Private Investigator Surveillance Methods and Terms

Private investigators use a variety of tactics to produce evidence that may be used to deny your disability insurance claim.  Below is a list of different private investigator surveillance methods and terms.  

Disability Surveillance – refers to the monitoring, recording and documenting of activities or behavior of another.  In the disability context, this surveillance is called sub rosa surveillance.  Sub rosa, a Latin phrase which translated means “under the rose,” denotes the secretive and clandestine nature of private investigator actions.

Disability Stake outs – according to Shannon Detective Service, Inc.—a private investigation company whose client list includes Arizona Counties Insurance Pool, CNA Commercial Insurance, Danielson Insurance, Farmers Insurance, Federated Mutual Insurance Company, Hartford Insurance, Insurance Company of the West, Liberty Mutual Insurance, Nationwide Insurance, Progressive Insurance, Seabright Insurance Company, Sedgwick Claims Service, Travelers Insurance and Westfield Insurance—this is a stationary surveillance method by which a private investigator documents and records a claimant’s activities.  The hallmark feature of a stake out is that the private investigator does not move or follow the disabled claimant.  In a typical stake out operation the private investigator may station in front of your home or office and record you as you come and go.  The goal of the stake out is to produce evidence that will enable the insurance company to deny your disability insurance claim.  An ABC News story shows how an insurance company successfully denied a doctor’s disability claim with evidence produced during a stake out.

Disability Pretexting – the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) defines pretexting as “the practice of getting your personal information under false pretenses.”  Private investigators are engaging in illegal conduct when they use pretexting to obtain your personal information from a financial institution.  See 15 U.S.C. § 6801, et seq.

Here’s an example of how this works: someone pretends to be you and calls your bank.  The person claims to have forgotten your checkbook, account number, social security number or other sensitive information.  He then tries to get this information from the bank.  Such conduct constitutes pretexting and violates federal law.  Id.

Although private investigators claim to use only “appropriate” pretexting methods, methods which are not illegal per se, these are the same techniques which are used to facilitate identity theft and consumer fraud.  Check out the FTC website for more information about pretexting and how you can protect yourself.

Disability Tracking Devices and GPS – this area of the law is still evolving.  In a recent Supreme Court case, United States v. Jones, the Court held that attaching a GPS device to a vehicle constitutes a “search” under the Fourth Amendment; therefore, law enforcement officials need a warrant before installing the device.  132 S. Ct. 945, 949 (2012).  Although the Court did not address the attachment of GPS devices in the private investigation context, its decision largely turned on the physical trespass involved in attaching a GPS device to another person’s vehicle.  Id.  The Court stated:

It is important to be clear about what occurred in this case: The Government physically occupied private property for the purpose of obtaining information. We have no doubt that such a physical intrusion would have been considered a “search” within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment when it was adopted.

Id.  Therefore, this ruling may be used to argue against private investigator installations of GPS devices since such installation would also constitute a physical trespass.  Private investigation companies, such as Shannon Detective Services, Inc. (SDS), are now looking how to bypass the physical trespass issue altogether through implementation of other technologies that do not require physical attachment.  Here are two examples of other technologies cited from the SDS website:

  • Disability stingrays (a device that can triangulate a cell phone signal to locate a user) will become popular in the future as a way to skirt around the new GPS laws for law enforcement.
  • Disability ping of cell phones (by accessing a user’s cell phone GPS chip) will also fill the gap created by GPS legislation since the FCC has mandated GPS chips to  be installed in all new cell phones by 2018.