There are plenty of reasons people come to us to find out information on a particular person; for some it’s commercial, and for others it’s personal – sometimes it concerns matrimony and infidelity (checking on a cheating spouse) or even trying to locate missing persons.

Whatever your reasons, a private detective you can call in confidence 24/7 can help collect evidence which can even be used in civil law or criminal law! But how do they gather such evidence? Let’s take a look at some of the ways detective services in London can find out literally anything about a person:

1. Surveillance and observation

In a high-tech world, this is perhaps the most old-fashioned means of evidence gathering – but rather than relying on gadgets such as a vehicle tracker, it requires a specific skill set that only a private detective can offer. Of course, surveillance can be combined with technology, and remote surveillance (including bugging, GPS and vehicle tracking) can be utilised.

2. Social media and open source searches

It’s amazing how much information people share on their social media accounts – even if your person of interest is private enough to keep their information locked down, their friends and family might be sharing information without their knowledge – such as photos or location check-ins. All of this information is open-source, so social media investigation falls within ethical and legal boundaries. Likewise, scouring local newspaper archives in libraries or online can reveal a lot about a person – particularly if they’ve had any news-worthy convictions.

3. Human intelligence

Casual conversations in passing with people who know your person of interest can reveal a lot – particularly when you’re conversing with someone who’s had a dispute or business transaction with them in the past.

4. Public records

Whether we like it or not, there are many public records which can be scoured for previous address checks and current address checks by Lancashire investigators. This can be useful when wanting to ascertain whether someone is being honest about their past.

5. Garbology

It may sound like a joke, but your bin actually says a lot about you – how much you drink, whether you have any dietary preferences or requirements, and occasionally a credit card bill or bank statement can reveal a lot (for example, visits to particular areas or hotel bookings).