When you cannot yet say who
Investigation Services for What You Cannot Yet Prove
Investigation services are what you commission when something is wrong and you cannot yet say who, what or when. It is the opposite end of the same job as an examination: an examination tests a question you already have, and an investigation is how you get one worth asking.
The short answer
Investigations are quoted case by case, never off a rate card. Phone the office and the team leader consults with you, works through the facts of the matter, and comes back with a full quote. That conversation costs you nothing and it is the only honest way to price work whose shape nobody knows yet.
Fraud and theft. Where the money or the stock went, and how.
Infidelity. Private matters, handled privately, reported to you alone.
Complex matters. The ones that need a specialist brief rather than a standard one.
The matters we take
What people have in front of them when they call
Nobody phones an investigator with a tidy brief. They phone with a mess and a suspicion. Below is what that mess usually looks like, and what is worth gathering before the call so the consultation starts further along.
Fraud
Money has gone somewhere it should not have, and the paper trail either stops or does not add up. Usually it surfaces at a reconciliation, an audit, or when one person is suddenly the only one who understands a process.
Worth having readyThe period it covers, the accounts or the process involved, and who has authority over them.
Theft
Stock, cash or assets are short and the shortage is not a once off. The hard part is rarely believing it happened. It is that a loss spread across months looks like shrinkage until somebody puts the numbers next to the shifts.
Worth having readyWhat has gone and over what period, plus who had access and when.
Infidelity
A private matter, and the one where discretion is the service rather than a feature of it. It is commissioned by you, reported to you, and discussed with nobody else at any point.
Worth having readyWhat has changed and when you first noticed. Bring the timeline rather than the theory.
High qualified cases
The complex matters that need a specialist brief rather than a standard one, and the ones where a wrong first move closes doors that do not reopen. These are scoped with the team leader before anything is committed to.
Worth having readyEverything. On a matter like this the consultation is where the value is.
Request a quotation
Put the matter in front of the forensic team
Complete the form and the outline goes straight to the team that would run the work. If you would rather write it out yourself, email casper@forensicsecurity.org. Either way what comes back is a quotation, and asking for one costs nothing.
Tell us what happened
A short outline is enough to quote from. Add the Saps case number if the matter has one.
What you write goes to the forensic team and is treated as confidential.
Which work first
An investigation and an examination are not alternatives
They are two ends of one job, and buying the wrong one first is the most common and most expensive mistake in this whole business. The short version: if you can already name the question and the person, an examination answers it. If you cannot, an investigation is what produces both.
| Where you are | What to commission | Why that way round |
|---|---|---|
| Something is wrong, no names | An investigation | There is nothing to put to anybody yet. Testing a room full of people on a question you have not framed wastes the money and warns whoever did it. |
| One allegation, one short list | An examination | The question exists and the people are named, which is exactly the case a specific issue examination is built for. |
| A finding, and a hearing coming | Labour support | The work now is presenting what you have so it survives being tested by somebody else. |
| About to appoint somebody | A background check | Nothing has happened yet. This is the cheap check that stops it happening. |
How it starts
Why there is no online quote for this one
Every other service here has a published price, because every other service here has a known shape. An investigation does not. Anyone who quotes one off a form before hearing the facts is either guessing or selling you a fixed number of hours rather than an answer.
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You phone the office
One call, and it goes to the team leader rather than into a queue. Nothing is committed to and nothing is charged for the conversation.
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The facts are worked through
All of them, including the ones that make you look careless. A brief with the awkward parts left out produces a quote for the wrong piece of work.
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A full quote comes back
Scoped to your matter, with what the work covers set out before you decide. You are buying a defined piece of work rather than an open meter.
Afterwards
What an investigation hands you at the end
Findings in writing, and usually a decision to make with them. Where the work opens a question rather than closing one, the answer is often the next service along rather than more of the same.
Findings in writing
The same as every service here. A document you can put in front of somebody else, not a phone call and an opinion.
Yours alone
Commissioned by you, reported to you. On a private matter that is the whole point, and on a company matter it is what keeps a rumour from starting.
Often a question worth testing
Where it narrows to named people and a specific allegation, a specific issue examination is the work that follows.
Sometimes a hearing
Where it becomes a disciplinary matter, labour support covers presenting it properly, including at the CCMA.
A decision that stays yours
What you do with a finding is your call to make and your call to record. Nobody here will tell you whether to dismiss, to charge or to let it go.
And a gap you can close
Most losses trace back to somebody appointed without a check. A background check on the next hire costs a fraction of an investigation into this one.
Questions
What people ask before commissioning one
The ones that come up on the first call. Anything about examinations is answered on the polygraph testing page, and the published prices are on the pricing page.
What does an investigation cost?
There is no published price, and that is deliberate rather than evasive. An investigation is quoted case by case once the team leader has worked through the facts with you, because the work is scoped to the matter and no two matters are the same shape.
The consultation that produces the quote costs nothing. Phone the office, set out what has happened, and a full quote comes back against it.
Should I get an investigation or a polygraph test?
It depends on whether you can already name the question and the people. If you can, an examination answers it directly and costs less. If you cannot, an examination has nothing to ask, and testing a group on a question you have not framed wastes the money and tells whoever is responsible that you are looking.
Say what has happened when you call and you will be told which one your matter needs, including when the answer is that you do not need us yet.
Is the team the same people as the examiners?
No. Investigations are run by a dedicated investigation team with its own team leader, which is why this service starts with a call to them rather than with the quote form the examinations use. Where a matter needs both, the two run together on one engagement rather than as two suppliers.
Will my staff know an investigation is running?
That is one of the things settled in the consultation rather than assumed, because it changes how the work is done. Raise it on the first call. It matters more than most clients expect, and it is far easier to decide at the start than to correct halfway through.
Can you investigate a private matter rather than a business one?
Yes. Infidelity is one of the four kinds of matter the team takes, and it is handled the same way as everything else here: commissioned by you, reported to you, and discussed with nobody. Private clients are dealt with directly rather than through an employer.
How much do I have to tell you on the first call?
As much as you can. The consultation exists to consider the case facts, and a brief with the embarrassing parts trimmed out produces a quote for a piece of work that will not answer your question. Nobody is being judged on how the situation was allowed to develop.
What if the investigation finds nothing?
Then that is the finding, and it is written up as one. It is worth saying plainly before you commission anything: an investigation buys you work, not a guaranteed result. Anybody who promises you the answer before they have looked is selling you something else.
Can I use the findings at a disciplinary or in court?
Findings come to you in writing so that they can be put in front of somebody else. Where the matter is heading for a disciplinary or the CCMA, say so at the start: it shapes how the work is done and it brings labour support into the same engagement rather than bolting it on afterwards.
Next step
Tell the team leader what happened, and hear what it needs
One call, no charge, and no obligation at the end of it. You will be told what the work would involve and what it would cost, including on the occasions when the honest answer is that an investigation is not what your matter needs.