25

COOL STUFF THAT DID NOT FIT IN EARLIER

If Sherlock Holmes were alive today and on the trail of a terrorist, he would not have to leave his rented first-floor flat at 221B Baker Street, London. Instead, he would be hacking into confidential databases on his computer, making “pretext” telephone calls on his untraceable mobile phone, and squeezing information from his Muslim informants in the Arab world.

Contrast that with the average private investigator. Even other PIs lament the fact that there are so many incompetent and/or shady characters in their field.

ARE MOST PIS COMPETENT?

No more than all lawyers are competent. As in any other profession, there are a few experts, but many more who barely plod through. To illustrate, consider the famous Barbara Kurth Fagan case:

Stephen and Barbara Fagan had been married for five years, eloping to Haiti on the day that Stephen divorced Leah, his first wife. Then came a venomous divorce. He got the house. Barbara got the kids. He didn’t like that, and on October 28, 1979, he snatched the children, then only two and five, from his ex-wife’s home in suburban Boston. He fled with the girls to Palm Beach County, Florida, where his parents and a sister already lived. He changed the girls’ names to Rachael and Lisa and his own to William Stephen Martin.

Back in Massachusetts, Barbara regained her maiden name of Kurth and filed a criminal complaint. Over the years, she hired various private investigators, but they came up blank. Finally, she gave up. She pressed ahead with her own life, remarried, and became a noted expert in cell biology.

Meanwhile, her ex-husband fashioned a good life for himself in South Florida: big houses, fast cars, and very rich wives. Nearly twenty years passed before someone in his or his latest wife’s family decided Stephen’s days of high living should come to an end. A tip to the authorities was all it took. Police nabbed him at his $2.2 million oceanfront estate, bought by wife number four, and he was returned to Massachusetts to face felony charges of kidnapping.

Why couldn’t Barbara track him down? One reason was given in the May 25, 1998, issue of Newsweek:

Fagan and his daughters insist Kurth should have been able to find them if she’d really searched. Kurth’s family says she spent more than $10,000 on lawyers and private investigators—to no avail. A 1982 report from one PI warns her that staking out Fagan’s sister’s home in Florida would be an expensive long shot.

Others say she spent triple that but whatever it was, either it was not enough, or—more likely!—she hired the wrong investigators.

TRAVEL TIPS

PRIVATE HOME

Before you leave on a long trip, do you leave a key with a neighbor? I suggest you not only not leave a key, but do not even say you are leaving. (Use timers that turn on lights, TV, stereo, sprinklers, etc., at varying times.) Louis R. Mitzell Jr., in his book Invasion of Privacy, tells the story of a Maryland couple who, before leaving on a vacation in August 1994, left a key with a neighbor. When they returned from their trip they picked up the key, thanked the neighbor, and thought no more about it.

“Then,” writes Mitzell, “in January 1995, the couple was adjusting a heating vent in their bathroom when they discovered a camera. Later that night, the couple found a second camera behind a heating vent in a dressing room and followed cables leading through their attic, down a drainpipe, and underground into their neighbor’s home. The neighbor had been watching the couple in the bathroom and dressing room for months—and it wasn’t against the law.”

APARTMENT

The problem here is that even if you do not leave a key with anyone when going on vacation, the landlord does have a key. Landlords surreptitiously enter apartments more often than you might think—in fact, it once happened to me. That was fifty-six years ago, but there were such serious consequences that I haven’t forgotten it yet.

Anthony Herbert, in his book Complete Security Handbook, has this to say in the section about locks:

Change them without the management’s knowledge. (Remove the cylinder, take it to a locksmith, and get combination changed.) If the manager or janitor later complains, ask why he was attempting to enter your apartment while you were not present. Better to incur a minor lease violation than to be dead!

No one should be permitted to visit your apartment unaccompanied, except in a life-and-death emergency!

CHECK YOUR LAPTOP

If you travel to the UK and carry a laptop with sensitive information, beware of random checks. An agent might ask, “Do you have any pornography on your hard drive?” Even though you have no such thing on there and tell him so, he’ll say, “Well then, you won’t mind if we turn it on and have a look, right?” If a password is needed, he will ask for it. If a file is encrypted, he will tell you to unencrypt it. This is beginning to happen in other countries, and it may soon be coming to an airport or a border crossing near you. One remedy—if you must get a secret file through customs—is to mail it ahead on a memory chip. Another is to have everything in the cloud.

CROSSING INTO MEXICO OR CANADA

In an emergency, you may be forced to journey north or south. If so, and if you are a native-born U.S. citizen, there should normally be no problem when crossing a border in either direction, as long as neither you nor your vehicle look suspicious.

