your head. The only people who know you are an expert are the people who communicate with you regularly. If even they do.

When you write about something, the whole world can see it. Suddenly your reputation for expertise is spread by leaps and bounds.

Making the Most of Your Time

Like all investigators, I go through peaks and valleys. Periods of more work than you know what to do with followed by slow periods when you wonder when you are going to get your next case. It happens to every investigator.

Writing is perfect for the slow periods. It keeps your mind fresh and ideas percolating and keeps you from worrying about your next case. I write furiously when I my workload is low. Blog articles, e-books, guides, etc. You name it, I write it.

So when I am going through a busy period, I can still post blog articles that I have stashed away.

And you don’t have to write only when you are slow. If I have an idea or learn something new, I write about it. Right then and there. I don’t know about you, but ideas stay in my head for about four and a half minutes.

Where Do You Start?

Start by writing about something that you know like the back of your hand. Use stream of consciousness. Don’t worry about making it perfect.

Then, see where it takes you. Who knows? You may end up getting more business, becoming an expert or taking advantage of those slow periods.

Or you may end up actually enjoying it like I do.

So stop wasting your time reading this article, and get writing!

This post originally appeared on ACFE Insights, a blog run by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.

As an investigator, my job is to collect information and gather facts. There is never enough information. The more, the better. But in my own experience, one of the most powerful sources of information for a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) frequently gets overlooked. Everyone has access to it, and most of what is housed in it can be accessed from the comfort of your computer. Oh yeah, and the information found there is completely free. What am I talking about? Public records.

I have been a private investigator for more than 10 years. In the work that I do, I rarely have access to financial statements, internal documents, emails or employee files. No one is obligated to talk to me, release key documents or hand over their computer. Obtaining a stack of bank records, telephone records or a hard drive of information is the kind of information that I can only dream about.

I spend most my time scouring for bits of information through public records, court records, divorce filings, probate records, state criminal repositories, property records, files in assessors’ offices, news articles, blogs, regulatory filings, court clerk records, social networks, message boards, UCC filings, corporate documents and genealogy records. I’ve been known to spend countless hours in government offices, basements of libraries and the darkest corners of courthouses. I’ve also been known to stare at creepy message boards for days on end.

What I have come to learn is that many people take public records for granted. Because they are “public,” people assume that they can’t be all that valuable. (I bet if we called them “secret records,” everyone would be clamoring for them.) Our vast system of public records in the U.S. is one of the most unique investigative assets we have. When it comes to public records, we are hands down the most open country in the world. Just the other day, an investigator in Spain told me that you cannot verify that a doctor in Spain has a license or has not been sanctioned—incredible as that may seem. Meanwhile, anyone in the U.S. can do that, but I doubt many people have.

Most people don’t realize how public records can serve as resources to help connect the dots; develop a complete picture; fill in the blanks; and find supporting documentation, hidden clues or just plain old dirt.

As an investigator, your job is to collect information and facts. And if part of collecting information doesn’t include using the vast resources found in public records, you are definitely missing out.

I will address this topic at the upcoming 24th Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference, where I will share my tips and techniques to mining vast databases of public records in my session, “How to Utilize Open Sources/Public Records for Investigation in the United States.” I will share my “go-to” sources as well as provide real-life examples of scenarios in which accessing public records could have saved the day.

How much does a background investigation cost … or … what are the fees for a background investigation?

This, of course, is always one of the first questions someone has when they are considering paying for a background investigation.

The short answer is a background investigation can cost anywhere from a few hundred dollars to thousands of dollars.

Or if you want to conduct a background investigation like the FBI does, it will cost you several hundred thousand dollars.

What you may need is something in between the various $19.95 online services and the several-hundred-thousand-dollar background investigation.

You want something that will give you peace of mind—in-depth, nonbiased, fact-based information that does not compromise accuracy.

As with any service, the more involved the project (in terms of both time and expenses), the more it is going to cost. And also as with any service, neither the cheapest nor the most expensive company is always the best choice.

Here are some general cost guidelines:

Red Flag Background Investigation ($500 to $1500)
A red flag background investigation will confirm the subject’s background information as well as highlight potential adverse information in order to help you make a more informed decision. A search of information at this level would include researching numerous proprietary databases, public records, news media and government repositories, with a focus on identifying critical red flags and warning signs of potential fraud; this information could be critical to know before you enter into a business or financial relationship, investment, or other transaction with the subject.

Professional Background Investigation ($1500 to $2500)
While a red flag background investigation is designed to identify essential adverse issues, a professional background check digs deeper into the individual’s professional history, business interests and financial status, as well as any issues relating to civil litigation and regulatory issues. A professional background investigation goes beyond online searches and includes a range of on-site court searches in the relevant jurisdictions and a detailed review of select records.

Comprehensive Background Investigation ($2500 and up)
A comprehensive background investigation gives you the most complete picture of the individual. It includes everything described above, plus additional analyses and reviews of business interests, court filings and news media appearances, as well as intelligence from sources that cannot be gained elsewhere. In addition, the comprehensive background investigation may include a review of assets and credit history (with written consent of the subject), source inquiries, asset information, and political contributions to identify conspicuous consumption warnings or close political connections.

This post is part of a series of posts titled Background Investigations 101 – What You Need To Know.