Author name: Robert Mann

Worldwide Intelligence Network has been conducting AOE/COE and Sub Rosa Workers’ Compensation Investigation Services for the past twenty five years. Interviews of  claimants and witnesses number in the thousands. Sub Rosa and Activity Check investigations number in the hundreds and are performed by superb experienced field investigators with proven track records.  In addition to providing investigative coverage throughout California and New York we provide Workers Compensation claims investigations through our associate network of investigators all across America. Our Workers’ Compensation investigations have led to several millions of dollars saved by our clients who are insurance companies, self- insured entities and municipalities. Our record of success for establishing fraud is far above the average and our clients are consistently pleased with the quality, efficiency and professionalism of our investigative ability and knowledge of the laws governing Workers’ Compensation claims. We have uncovered potential insurance fraud in over 80% of our investigations – yet no investigation was ever conducted with a preconceived notion that a claimant filed a fraudulent claim. Throughout our twenty five year history we never failed to submit an investigative report on time.  Some of our clients: State Compensation Insurance Fund Los Angeles County Risk Management Division Third Party Administrators; Tristar, Aims, Intercare MTA Risk Management City Attorney of Los Angeles Hughes Air Craft El Segundo . Two Case Studies on Workers’ Compensation Insurance Fraud [Case Study 1] A claimant reported that he fell down some stairs at work and hurt his back. The claimant saw a doctor who signed a doctor’s note saying the claimant could not return to work for several weeks. When the claimant returned to work he presented another doctor’s note addressed to the “return to work supervisor” stating the claimant was to be given restricted work assignment avoiding any physical lifting of boxes or files. We were assigned to conduct a surveillance investigation on this claimant after our client received an independent physician’s report stating that no injury to the claimant’s back could be found. On the first day of this assignment, video was captured of the claimant lifting and moving furniture into his home which lasted over an entire weekend while he was allegedly incapable of any physical activity. Our date and time stamped video of the claimant’s activities had a dramatic effect on his claimant’s workers’ compensation claim which was denied and subsequently referred to the District Attorney’s Workers’ Compensation Fraud Unit. Over the past several years numerous physicians and attorneys have been investigated, arrested and charged with insurance fraud. [Case Study 2] We were assigned a surveillance investigation on a claimant who alleged a severe injury to his foot. He had been off work on an accepted claim for over a year. Our client suspected fraud due to an independent physician’s report stating he could not find anything wrong with the claimant’s foot. During our first day of this surveillance we did not find a car parked in front of or in the driveway of the claimant’s home. Further investigation revealed that the claimant’s car was parked in a driveway of a vacant home directly across the street from his house. We found that suspicious since the claimant’s driveway and street were clear of any other vehicles. As the claimant exited his home we captured video of him limping. The problem with his limp was that he was limping on the wrong foot. It appeared most likely to us that the claimant’s attorney may have cautioned him that he could be placed under surveillance and to not leave his car in his driveway or in front of his house so investigators would be unable to know the car he was driving and subsequently have a difficult or impossible time following him. That same day he was observed limping on the wrong foot he was followed and videotaped entering a Chiropractor’s clinic. Prior to walking into the clinic video was taken of him putting on a foot brace that he had in his car and then he took out a pair of crutches from the trunk of his car. When he exited the clinic he took the brace off of his foot and he put the crutches back in the trunk. Surveillance continued for several more days. We then noticed that the license plate on the claimant’s car had been switched which we presumed was an additional effort on his part to avoid detection. We followed the claimant again and videotaped him running in a rain storm without a limp pushing a shopping cart from BevMo’s market through a parking lot. The claimant ceased receiving workers’ compensation and was arrested and charged with workers’ compensation insurance fraud and he is currently awaiting trial. We welcome Defense Attorneys, TPA’s and Insurance Companies to call or contact us to inquire about our rates and availability. (310) 385- 8200  

