Another story is in the news of a film producer who has vanished; and his friends and investors want to know what happened to the £45m of their money which has also vanished [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/11923986/Missing-film-producer-who-disappeared-owing-45m—betrayed-friends.html]. It's a surprisingly familiar story in the world of private detection; a missing person case where the missing person has vanished after a failed investment. There are all sorts of things that happen, and nobody knows what's been going on in this particular case, but it set us thinking about some general points about background checks in business.

In our experience, people who "disappear" often give you a lot of clues ahead of time that something isn't right if you know where to look. They are often charming and convincing people, but there is usually something about their story which doesn't check out. You have "wealthy investors" who are always short of cash, people who can't be contacted at the address they've given you, or people with long unexplained gaps in their biographies. In fact, a lot of con artists tend to be repeat offenders, and may have left lots of evidence that they aren't to be trusted if you know where to look. 

A bit of work in carrying out background checks can save a lot of embarrassment and financial disaster down the line. If you take a bit of time and get some professional help to verify backgrounds, you can find out whether the new opportunity that's being offered to you really is too good to be true. This is where private detectives come in. Carrying out tracking and background checks is a core competence, and it's an area where expertise really matters, particularly since people may have changed their names and identities to try to cover their tracks.

It might seem like an overreaction to hire a detective to check out a new business partner or investor, but think about it this way – you wouldn't put money into a company without having an accountant look at the books, would you? Human beings don't have accounts, but they leave a record behind them of everything that they've done, which is accessible to specialists in background checks and due diligence.