Workcover Fraud, Easy Ways We Serve Evasive Defendants, Special Offer For Lawyers And Law Firms, Changes to PI Licensing in Victoria, Netflix Detective Show Review

In this episode, we cover:-

1- Why Lawyers and Law Firms Love Us!

2- Are All Investigation Licenses The Same?

3- The Family Next Door - Netflix Review.

4- How A Private Investigator Works A Dodgy Workplace Injury Claim.

5- You've Been Served; A Guide To Dealing With Evasive Defendants!

Got a question for our podcast or do you need to contact Simon and the Down Under Investigations team? Simply email info@downunderinvestigations.com or call 1300849007 or check out www.downunderinvestigations.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Hi, welcome to the latest podcast episode of Down Under Investigations The Truth. We discuss all things private investigation, process serving, skip tracing, and surveillance. You'll hear all about legal issues, cutting-edge techniques, latest news and accurate information about our exciting industry. Let's join our host Simon.

SPEAKER_01: 0:22

Welcome, great to have you with us for another exciting podcast. Buckle up, settle in. We've got some great topics to discuss today. If you're a lawyer or a law firm operator, maybe a manager, or a paralegal in a law firm, why don't you listen up? We've got a special offer just for you. See, we've had our no-locate, no-fee skip tracing service running for a few years now, and we've seen so much success as a result. We've seen many lawyers and law firms capitalize on our cap rate for skip tracing. Because throughout our industry, one thing that we've heard too much of is private investigators that overcharge for their services and clients who are surprised at the end of the day with how much they're up for and what it's going to cost them to get a job done, to get someone located. So skip tracing is basically locating a missing person. So I think it's offering for the law firms and the legal community. We've got a no-locate no three service, so if we fail to locate the individual you're looking for, you pay nothing. That's right, nothing. If we don't find them, you don't pay. If we don't find them, we actually kept the right that we can. So even if it costs us more to find the missing person, the evasive data, the defendant that you want to find, or the weakness, whoever they are. If it costs us more, you don't pay more. We've got a fit right of$450, and that is the most people pay. We cap it at$450. There's a few reasons why you should take this up on this offer. It's a risk-free engagement field. There's no financial risk, there's no AI. It's time it upon fixed F. And if we don't have fixed F. We're that confident in what we do, that we can offer this deal to Australian lawyers and Australian law firms. The only cost is when we fix the life of the individual. And we're more confident in doing that that we can offer the unlike ID for the deal. And we can take on this path. Your firm can focus on the item, the legal work. Finding the weakness. Consider the time five when your staff no longer need to try and find and locate the people weaknesses. And you know, there are many reasons why needs to be fine. Sometimes thinking that the raw information has not been obtained. Whether that's at the thing of a car accident, or whether that's when a field has been done between three parties and I just haven't taken down the wrong information. Oh, the information is old. The person has moved, the business has moved, and they want to be found through your normal move. That's when you're contacting a fraud investigator and our business and our company will give you the results. So why don't you take us up on that offer?$450? We know that you'll be happy with this service. We've got hundreds of lawyers around Australia who have already taken us up on this field. And I absolutely love it. We get file after file and we get success after success. And we'll be honest with you, if we can't find that individual after a matter of time, we will let you know and we'll to maybe put the file on hold for a certain time. And that often remains valid. We won't be charging at that point. Um we only charge upon success. So why don't you get in touch with us? Email, website, there's lots of ways to get in touch with down under investigations. We know you love it when we give reviews on TV shows and movies related to private investigation. Last podcast we talked about Sneaky Pete, a hilarious, hilarious show on Netflix. This podcast we're going to talk about a show on Netflix again called The Family Next Door. Because if you love watching mysteries and private investigations, you'll love this show. The Family Next Door is a gripping six-episode Australian psychological thriller mini-series. It's adapted from Sally Hepworth's best-selling novel of the same name. It premiered 15 July 2025 and it used to be on ABC TV. Stars Teresa Palmer as Isabel Harrington. The story unfolds in the idyllic suburb of Pleasant Court in Victoria, where four neighbouring families, each with their own tightly guarded secrets, live in apparent harmony, so to speak. When Isabel, a mysterious outsider with a hidden agenda, moves into the quiet cul-de-sac, her relentless pursuit of answers to a personal enigma, begins to crack the facade of suburban perfection. As suspicion mounts and long-buried tensions simmer to the surface, the series weaves a web of domestic intrigue, fractured relationships and whispering doubts. Exploring themes of motherhood, grief, and the dark underbelly of perfect lives. It's directed by Sean Garden and features a stellar Aussie ensemble of Ashaketty, Jesse Spencer, and others. So why should you watch it? Because it's masterful suburban suspense if you crave big little lies style, neighbourly paranoia with an Aussie twist. This delivers raised sharp commentary on hidden family dynamics and the lies we tell ourselves. It's perfect for binging in one evening. As standout performances, Theresa Palmer shines as the obsessive Isabel, bringing vulnerability and intensity that anchors the emotional core, while the ensemble's raw portrayals of everyday struggles make every revelation hit harder. It's a great show, and it's rated 81% on Rotten Tomatoes, which actually is a pretty good rating. So why don't you check it out on Netflix? Why don't you check out The Family Next Door?

