One of the biggest unspoken topics in the PI world especially so in the UK is the topic of rogue PI's with no experience or qualifications. Indeed the industry is full of them and you will read this on many other websites, most blame the lack of regulation and need for a license which surely does not help. Here I will go through the warning signs of a bad firm when searching online.
1. Stock photos
At first glance it may seem professional, lets think about this. A person with advanced level photography skills, high end recording equipment and a business that bases themselves on this.... using stock photos! Nothing says scam like stock photos. You know they either don't have the equipment or don't know how to use, why else use stock photos.
2. 0800, 0300 and other numbers while claiming to be local
Sure some firms may have regional offices that take all calls but the problem is a lot of these claim to be local to you. "Our Poole based Office" and then a 0800 number to call hmmm. I have found many other competitors actually drive around the country using an army of "local" websites all cloned with names changed to drum up work. Then they add this into their bill, 2-5 hours driving plus petrol, who wants to pay for that?
3. Claims of being local when they are not
This happens primarily because of how google and other databases record and prioritise things, if your business name is Private Investigator Dartmoor you will rank highly when someone uses that search term. It's dirty tactics.
4. Diverted calls
You phone up and you hear your call being transferred, you end up speaking to someone who knows nothing about investigative practice and is just there to arrange a call back for you. They won't tell you this though.
5. They have hundreds of websites
Only fraudsters need to the same websites cloned hundreds of times, this ties back to the claims of being local and using national phone numbers.
6. They aren't a registered Ltd
Some firms or individuals try to stay completely anonymous, on it's own this is not a bad idea as you can anger people in this line of work. But if something goes wrong, they will be nowhere to be found.
7. Website content is gobbledegook
Keyword stuffing to get improve their google ranking abusing the SEO (search engine optimisation). If your reading their home page and it has paragraphs and paragraphs about how to be a private investigator and other non-relevant information you know they are keyword stuffing in a pathetic attempt to force google to rank them more highly.
Here are some example of what you may end up getting into bed with.