Whether you’re looking to recoup a divorce settlement or recover judgments in business disputes, a financial investigation is an essential step in transforming legal mandates into tangible results. Learn how TIN’s nationwide and GLB compliant bank searches can help you uncover hidden assets and ensure you receive the 흥신소 compensation you deserve.
Hiding Assets
People hide assets for a number of reasons. They may want to keep their personal property like homes and cars out of the public records; they might be trying to protect themselves from creditors; or they may be planning a divorce. A quality asset investigation can help shed light on these types of schemes.
A common way that people hide assets is through the use of trusts. This includes domestic trusts like land and car titles holding trusts, as well as offshore trusts. A knowledgeable investigator can investigate these and other forms of hidden assets to make sure an aggrieved party gets what they are owed.
Financial investigations are an important component of countering serious crime and terrorism financing. Following the money trail can help investigators uncover previously unknown associates and link them to criminal networks. This can lead to the identification of new prosecutable offenses, including money laundering and terrorist financing.
A comprehensive financial investigation can also assist in detecting fraud, corruption and other economic crimes. In many cases, a financial investigation can be conducted simultaneously with the criminal investigation in order to trace the proceeds of the crime. In addition, a financial investigation can reveal information that leads to other investigations and potential suspects. In the case of money laundering, this can involve offshore centers, corporate vehicles, nominees and “straw men”. It is important to utilize a variety of investigative techniques when conducting a financial investigation.
Identity Theft and Fraud
From COVID-19 scams to unemployment fraud, identity theft is more than an inconvenience; it can have devastating consequences. A new electronic publication from four grantees — the Identity Theft Resource Center; the Victims Initiative for Counseling, Advocacy and Restoration in the Southwest; Maryland Crime Victim Assistance; and Atlanta Victim Assistance – presents varied approaches to helping victims of these crimes.
Financial identity theft involves criminals using stolen credit card, debit and bank account information to impersonate someone else to run up debt, obtain loans or goods and services in that person’s name. It can also impact a victim’s credit reports and scores. Criminals typically use PII, such as Social Security and bank account numbers, to illegally establish credit accounts or drain existing ones.
A variety of factors can cause identity theft and fraud, including hacking and data breaches. Criminals may steal a victim’s PII by posing as someone they know or even their trusted family members, such as children or spouses.
The best way to avoid becoming an identity theft victim is to closely monitor your credit card, bank and other financial statements. Check your credit report regularly and notify companies of any suspicious activity. Contact each company directly and ask them to close any unauthorized accounts, and always send correspondence by certified mail with return receipt requested.
Debt Collection
Debt collection is an often-frustrating process, but it can also reveal hidden assets. Hiding assets through corporations or LLCs is a common method, but it can be difficult for debt collectors to see beyond the corporate veil. It can also be dangerous to a debtor’s financial security, especially if the assets are shifted to another person.
In the United States, federal and state laws regulate how debt collectors can contact you and what information they must provide about a debt. For example, debt collectors cannot contact your family members unless you tell them to do so and they must identify themselves as debt collectors in those communications. Similarly, if debt collectors use social media to contact you, they must identify themselves as debt collectors and provide you with a simple way to opt out of further communications in those messages.
Finally, debt collectors must inform you of your rights and how to dispute a debt before they try collecting it. They must provide you with a written debt validation notice that includes the name of the original creditor, how much you owe and other important details.
Additionally, debt collectors are prohibited from harassing you or using other unfair or unconscionable tactics to collect a debt. This includes, but is not limited to, contacting you at unreasonable times, calling your employer without permission, depositing post-dated checks prematurely, deceiving you into paying for collection calls or applying your payment to a debt other than the one you indicate.
Asset Recovery
Asset recovery focuses on seizing and confiscating the proceeds of criminal activity, such as cash, vehicles or high-value goods. This is a vital part of making sure crime does not pay and is often used by law enforcement agencies to disrupt organised crime and reduce harm in communities.
The process of tracking assets can be complex and requires a thorough financial investigation to ensure the traceable path of funds is followed all the way to their hiding place, and causality is established between illicitly acquired assets and criminal activities. This is particularly challenging in developing countries where monies are typically kept in informal channels and can be difficult to trace through traditional financial systems.
A key tool in this work is the deep web, a vast reservoir of information that is not indexed by conventional search engines and can be a goldmine for investigators. However, navigating the deep web should be done carefully and with professional help and legal advice. Firms claiming to have inside information or government connections are likely to be scammers, so it’s best to avoid them altogether.
In addition to tracing assets through criminal proceedings, States can also use civil proceedings called in rem actions to recover corruptly acquired property directly. These are civil actions in which guilt is assigned to the property rather than to an individual and can include piercing bank secrecy, freezing assets to prevent dispersal and other powerful tools.