Lana Del Rey is a singer / songwriter who is set to release her new album, Ultraviolence, later this year. But there is trouble brewing for the songstress. This is what happens when professional Personal Protection Specialists and celebrity bodyguards are not retained to manage the paparazzi at a film shoot. Del Rey’s production company is currently being sued for $1million after a video shoot for her song, Tropico, turned ugly. Karl Larsen, a photographer who works for Rolling Stone magazine, claims that he was attacked by 3 members of Del Rey’s entourage who wanted him to stop taking pictures of the songstress after stumbling upon the shoot on the L.A. River last summer. The 3 members, production staff members of Black Hand Cinema, threatened to destroy Larsen’s camera, then after taking the camera from his hand, removed its memory card. In the lawsuit, Larsen claims that one of them also slashed his finger with a box cutter, which left him requiring stitches. A simple courteous dialogue would have prevented this from happening! The key to defusing a volatile situation is to remain calm and courteous. While we weren’t there to know what actually happened, we have encountered many of these types of situations before and have successfully prevented them from becoming detrimental.

We so often receive investigative requests from men and women who are involved in very personal relationships with someone they met online. They have come to point where they are uncomfortable and want us to investigate whether their lover is who they say they are and if they are married or committed to another relationship. Many of these people readily admit they are very much in love even though they have never met face to face with their online lover. Usually, these investigative requests occur when the online lover promises to fly out to meet them and then suddenly comes up with a last-minute excuse why they cannot leave their home country. Another reason we might be called to investigate their online lover is due to their online lover telling them that they are in very serious financial trouble. They will usually say their problem is due to a tax issue in their country or a medical emergency for which they have no money for. The most disheartening call we receive is when we’re told the funds were already wired and that their alleged lover has never been heard from again. Once retained by our client were asked to track down where their so-called lover actually lives and to confirm whether he or she is really the person in the photo they posted online. In almost all cases the photo was hijacked from someone else social media profile and we usually learn the perpetrator works in a boiler room operation where hundreds of potential victims are sent emails through online dating sites. These crooks troll night and day for men and women on dating sites, they have no conscience or concerns about their victims because they feed their families based upon a percentage of the money they steal from their victims. Their job is to study hundreds of profiles of registered users all over the world and then pick their targets. We have identified where most of these boiler room operations are located. They are usually in Nigeria, Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, and India. Those victims who wired funds will never recover their money and the person who scammed them will never be prosecuted. Foreign governments could care less as they have not the funds to deal with these scams. Worldwide Intelligence Network can confirm for you if your lover is a real person by conducting an advance background investigation on them anywhere in the world. Here are a couple of very helpful websites for you. Men, please check out this site: http://www.inter-mariage.com/en/scamlist.php Ladies and gentlemen, please look at this site from the FBI: http://www.fbi.gov/sandiego/press-releases/2013/looking-for-love-beware-of-online-dating-scams Not all online romances turn out bad. However, you should allow us to a background investigation prior to you committing to a relationship.

Worldwide Intelligence Network has not been asleep at the wheel while American companies have been infiltrated by Chinese and Eastern European hackers. Los Angeles and New York based, Worldwide Intelligence Network, has consistently maintained a strict discipline in countering security breaches being launched internationally to compromise the security of American Corporations. All too often Corporations become complacent with regard to evaluating and updating their networks and protocols to combat the possibility of security breaches designed to invade their company and that is exactly what the perpetrators look for. In almost all instances of a security breach there has been one Corporate Security Director with a vast knowledge of one particular area of security but unfortunately insufficient knowledge of all the other security breaches that could be perpetrated against his company. Worldwide Intelligence Network has consistently maintained a philosophy that when in battle it is best to know the “entire” arsenal of the enemy and in this instance they are; an adversarial competitor or a terrorist regime determined to undermine the security of your company and the United States. Robert Mann is the founder and Director of Worldwide Intelligence Network which is a global investigation, risk management, and personal protection company. Mr. Mann states “Security breaches have been detected in approximately 85% of companies and government agencies. According to the FBI, the pending caseload for economic espionage losses to the American economy totaled more than $13 billion. The number of arrests the FBI has made associated with economic espionage has doubled in the past few years, and convictions have risen eight-fold. As a result of inadequate corporate security, companies are losing billions of dollars every year. Robert Mann believes Worldwide Intelligence Network can help effectively diminish the enormity of those losses.” Preventing a breach of Corporate Security is comparable to looking at how many ways can a burglar break into a safe. To professionally evaluate the possibility of a security breach, Mann put together a cohesive team of experts in multiple disciplines of corporate security to analyze the vulnerabilities that could affect the security of a company. These experts are not in the business of selling security devices or protocols because in doing so would be biased. They merely report on vulnerabilities and if appropriate, they will introduce innovative security options that can prevent attacks on your company’s security. Worldwide Intelligence Network Corporate Security team is an elite group of Security Professionals comprised of former members of the FBI, Secret Service, CIA, DOJ and many other Law Enforcement Agencies. Robert Mann has appeared in the media as an expert in investigations and security and has been featured on national television, radio, and magazines.

