Surveillance companies know that when the economy worsens they will see the number of fraud cases increase. Houston and Dallas private investigators are no exception. Even as they see demand for some services decrease, they see an increase in jump traces and scam investigations.
honest people despair
As times get tough, Americans have to cut back to make ends meet. With unemployment rising, pay freezes, and benefits, especially health insurance, shrinking, many of them are finding things increasingly desperate. Their situation goes from not being able to pay for cable TV to not being able to afford groceries.
Even decent, law-abiding citizens begin to face difficult decisions. The kind of person who will return to a store if they give him an extra bargaining chip is now in a situation where he must choose between defrauding a faceless corporation or losing the family home. These are not the professional scam artists that surveillance companies are used to dealing with, but rather average people facing above average financial problems.
Fraud is not a victimless crime
When surveillance companies uncover these scams, the people involved often feel like they’re not actually stealing. It’s not like they’re breaking a window and stealing a stereo. Nobody gets hurt, right? However, the truth is that fraud simply makes a bad financial situation worse for everyone.
Consider an employee about to be fired faking a work related injury. Even if your employer suspects that the worker is lying, he or she may overlook it. The owner may sympathize with the worker and think that since the insurance company will pay the claim, no damage has been done.
Unfortunately, the increase in fraudulent claims raises the costs of insurance companies. They have to increase the premiums to compensate. Now the employer faces higher insurance rates and has to cut employee benefits or lay off more people to pay the new higher rates. Everyone becomes a victim.
Companies also commit fraud
Business owners face more than employee or customer complaints. They also discover that the partner companies may also be deceiving them. Service providers may charge you for services that were never performed. Suppliers may substitute different items in an order or ship less than what was purchased, in the hope that the error will be overlooked. Organizations can accumulate large debts before filing for bankruptcy. As stated above, these are often honest companies that are facing hard times and decide to step a little over the line.
In these difficult times, companies have to protect themselves from these types of situations. More companies are hiring surveillance firms to investigate routine activities, even if fraud is not suspected. The cost is a fraction of what you would lose in a dishonest transaction and buys not only financial protection but also peace of mind.