You should know, however, that there are two types of border inspections, primary and secondary. You do not want secondary, not ever, because then your name will go into the computer and, to paraphrase the ads for the Roach Motel, travelers who check in to the computer never check out.

Suggestions:

• Dress like a tourist. Clean and neat, but no tie.

• Do not cross with anything to declare, or with any item even remotely suspicious. No fruit, no weapons, no drugs. Best way to cross is on a tour bus. Next best way is on foot, at a busy crossing, during the busiest hours, but taking a car is certainly more convenient, despite the fact that your license plate may go into a computer. (Here’s where it pays off to have your car registered in the name of an LLC.)

• Do not cross into Mexico with an RV if you can avoid it. Some Americans have been arrested in Mexico and held under false pretenses, with the goal of allowing the American to go free if he leaves his motor home behind. (An RV is okay for Canada.)

• If there are several lines leading to multiple booths at the crossing, pick your lane and then stick with it. If you change lanes, the inspector from the original lane may spot you, think you’re trying to avoid him, and make you get back in line. Then, when your turn comes, you’ll get more attention than you really wanted to receive.

Never cross in either direction with a flippant attitude, because both customs inspectors (CIs) and immigration inspectors (IIs) have you in their total power. They can search you, your vehicle, and your belongings for whatever reason, or for no reason at all. Therefore, before you approach the border, first check your wallet or purse, and then the glove compartment and the trunk. (If you carry my book with you, put on a different dust jacket!) Be prepared to answer any questions whatsoever, no matter how personal or insulting. Lawyers (and some egocentric businessmen) have been known to say, “Do I have to answer that?” The response, as given by Customs Inspector Ned Beaumont in his book Beat the Border, is:

You don’t have to answer. But then again, you don’t have to cross the border. And you’re not going to cross the border until you answer that question and any others I see fit to ask. Understand?

CIs and IIs are skilled at deception, aka lying. If they preface something by saying, “You don’t need to worry about thus-and-so…” start worrying! They may try the good cop/bad cop routine, like in the movies. Remember that it’s really bad cop/worse cop. These folks are not your buddies. Keep cool and collected on the outside, skeptical and cynical on the inside. Beaumont makes this point in his “People Smarts” section:

An inspector talks to more liars in a month than the layman does in a lifetime. How good at spotting liars do you think that inspector is going to be in a year? Or five? Or ten? I’ve worked with inspectors who’d been on the job for twenty years. They could detect a lie … without fail, in the first five seconds of the inspection.

When you are asked for the purpose of your trip, do not just answer “business” or “pleasure,” the inspectors hear that all the time. Be specific: “We’re going up to Abbotsford to buy a Clipper canoe,” or “We’re going to the boat show at the Winnipeg Convention Centre.”

If they ask you if you have ever been arrested, tell the truth—even if it was a false arrest just after World War II and you only spent one night in jail. Their computers are connected with U.S. law-enforcement databases going back to the Spanish–American War! (Slight hyperbole here, but not much.)

A final word of warning: Don’t even think of using a false ID. Even if it’s perfect, you’ll know it’s not, and the inspector will sense that fact.

HOW TO DEAL WITH CLERKS AND TELLERS

First of all, dress like they do, or just a bit better. No matter how convinced you are that clothes make the man or woman, reading John T. Molloy’s bestseller, Dress for Success, will make you even more of a true believer. To Molloy’s book I add the following:

If you are a woman, dress and act like a woman, emphasis on “dress” as in the noun. If you are a man, and if getting others to accept your requests for privacy is high on your list of priorities, show up freshly shaved and with a short haircut. Right or wrong, I often refuse requests from anyone who draws attention to himself or herself by outward appearance rather than by inward qualities of honesty, integrity, loyalty, and virtue. (I wish they’d teach that in grade schools.)

Next, private investigators suggest that when at all possible, deal with the opposite sex. This applies to trips to the bank, the county courthouse, the utility companies, and to any other location where low-level clerks deal with the public. If you are a woman, seek out a man. If you are a man, talk to a woman.

CREDIT CARD SECURITY MEASURE

Restaurants and other businesses sometimes toss out credit card receipts without shredding them. To protect yourself against this possibility, as soon as you sign the slip, cross out the last four digits of the number (both on the original, and on your copy). If anyone protests, assure him or her that you absolutely positively have this legal right.

However, the best protection is to never, ever, use a credit card at a restaurant, bar, saloon, massage parlor, or anywhere else where you are allowed to pay your bill in dollars, euros, pesos, rubles, pounds, yen, or rupees.