We are an Anti-Stalker Task Force comprised of an elite group of investigators and bodyguards many of whom are former law enforcement officers with years of experience in the field of personal protection and stalking investigations. The sole purpose of the Anti-Stalker Task Force is to keep you safe, so you don’t have to live in fear any longer. Are You A Victim of Stalking? If you feel threatened by unwanted attention from a person you know or one you do not know who has been invading your private physical space then you are a stalking victim and we will stop your stalker. If an individual continually gets unnervingly close to you or tried to perpetrate acts of violence against you while you were at home, walking on a street or at work, we take those threats to your safety very seriously, and we will protect you! Stalking is a serious crime that can cause depression and hopelessness. While we recommend all stalking victims first turn to the police, but there are times when law enforcement is overwhelmed and cannot provide the manpower necessary to watch over you and to bring your stalker to justice. That’s when our Anti-Stalker Task Force comes in. Our Anti-Stalker Task Force is designed to help you reclaim your life. You should not have to be afraid of going to the store, on an errand, or to a movie. You have every right to feel free from harm. We can provide you with personal protection, perform an in-depth background investigation on the stalker, and place the stalker under surveillance to make sure they do not go anywhere near you. In the event legal action is taken, all of our investigative efforts will be made available to you and the police along with all the evidence we gather.

The CEO of a large company was advised that an anonymous whistle blower emailed his HR department saying that one of the company’s employees is selling illicit drugs to other employees. Although there are close circuit cameras installed throughout the facility it appears that the drug dealing is carried on out of view of the cameras. Worldwide Intelligence Network was called in to formulate an investigative strategy. It was decided that an undercover investigator would be hired to work in the company. Most of the employees are Hispanic and therefore the undercover investigator assigned was Hispanic. Undercover investigations can be quite dangerous if they are conducted by inexperienced investigators. Knowing how to blend in and be accepted by the other employees, takes training, patience and intelligence. The drug dealer cannot under any circumstance suspect he might be an under investigation. Illicit drugs consumed by employees while at work can cause serious if not fatal work place accidents and it can also stimulate physical altercations among the employees and insubordination. Please read “Substance Abuse Prevention in the Workplace An Employer’s Guide” we believe you will find it very informative. Within two pay periods the undercover investigator witnessed the sale of illicit drugs being sold to two employees. The undercover investigator used a covert camera in the shape of a key ring to film the transaction. Worldwide Intelligence Network suggested that the drug dealer be shown the covert surveillance video of him selling drugs to the company’s employees. The dealer was given an option that the police would not be called if the employee agreed to voluntarily resign from his job and not come within 100 yards of the business ever again. Those employees who bought the drugs were identified and terminated. The drug dealer was fortunate to be given a choice rather than face arrest which he accepted willingly.