SPEAKER_00: 6:43

To enter our question of the day competition and be eligible to win a prize value at$100, simply email your question to info at downunderinvestigations.com. Now let's get back to the podcast episode.

SPEAKER_01: 6:59

For all the nerdy types out there, just wanted to take a deep dive into the Victorian private investigator scene and recent changes to legislation. Whether you're a gumshoe in Melbourne or corporate sleuth chasing fraud or just someone who's binge watched too much of Veronica Maas, won't you buckle up? As of June 19, 2025, the Private Security and Court County Court Amendment Act 2024 has flipped the script on PI licensing in Australia. What was once a patchwork of registrations and licenses is now a streamlined, stricter system designed to professionalise the game. Here's some of the big changes and the pros and cons as we chat about what it means for the lone wolves and big firms alike. Firstly, why did this occur? Before 2025, Victoria's private security setup was like an old school filing cabinet. It was cluttered. You had licenses for certain things, you had registrations for other things, and there was just too many loopholes. Private investigators could often skate by with just a registration, especially if you're a solo operator, simply chasing cheating partners or digging into insurance claims. So why the JURS system? Critics are saying it left gaps. It was too easy for bad actors to slip through without any real oversight. So in 2024, the act kicked in and it fully kicked in from June 19, 2025. So everything is a license now, no more registrations. They're phasing all registrations out by June 19, 2026. So all PIs have to have a private security individual operator license to do any investigative work. If you're an independent contractor, say a sole trader with an ABN hustling gigs on the side, you'll need two licenses, the individual one plus the private security business license. Deadline for that dual setup? December 19, 2025. Miss it and you're grounded. No more legal ops. But wait, there's more. The Act expands what counts as investigator work. So it's beyond the basics now. It ropes in fraud and risk management, aviation and marine loss probes, OHS audits, family law dirt digging, criminal consumer cases, even intellectual property hunts. If your job touches those, you better license up or you'll get shut down. Subcontracting is included too. You want to hand off a tail to a buddy, you need written consent from a client at least a day in advance. Plus you need to note the subject's name and license number. You need to keep records or face fines of up to 120 penalty units, which is$25,000 for individuals, or six months in jail. Wow. Exemptions exist if spilling the beans risks the safety and of a case, but good luck proving that. Clients aren't off the hook either. They have to come up with a risk management plan a day before you start. They need to detail hazards, provide safety gear like PPE, and outline the roles. So they're going to be rolling out more training, including first aid, every three years. On the flip side, applying is easier. Ditch the two references and newspaper ads and complaints. Anyone can file one of these within three months of shady conduct, not just the victims. A new code of conduct is brewing too, to keep everyone on the straight and arrow, and that's the overall in a nutshell. Check out Victoria Police's website for all the details if you really want to geek out. Now, is there reform for force for good or bad? Is it just more red tape? Well, firstly, it could be a win for professionals on steroids. That single-tier licensing weeds out the weekend warriors posing as pros. With expanding definitions on mandatory training, we're taking higher standards across the board, which means there's fewer cowboys with more credentials. Clients get peace of mind knowing their PI isn't some unlicensed hack. The Australian Institute of Security Professionals calls it a boost to accountability, which could cut down on scandals like rogue surveillance operations. Secondly, public safety nets. Broader complaints and that incoming code of conduct mean quicker takedowns of bad apples. The subcontracting rules, they force transparency. Clients know who's really doing the job. It reduces the risk of ghost subs botching sensitive intel. It also makes it safer. And finally, for clarity, no more fuzzy lines on what's licensable. Newbies benefit from streamlined apps and the public register lets anyone verify PI's credentials in seconds. In a post-2025 world, Victoria's PI scene could look more like a polished agency than a back alley hustle elevating the whole professional. But what are the cons? Here's where it stings. Let's not sugarcoat this. This hits like a taser to small operators. Dual licenses for independence, that's double the fees, double the paperwork, double the renewals, potentially thousands in cost. That's before you even hit the road. AZiel warns it could squeeze sole traders out, especially with tight transition deadlines. Imagine you're a freelance PI juggling gigs now at first aid courses and refreshes every renewal. If you're time stuck, that's massive. Subcontracting regs are another buzzkill. Needing clients sign off a day early in fast-moving cases like nabbing a corporate in Besla, it quickly kills flexibility and could tip off marks. Exemptions sound nice, but proving safety risks in court, that's a nightmare. So it's all great in theory, but clients, often frazzled businesses or individuals, might balk at the hassle delay to hire and drive work interstate. Broader complaints open the floodgates for vexatious gripes too, turning every disgruntled ex-client into a regulator. So there's lots of pros, lots of cons, there's lots to be aware of, and it's definitely worth taking a deep dive into the Victoria Police website to check out the changes that are involved. One thing we love talking about is how we serve evasive defendants. Here are five keys to successfully serving an evasive defendant based on proven facts and experience and tactics used by experienced process servers. Number one, we do a thorough pre-service investigation. This includes skip tracing, finding