What Is A Private Investigator?
A Private Investigator (PI) searches for clues to gather evidence for court cases or private clients. They interview people, verify information, conduct surveillance, find missing persons, and gather vital facts for cases.
Today, Private Investigation is a booming industry that includes digital security, digital forensics, and Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) investigations.
If you’d like to read more about these services, you can click on this link here.
What Does A Private Investigator Typically Do?
Today, Private Investigation is a booming industry that includes digital security, digital forensics, and Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) investigations.
Here is a list of services a PI agency would provide:
Is Hiring A Private Investigator Legal In Singapore?
Private Investigators operating in Singapore provide investigative services to legal firms, insurance companies, corporate companies, and private individuals to gather evidence and information. Litigation support is also a type of investigation service Singapore Private Detective offer to lawyers.
Private individuals hire Private Investigators for many reasons such as locating missing people, conducting background checks, gathering evidence for adultery, conducting general surveillance, and many others.
Most Singapore Private Investigator’s scope of work is in conducting surveillance, field investigation, and conducting online searches. Pretext phone calls are often used by Private Investigators to confirm the information and gather data on the subject.
In Singapore Private Investigation Agencies Are licensed by the Police Licensing & Regulatory Department located at Police Cantonment Complex, 393 New Bridge Road, Singapore 088763.
Private Investigators are legally required to undergo training and hold licenses issued by the Singapore Police (PLRD). As a result, a PI will be able to advise the client as to the legality of the methods used in the investigation.
As of 2019, there are no specific privacy laws in Singapore.
By law, certain investigations require special permits for a PI agency before their conduct their work. Such cases include assignments like investigating political figures, foreign diplomats, consuls, or their families, as well as the conduct of surveillance on certain protected (or militarily sensitive) places, foreign consulates, government buildings, departure and entry checkpoints, or certain private schools, require the special approval of the Singapore Police.
It is also a legal requirement in Singapore for Private Detectives to be licensed by the Private Investigation Agency Licensing & Regulatory Department (PLRD). The License is always on display in the office or most Private Detectives will save a copy on the phone.
Do some research on their experience and expertise before you meet up with them. Read more in-depth on their website and ask some questions about their experience and their success rate.
3 Reasons Why You Should Hire A Private Investigator
1. Confidentiality
Make sure that your private investigator is trustworthy and maintains client confidentiality. There are many cases where investigation details have been unintentionally leaked out which may jeopardize the case.
2. Licensed
Working with an unauthorized private investigator is illegal in Singapore. That goes without saying. However, something you might not know is that a licensed private investigator is not allowed to solicit services on his own. Only the licensee of a Private Investigation Agency can advertise to provide private investigation services.
3. Experience
An experienced private investigator will take a different approach to your case as opposed to a novice. This means having results done in the most effective ways including using the latest technology such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), and creative strategies that will not compromise the objectives of the case.
Additionally, your PI will be able to advise you on the most effective way of dealing with a situation when you are at a loss. Here's an example.
Who Should Hire A Private Investigator?
Ever wondered what are the most common cases a Private Investigator in Singapore takes on? Well, for obvious reasons, we cannot reveal the details, but in this article, we will share an overview of the most common cases a private investigator does.
1. Cheating Spouse
One of the most common causes for a private investigator in Singapore is, you’ve guessed it, infidelity. Catching cheating partners, or gathering evidence for one’s suspected infidelity is the leading reason an individual hires a private investigator.
With more than 30 years of experience in the local and international private investigator industry, Vincent Tan of Asia Top Investigation LLP has won various recognition and accolades as one of the best private detectives in the world.
“People make mistakes, but the most important thing is to learn to forgive and learn from mistakes.” That is a belief and value that Vincent takes with him when serving his clients. He said that not all of his clients wanted to divorce their spouses when they engaged him to conduct surveillance of their spouses. Some of them just wanted to find out more about the third party and why the spouse is cheating.
From Vincent’s perspective, the group of clients’ main intention is to save their marriages rather than divorce. Hence, he saw a need to go a step further, to give advice to his clients on ways to protect their marriages.
When asked whether he managed to save any marriage over the years, he said yes. He did manage to do so for some of the cases. This is probably a unique factor we learned from Vincent and his private investigation team at Asia Top Investigation LLP.
He has a very high success rate in catching cheating spouses. Yet, he also encourages his clients to forgive their spouses. Therefore, he has many clients who feel comfortable working with him.
2. Background Investigations
Background investigations are employers’ principal means of securing information about potential hires from sources other than the applicants themselves. A background investigation generally involves determining whether an applicant may be unqualified for a position due to a record of a criminal conviction, poor credit history, or misrepresentation regarding education or work history.
More often than not, Private Investigators are hired by corporations to do background checks on persons of interest. However, occasionally, individuals can also hire PIs to do a background check on someone else, such as the reason for pre-marital background checks.
In some cases, should the clients require detailed background checks, the private investigator may also conduct evidence-gathering surveillance to ensure that the details are accurate and up to date.
3. Commercial Investigations
There are many types of Commercial Investigations conducted by some Private Investigation Agencies in Singapore. Commercial investigations on trademarks, copyrights, patents, and trade secrets are some of the common investigations being conducted. A non-use market survey for potential trademark owners is also commonly conducted by Private Investigators to strike off the registered trademark that is not been used consecutively for five years.
Commercial Cases
In Singapore, Private Investigators conduct commercial investigations related to cases such as Intellectual Property Investigation, Background Investigation, Insurance Fraud, Due Diligence, Trade Secret, Breach of Confidentiality, Assets Recovery, Partnership Fraud, Locating Missing Persons, Tracing Debtor, Product Evidence Purchase with Covert Recording. Identify Writers of Poison /Defamatory Letters, Negotiation On Behalf Of Clients, Extortion or Blackmailing Cases, Bribery Cases, Detecting Spyware/ Tracking Devices, and many more.
Intellectual Property Investigation
This is one of the most common commercial investigations conducted. Asia Top Investigation LLP’s top investigator, Vincent Tan has been conducting trademarks and copyrights investigations since the 1990s. He has worked with most of the leading law firms specializing in trademarks and copyright law. Most of his clients are from Law Firms, Luxury Brands products, Pharmaceutical Companies, Computer Software Companies, Entertainment Companies, Fashion Companies, F & B Companies, Building Material Companies, Digital Media Companies, Transport Companies, Aesthetics Companies, and many others.
Some of these enforcement cases were reported in local and overseas newspapers and media. Namely, these were reported in The Straits Times, Shin Min Daily News, The New Paper, Channel News Asia, MediaCorp Channel 5, and Channel 8.
If you’re looking for an experienced PI to help solve your case or if you need some advice on an ongoing case, you may contact Asia Top Investigation at vt@asiatopinvestigation.com or WhatsApp us at +65 8820 0007.