FAKE IDS

It is useless to order fake IDs on the Internet. Either you won’t get anything at all, or what you do get will be worthless. Here is an additional reason: Sooner or later these companies get busted. When they do, the authorities will of course grab the customer list. Would you like them to spot your name and address on that list?

HERE’S A REALLY LOW PROFILE

Consider the methods of Kate M____, one of my readers, who takes her privacy very seriously indeed. She has found the people she meets uninterested in privacy, and skeptical about her concerns, but that hasn’t stopped her. “I’ve mostly quit telling others about it and just quietly go about the business of protecting myself without telling anyone what I’m doing,” says Kate. She’s chosen to work from home for maximum flexibility and privacy, staying in control of her own schedule and managing to avoid the crowds. “Often, I go grocery-shopping late at night (eleven P.M..) or even at two or three A.M., at the store that’s open twenty-four hours. Advantages include no traffic; parking right at the front door of the supermarket; no lines.… I can do my shopping in 30 percent less time. Plus, I see almost no one. Also, I can check my PO box and drive by my ghost address (a lockable mailbox on a rural road.) Even without tinted windows, driving at night means fewer people can recognize me. Even my nondescript old car and its color are harder to recognize at night. When I park the car out in public in the daytime, I’m now very sensitive to making sure there are no identifying items inside (letters or anything with my name on it). But I’ve also discovered that when I shop in the daytime, if I park in an out-of-the-way place at the outer edge of the parking lot, there are fewer people who will walk past my car on their way into the store/mall. So fewer people to notice my car.”

However, I do not necessarily recommend Kate’s use of the dark to enhance her privacy. In many areas, it would be dangerous for a lone woman to be out so late at night.

THE “LAST FOUR” DIGITS

Does it sound innocent enough when you are asked for “the last four digits” of your Social Security number? For example, cable TV operators ask that question when you order their service (assuming you wisely decline to read off the number of your driver’s license.) This number can identify you, because who else with your same name would also have the same last four digits of the SSN? The easy solution is to have some other four-digit number ready to use. Think about it ahead of time. Perhaps it will be a date in history, or the house number where you once lived long ago.

SERIOUS WARNING ABOUT RÉSUMÉS!

A lead article in the newsletter Bottom Line Personal, based on an interview with me, brought this excellent advice from a reader. Writing to me as “a public service,” a reader of the interview warned:

You neglected to point out how dangerous it is to put one’s résumé on the Internet. I am a professional recruiter and I can tell you more harm can come from this one action than anything else. There are malevolent people out there who are profiling everybody who has a résumé on the ’Net. It is by far the most dangerous thing you can do—it goes way beyond anything you wrote about. Nothing you wrote even compares to the damage done by allowing so many people to see your résumé; where you live, where you have worked, your references, salaries, etc. Please let people know they must never ever put a résumé on the Internet. NEVER EVER!

FILLING OUT FORMS

A recent documentary on TV showed how private information is picked up and sold to criminals involved in identity theft. Tens of thousands of businesses toss out application forms without shredding them. This includes applications for employment, for loans, and for credit cards. If you have any family members currently filling out such forms, make sure that they never list your home address and specifically ask how such information is later disposed of.

RECORDED MUSIC ON HOLD

When some large corporations—especially the telephone companies—put you on hold with recorded music, the company operator does not hear the music. Instead, he or she is listening to what you may be saying to another person while waiting to come back on line.

NEVER HIRE AN EMPLOYEE

There is only one way to keep your private life private (and stay out of the dreaded New Hires list). You must work for yourself. If you are (or plan to be) a carpenter, a salesperson, an artist, an architect, an interior decorator, a hairdresser, or any similar profession where you can work alone, I suggest you do work alone. The same applies to starting your own small business. You may not get rich, but you can certainly shoot for $100,000 a year. That will be sufficient to live a simple, debt-free life.

In fact, the absolute best kinds of home-based businesses are those that can be run alone or just with help from family members. Many a small business, although successful in the beginning, has come to grief when the owner was tempted to expand. Business writer Michael LeBoeuf, in his book The Perfect Business, lists some of the problems connected with hiring one or more employees:

• Your freedom and flexibility will be forever restricted.

• You must give up privacy when an outsider comes into your home.

• You are now responsible for bringing in more money to cover wages and benefits.

• The government will burden you with odious payments and record-keeping chores.

• If an employee fails to show up for work, the extra work will either have to be done by you, or it won’t get done at all.

• Every time someone quits, you have to start all over.

To the above, I would add one more caveat. Judging by what I read in the papers these days, if you have to fire a woman, she might come back to you with a charge of discrimination or harassment. If you fire a man, he might come back with a gun.

