Welfare Cheat Caught

An individual was falsely claiming welfare benefits while running a web-based business out of his home. What I learned through this course helped me track down his website and prove that it belonged to him.

Notorious Fraudster Uncovered

I was taking this course at the time we were doing an investigation of an international fraudster. It made me realize how important checks on the Internet are to an investigator. Running my suspect's name was a turning point in the file ....

Officer Finds Missing Website

In April 2001, the RCMP arrested a suspected Ku Klux Klan grand wizard and charged him with possession of explosives and illegal guns. His KKKanada website had crucial evidentiary value, but it had already been taken down. "Internet for Investigations" taught me that old versions of websites are sometimes stored on the Internet. I used Google to find a cached version of the KKKanada site. This became part of the evidence package put before the Crown Prosecutor.

Friends Reunited

"Two women, whom I'll call "Pearl" and "Ethel", had traveled together on several occasions over many years. Gradually, however, they had lost touch with one another. Anxious to find her old friend, Pearl called me one day to see if I could locate Ethel for her. Since the Salvation Army Family Tracing Service only re-unites family members, I decided to take this case personally. Using Ethel's old address, I looked up the names of her former neighbors with Infospace. From the list of neighbors, I chose six who appeared to be of the same ethnicity as the missing travelling companion. I wrote them all, explaining the situation. As it happened, one knew where their former neighbor had moved. After many years apart, Pearl and Ethel were reunited. In appreciation, Pearl made a generous donation to the Salvation Army."

Investment Decision Aided

"As my "Profile" assignment for the course I decided to research a publicly-traded company that I thought would be a good investment. Searching commercial databases I found that several financial analysts had forecasted the share price to hit the $43-$45 range within 12 months so I bought the stock. Right now, it's worth $38 a share - up $7 since I bought it."

Railway Track Stolen

"In mid 1998, eight hundred feet of railway track belonging to a bankrupt firm disappeared. Care and control of the property had passed through a number of hands, but no one was talking so I turned to the Internet. Using Altavista, I searched for the company's name. One of the hits I got was a request for bids made by the City of Vancouver. A contact name was provided so I followed up. As it turned out, when I contacted this individual he was able to provide me with lots of valuable information. Until then, no one would provide witness information because they were fearful of liability. Finding this individual was a major break in the case and I couldn't have done it without the Internet."

Source: a police officer with 15 years experience.

"Lost" People

"A client asked me if I could find a long lost college friend. Although the friend's last name was fairly common, I knew that he had been an Arctic explorer. Using a search engine called Google I found a web site / technical / academic paper that referenced a paper he wrote in 1972. From there, I checked library catalogues and found a later paper - 1997 - that he wrote and was part of the proceedings for a technical conference he helped sponsor. From there, I cruised the proceedings, which included the speakers' professional affiliations and work place. I checked his work place - no phone #, all under construction - but the professional organization had a list of members and email addresses. Bingo! I contacted him, verified he was the right guy, then passed the information back to my client. They are meeting next Fall to take a cruise up the Inside Passage. The whole project took an hour on the Net. Very, very fun."

Source: Syd Lapan, True North Research