public records, social media, different information that you can find about the individual that you're going to serve. This will help when you can find an alternative address, a work address, maybe where they go to the gym or where they hang out, maybe a family address where they attend regularly. And it's a great way that you can get results when someone's going to be evasive. Number two, we like using strategic timing and surveillance. We stake out areas at dusk and dawn during shift changes when people are most predictable, when they're leaving for work or returning home. We use discrete surveillance skills to avoid detection, including parking vehicles, using different individuals to conduct the surveillance. It's a great way that we can find out who's living at an address and if a defendant is in fact present. Number three, we use creative service methods within legal bounds, of course, including substituted service, where if a defendant is proven to be evasive, the courts will allow us to leave the documents at an address. We either stick them to the front door, shove them under the door in the letterbox. There's many ways the courts will allow substituted service. We also will serve at workplaces. Sometimes it's a matter of just staking out and waiting, waiting near their car when they return from shops or from work or somewhere and serving them at that time. A fourth way we can affect service on an evasive individual is by slight deception. And that can come in the way that we dress up. We could dress like a delivery driver, like a courier. You know, high Vs will get you anywhere. People open the door, they trust someone wearing IVs. It's just one way that documents can be served on an evasive person. Or we could use a pretext or use some sort of other information to get someone to open the door and accept the documents, or not accept the documents, but be served. And the fifth way is through persistence and being detailed with our documentation. We log every attempt. Courts love it when we do this. We take photographs, we take video footage, we use GPS and timestamps to prove service has taken place. So what we do is we combine patience with unpredictability. We show up when they least expect it. And there are five ways that we get evasive defendants served very quickly. One of the greatest growing areas of surveillance in Australia is to do with work cover and work covers claims, where workers' compensation is paid to people who are injured or ill due to work, but often there's fraudulent and exaggerated claims which cost the system millions of dollars annually. In order to combat this, private investigations are frequently undertaken, often by work cover insurers, agents, or employers, to verify a claim's legitimacy. Work cover authorities like WorkSafe Victoria, for example, are among the largest employers of PIs in the country, using us for in up to 15 to 20% of claims where suspicion arises. So the role of a private investigator in these investigations is to specialise in discrete fact finding in order to assess claim validity. We have to see if circumstance investigations happened, see when the injury occurred. One of the biggest purposes we have is to detect fraud. Surveillance can be used for inconsistencies when something's reported and something's actually seen. Someone might report that they can't bend over, they can't lift certain objects, yet they're out fishing, throwing a fishing rod, they're pushing the boat into the water. They're moving vehicles onto ramps and trailers and things like that, carrying heavy boxes, all sorts of things go on that are fraudulent. The extent of the injury is something that we often assess. Simply by monitoring daily routines, looking at what someone's up to during the day. Are they able to move in ways that they claim that they can't when they're just going about their everyday business? So surveillance is key. That's one of the biggest ways that we conduct our investigations. Also doing digital checks like looking at social media, looking at ABNs and online activity, looking for red flags like undeclared income. There's interviews with different individuals like neighbours, friends, family, generally under pretext, just trying to gather information about an individual. And there's background probes, verifying employment history to do with specifically pre-injury disclosures. Someone might have had back issues before they came and worked for your company, and all of a sudden it's flared up within months of working for you. You want to know that they didn't have that back issue beforehand if they're going to make a claim. So the legal framework and regulations are that PIs must be licensed in every state. And for work cover work, we must be registered with the relevant authority. We're to a deed or code of practice, which includes ethical conduct, confidentiality and privacy under the Privacy Act. Due process, we have to allocate from approved firms. Employers can't directly influence us. Surveillance requires reasonable suspicion and evidence must be caught admissible. The claimant also has rights. They aren't obligated to speak to PIs without legal advice. Full reports, including footage, can be requested from the insurer. Unlawful acts like trespass can lead to complaints via the Office of Australian Information Commission. Violations are rare but can result in deregistration or fines. Ex-police PIs often lead teams for credibility. So some practical advice. For employers and insurers, engage early with registered firms for cost savings. Fraud probes can prevent inflated premiums. And for workers, stay truthful and document restrictions medically. If surveilled, note details and consult unions and lawyers like Union Assist. Surveillance often ends quickly if no issues are found. These investigations balance fraud prevention with fairness, emphasising evidence over suspicion. If you need more information, check out the WorkSafe and WorkSafe Australia websites.

SPEAKER_00: 19:39

Thanks for listening. To get in touch with the team at Down under Investigations, check out our website at Downunder Investigations.com or call 1-300-849-007 or email info at Downunder Investigations.com.