ARE YOU UNDER SURVEILLANCE?

In days gone by, an unfamiliar van parked across the street from your house or apartment might be a signal that a PI was inside. However, the public is getting familiar with this, so the latest ploy is to use a generic sports utility vehicle (SUV). The tip-off in this case may be a darkened window where the driver sits. In many states it is against the law to put a dark tint on the driver and passenger door windows. Therefore the PI carries a piece of darkened Plexiglas, cut out in the shape of the window, and puts it in place only when he is parked and doing surveillance work.

INFORMATION-SHARING

Airline passengers are not the only ones being secretly profiled to determine if they are a danger to flight safety or for any other reason. Since 9/11, the private sector has also been sharing information with the government. Many supermarkets, of course, make this information available, but so do clubs you might not think of, such as the National Association of Scuba Divers. Libraries and bookstores are under pressure as well. And especially FedEx and UPS.

By the way, did you know that some national hotel chains share lists of movie titles—including pornos—rented by its customers? While the name of the movie isn’t on the bill, it is included in the customer profile. This information is shared with their many affiliates, including other hotels and restaurants.

HOW TO COPE WITH THE LOSS OF YOUR HOME

“You may not realize it when it happens,” wrote Walt Disney, “but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.” But how could losing your home be good news? Let me count the ways:

1. Lesson learned. Never again buy anything that you cannot pay cash for.

2. Relief. No more backbreaking mortgage payments. No more taxes, no more upkeep, no more being locked into the burden of long-term debt. All you have to pay now is rent.

3. Freedom. Suppose you are renting from month to month, and an obnoxious family moves in next door, or if drug dealers start dealing in your area, or if a nearby barking dog keeps you awake at night. You just move!

4. Privacy. If you have been getting mail and deliveries at home, or if your home address is listed in databases, or if it appears on your driver’s license, your only solution will be to move—and then follow the principles outlined in this book. Although most readers can see the wisdom of this, they usually feel that selling their home and moving to another location is too great a sacrifice. But if your home is repossessed, why, here’s your chance for true privacy at last!

MAGNETIC LOCKS

These locks are also marketed under various trade names. They are extremely useful for purposes of privacy. There is no keyhole to give away private hiding spaces. Suppose, for example, that you slip your laptop into such a place whenever you are away from home. If an agent secretly enters your home on a “sneak and peak” warrant, he will almost certainly not find your computer. However, if he does, he will have had to break into the space, and this means that at least you now know what has happened!

A $20 UNIT THAT WILL PUT ANY BURGLAR ON THE RUN!

The authority for the above statement comes from Jack MacLean, an electronics genius with an IQ of 167 and the author of Secrets of a Superthief. Before he went to prison, he was responsible for hundreds of burglaries that netted him $133 million worth of jewels.

MacLean interviewed 300 other burglars during his years in prison and included their answers in his amazing book. He asked them such questions as how they chose which homes to burgle, how they broke in, whether or not they cut the phone lines in advance, and what might scare them into calling off the job. The following is one of the questions in the book:

If you had cut the phone lines of a resident you were burglarizing and at some point heard from inside that same residence, coming from the window, an extremely loud horn, what would you do?

“Ready for this?” asks MacLean. “One hundred percent said they’d be gone in a second.” (The actual answers were cruder but the author preferred not to print them.)

Note: To obtain an “extremely loud horn,” pick up a portable air horn at any marine supply store or order it on Amazon.com. Be sure to get one that sells for about $20, because the $10 ones are not as loud.

PRIVACY PROBLEMS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS

If you have children in a public school, have you taught them how not to answer questions that invade their—and often your!—privacy? Here’s a typical question, taken from a Minnesota’s Basic Skills Writing Test. Each student was asked the following essay question:

Your teacher has asked you to write about one thing you would like to change about yourself. Name one thing about yourself and give specific reasons why you would like to change it. Give enough details so your teacher will understand your ideas.

Explain to your children that their answers may become a part of their student files … and come back years later to haunt them.

ALLOW YOUR KIDS TO SKIP COLLEGE

Four of the five richest persons in America are college dropouts.

—FORBES MAGAZINE

The majority of today’s high school graduates should never go to college. Often, they have no idea what they want to do, once they graduate. If you are concerned about morals, think of the peer pressure involving drugs, binge drinking, and indiscriminate sex. If you are concerned about privacy, remember that all privacy will be lost until they graduate or drop out. If you are concerned about money, remember that you or they will end up tens of thousands of dollars in debt, with no guarantee whatsoever of a high-paying job after graduation.