Criminal investigations are inherently riskier and require the utmost diligence and caution, both to protect the safety and security of the law enforcement, private detectives, and victims involved, and to solve the case itself. As part of our due diligence for criminal investigations, our legal staff runs social media scans to secure a wide array of internet information about dangerous suspects.
Some of the most important criminal cases our legal team investigates where we most often use social media private investigations are listed below as follow:
- Criminal Private Investigations:
- Rape Private Investigations:
Sexual assault private investigations require the implementation of a wide variety of investigative tools. These include, but are by no means limited to, the following:
- DNA/Sexual Assault Kits
- Fingerprints/Shoeprints/Tire Prints
- Video/CCTV/Audio Footage
- Suspect’s Confessions
- Victim/Witness Statements
- Cell Phone Tower Data
- Social Media Information – Incriminating Photos, Comments, Photos, Videos, Posts, Direct Message Exchanges, & Geocoding
- Weapons Used While Committing the Crime with Blood/DNA on Them
- Ballistics Testing/Gunpowder Residue/Matching Serial Numbers & Ammunition Types
- Other Physical Evidence – Discarded Condoms, Etc.
As one can clearly see, there are many ways to catch sexual predators with many different opportunities to collect vital, damning evidence that child sexual abuse private detectives, police, and prosecutors to pursue criminal charges against a defendant. Social media scans provide significant insights in these types of criminal cases, because our social media private investigator can pull up significant amounts of crucial information about rape suspects. This methodology includes, but is not limited to, the following uses:
Table of Contents
Finding Incriminating Photos, Comments, & Videos:
One of the most helpful things that social media scans are perfect for during rape private investigations, is that they are an excellent resource for locating all types of incriminating photos, videos, comments by alleged perpetrators, victims, and witnesses. Indeed, people post all kinds of often unnecessary information about themselves and even photos of their food. There are countless examples of criminals, their victims, and witnesses to the crime posting all kinds of videos, photos, and even making incriminating comments or outright confessions.
Even certain online sleuths might sometimes come up with something helpful or even solve serious crimes, though some just spread unhelpful, toxic gossip and rumors. These false allegations were especially true during convicted mass murder Bryan Kohberger’s execution of the four Idaho college students in 2023. Nonetheless, our digital private investigations can even find social media information to evaluate their conclusions to see if they have any merit. Indeed, our social media scans can approach criminal case evidence from a variety of directions.
Discovering Location Data Via Geocoding:
When people take and post photos, it leaves geocoding information, also known as location tags, imbedded therein. Thus, you can find a digital private investigator near me to help you locate photos that a criminal suspect, victim, or witness has posted online to help track the movements of the individuals involved, both before, during, and after the commission of the crime.
By comparing the geocoding data to the location of the crime and the people associated with it, it becomes easier to track who was where and at what time. Was the perpetrator near the scene of the crime when it occurred? Where might a fugitive of justice be hiding? These are both questions that geocoding from photos and videos can potentially answer.
Discovering Connected Relationships Between Co-conspirators and/or Victims or Even Additional Perpetrators and/or Victims:
Our child molestation private detective also uses social media scans to help find relationships between victims, accused perpetrators, and potential witnesses to crimes. Examining who is connected to whom on sites like Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, and dating/romance profiles can find a surprising number of connections that law enforcement personnel, sex crimes private investigators, and prosecutors can use to solve and prosecute criminal activity.
Locating Perpetrators’ & Victims’ Dating/Sex Profiles:
Digital private investigations are also adept at helping to locate public dating, romance, and sex profiles. In criminal cases involving stalking and sexual assault, it is imperative that private eyes near me fully examine connections the victims, rapists, and witnesses may have had with one another. Indeed, if a sexual predator has claimed not to know the rape victim, but then our social media scan private detective locates online connections on sex and dating profiles or other social media that shows interactions, likes, follows, etc., then authorities can establish a clear connection and can use this evidence showing the defendant’s deception throughout the criminal cases proceedings.
Murder Private Investigations:
Social media scans are also invaluable to homicide private investigations. The reasons for this are the same as for the child sexual abuse and other rape investigations we discussed above. Keep in mind that in cases involving serial killers and serial rapists, digital private investigations are especially helpful at locating connections between homicides/sexual assaults, such as similar circumstances/modus operandi, victims, and even sightings and information about alleged perpetrators.
As an initial investigative tool for criminal cases involving rape, murder, sex trafficking, and certain other crimes, our private investigation agency in El Reno, OK runs social media scans with routine frequency. There are three levels of this type of digital private investigation, the basic, advanced, and elite, with different costs and levels of in-depth diving into an individual’s online internet activity and other social media presence.
Romance Scam Private Investigations:
Social media scans also have an excellent use for romance scam investigations. There are so many aspects to this type of criminal cases private investigation, because social media scans can help in a wide variety of ways. That is why digital private investigations serve as a primary investigative tool for solving this type of crime. Some of the best ways to utilize social media scans for private investigations include, but are not limited to, the following:
Detecting Fake Images:
Our social media scans can focus on fake images that are often a part of romance scams. This is because many scammers either use AI photos or face swapping to avoid AI-generated image detection, and social media scans can do reverse image searches to see where else the photos that scammers use are. By detecting fake images and their origin, our private eyes can locate other websites they are on and can also garner information needed to help convince victims that their “beloved boo” is really some middle-aged guy in India or Nigeria in his mom’s basement.
Tracking Down Creators of E-mail Addresses, Phone Numbers, & Discovering Name Variations:
When combined with our skip trace service that our process servers can run, our social media scans can also help determine who owns different registered e-mail addresses, phone numbers, and can also find and cross-reference name variations across multiple social media platforms. This is key to discovering the identity of the romance scammer.
Locating a Romance Scammer’s Other Victims & Utilizing Their Information:
Our clients who hire us for romance scam private investigations are seldom, if ever, the scammer’s first victims. By the time a client comes to us complaining of victimization by a scammer, there are a string of victims. Our digital private investigator can help use social media scans to find other victims. Our legal firm can then use that information to try to garner additional details about the romance scammer(s) who hurt our clients.
Parental Kidnapping Private Investigations:
Our social media private detective also loves using social media scans as part of parental kidnapping cases. When combined with skip tracing, social media scans are great for scouring the internet to see where the absconding parent may have fled to, where the missing children are, etc. This is key to securing the needed court orders to then hire a process server or sheriff’s deputy to deliver. That way the police can arrest the parent who illegally took the kids and bring the children back home to the custodial parent.
Social media scans are especially useful during parental kidnapping investigations when skip tracing is ineffective. Indeed, when some parents move but do not wish for others to find them, they may have all their utilities and rental agreements put into someone else’s name or might even choose to live with a new lover who has all the needed items already in that individual’s name. Thus, the absconding noncustodial parent can fly underneath the radar and make detection difficult for the custodial parent.
When skip trace services, P.O. box checks, and forwarding mail checks all fail, social media scans can potentially save the day by providing a location of the absconding parent. Whenever they post photos, locations, updates, create certain profiles, etc., our team can zoom in on this data and use it locate and catch the wayward parent.
Human Trafficking Private Investigations:
Sex traffickers often force their victims to post photos of themselves advertising for sex or other forced human labor. From prostitution ads to advertisements for roofing, construction, domestic service, or other types of work, we can use social media scan private investigations to locate both the human trafficker and other victims. Our private detective agency in Mustang, OK has been conducting human trafficking investigations for many years, and we use this tool in conjunction with or other investigative techniques to track down these sex trafficker and bring them to justice, while helping to bring their victims safely back home.