A client’s merchandise failed to arrive at his customer’s factory after being driven there by one of his drivers. The client and his foreman checked their stock room to see if the merchandise was inadvertently left behind. It was not. The client replaced the missing merchandise for his customer. Weeks later the same thing happened but this time the client was certain it was not a mistake. One of his drivers was stealing. The client had five delivery trucks and five drivers. Worldwide Intelligence Network was asked to conduct an investigation to ascertain who was stealing from the client. Worldwide Intelligence Network recommended surveillance be immediately initiated on all five drivers. Surveillance commenced . Each of the five surveillance investigators would be taking video at every location each driver stopped at. Surveillance video details every aspect of the driver’s route and with whom the driver met while on his route. After several days of surveillance one of the drivers made a stop at a 7/11 and began transferring some of the merchandize off his truck into a waiting van. The driver was arrested upon his return to the client’s warehouse and word quickly spread among the client’s employees that one of their co-workers was arrested. The client had immediately established a precedent that his company’s policy is very aggressive and proactive in countering theft. The police asked Worldwide Intelligence Network for the original video taken during the commission of the crime to be used as evidence in court. Case closed! There is a major crimes division within the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department that investigates and seeks prosecution against those who commit cargo theft.

In a world fraught with deception, misinformation, and cheating, you may need a professional, skilled and experienced private investigator who can ethically obtain requisite information for you. Know Your Objective • It is imperative to know how to describe what kind of investigation you are seeking. Do not call a Private Investigator and ask “what are your rates and what kind of investigations do you do.” That will immediately send up a red flag to the investigator that you have not thought out exactly what you want or need a private investigator to do for you. Think what is most important for you to know. If it’s a business related matter, ask the private investigator if they perform the services you need. As an example, let us say you are about to invest in a new venture and you are unsure of the trustworthiness of the principles of the company and you would like a background investigation conducted.  You would then ask the investigator how in-depth can they go to find out how credible are the principles of the company you are interested in. • Another example is when you want to know what it would take to learn if your spouse or significant other is being unfaithful to you. You would ask the investigator if they conduct infidelity surveillance and if so, can they tell you what their rates are. Prior to making the calls to various investigators, think about what would be the ideal time to have the surveillance started. Would it be in the morning, the afternoon after they leave work, on the weekends and etc? You should understand that the only professional procedure for commencing surveillance is to know exactly where the person you want surveillance on is at. You cannot start surveillance without a specific location on where that person will be at the time surveillance commences. Trying to locate where the subject of the surveillance is at by you guessing is a waste of your time and money. On the other hand, if you are one of the legal owners of the subject’s vehicle you may want to ask your private investigator to sell you a GPS live monitoring tracking device that is easily placed under the subject vehicle. You should always ask the investigator what is their hourly rate are and what evidence will they provide you after the surveillance is over that, in fact, the surveillance was done as agreed. The investigator should assure you that they will deliver to you a DVD that shows where the investigator was at during the entire time of the surveillance and the DVD should have a date and time stamp on the video.  Inquire about the investigator’s experience with surveillance, the kind of camera they use and if their vehicles have tinted windows so not to be seen by the subject. Investigative fees vary but seeking out the cheapest investigator usually turns out to be the most costly because you only will have to do the surveillance all over again if the inexpensive investigator fails to provide you with evidence that their surveillance assignment was carried out as you requested. Keep in mind that top notch surveillance investigators are constantly busy and they make a lot of money working several cases a week because insurance companies always have lots of work for investigators. If among all your calls you find one or two investigators that quote you a much lower fee than the rest, you probably contacted a very poor and inexperienced investigator who cannot find work. Do Your Homework • Make sure you feel 100% comfortable that the investigator you are about to retain can deliver what is promised. Check the private investigator’s license with the State authority that issues private investigator licenses. In California, it is the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services.  You may also want to check if the investigator is a member of an association of private investigators in your state. In California, it is the California Association of Licensed Investigators. In New York, it is the New York Association of Licensed Private Investigators • Should you feel that the private investigator you called appeared to be knowledgeable and made you feel comfortable, ask if the investigator will be providing you with a written retainer agreement. All professional private investigators should present you with a retainer agreement prior to commencing the assignment. You Be a Great Detective & Research • Last but not least ask them about references or look at their recommendations or testimonials on their website. Be sure to look for the names of real people, real companies with their name on their letterhead. To find a great investigator you need to be a good detective by conducting your own research. Good luck and call us if we can be of help to you.