It can be devastating when you suspect your partner or spouse is cheating on you. You ask directly, and your partner denies it. You breathe a deep sigh of relief… for a minute, or a day, or a week. Then, before you know it, your suspicions build again. This is the point where your relationship can begin to seriously erode. Anger and resentment build, intimacy can all but disappear. That gut-wrenching feeling never really goes away and you even begin to suspect you may be going crazy yourself.

If these feelings seem familiar to you, it may be time to take further action to determine whether or not your husband or wife is cheating. The good and bad news is that the signs of a cheating spouse are fairly universal.

Have You Noticed Any of These Signs of a Cheating Spouse?

After more than three decades of running a private investigation firm in Newport Beach, we’ve heard our clients report the following five signs of a cheating spouse over and over again. If your partner has exhibited more than one of them, it may be time to get the evidence you need to provide peace of mind:

1. Phone habits have changed. The smartphone era has wreaked havoc for those who suspect they have a cheating wife or husband. In the landline days, frequent hang-ups were your only clue. Now, everyone has his or her own phone, and that makes it easy to be sneaky. Thus, changes in phone habits are often the best indicator of whether or not you have a cheater in the house. Typically, cheaters will change phone passwords so you no longer have access, they will leave the room to talk and text, or they will guard their smart phone screen from your eyes if you’re nearby. Your partner may also end conversations quickly or put the phone away as soon as you enter the room or vicinity.
2. They start going to the gym more frequently. This is a tricky one because we all go in and out of diet and workout cycles. It could be that your partner is truly more concerned about his/her health and is hitting the gym to look and feel great. However, if you suspect your wife or husband is cheating, AND he/she starts hitting the gym with increased regularity and passion, infidelity is a distinct possibility.
3. Sexual habits have changed. This is an interesting one because, in some cases, cheating spouses will cease or significantly reduce the intimate and sexual encounters they have with their committed partner. They may cite excuses that they’re tired, not feeling well, stressed out, etc. However, in other instances, the titillation they experience from their illicit affair will make them more amorous at home. Like Number 2, your suspicions, paired with one or two of these other signs, makes changes in sexual habits a more significant red flag.
4. You don’t know where the money is going. All of a sudden, there is never enough money in the accounts, or not as much as there used to be. Perhaps you notice your partner is using his/her ATM card more than normal, but doesn’t have anything to show for it. Increased expenditures – the bulk of which will be in cash unless he/she is using a secret credit card account – is another sign of meals shared, hotel rooms rented, or gifts that are purchased for the mistress or lover. An extension of this includes finding receipts, packages, or evidence that jewelry, clothing, and specialty items are being purchased – but are never presented to you!
5. Overtime and/or business trips have increased. In any relationship, things progress to a point where secret lunches and occasional stolen kisses are no longer enough. The other person will typically demand more and more time from your spouse, or vice versa. Thus, excuses have to be made for nights or weekends away and lost hours here and there. The easiest excuses of all are “overtime,” “working late,” or “I have another business trip…”

Get the Evidence You Need Using an Affordable Newport Beach Private Investigator

Once you’ve decided that concrete evidence is a must, keep mum! The worst thing you can do is warn your partner or spouse that you are going to hire a private investigator to catch a cheating spouse. This lets them know you are serious and will send them underground, making it more difficult for the private investigator to get the evidence he needs.

Contact Linked Investigations if you’ve noticed signs of a cheating spouse and want to uncover the truth once and for all. We will tailor our surveillance services to your spouse’s schedule so we can use the minimum amount of time to get maximum results.

 

 

 

 

Imagine this relatively common situation in southern California: you have a mystery that you need solved, or maybe there is a person in your life that you want to get more information about. After doing some quick research, you find a private investigator in Orange County that you believe can be trusted. They seem to know what they are doing and offer you a rate that you believe is fair for the kind of work that you want them to do.

There is, however, another step that you need to take before you make the final decision to hire a private investigator in southern California: checking to make sure that they are licensed. It may take some extra time on your part to make sure that your private investigator is authorized to work by the state of California, but it will be energy well-spent to ensure that you are dealing with a private investigator that you can fully trust.

Identifying Fraudulent Private Investigators

In the state of California, all private investigators must be licensed by the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services (BSIS). To become licensed as a private investigator in California, a person must have at least three years of investigative work, a law degree and two years of experiences in law, or an associate’s degree in police science and 2.5 years of law enforcement experience.

How can you tell if a private investigator is actually licensed in California? The BSIS web site has an online database that allows users to verify the licensure of professionals like private investigators, locksmiths, and firearms trainers. This web site is one of the best ways to determine whether or not the person that you are thinking about hiring is actually eligible to conduct private investigations on your behalf.

Private Investigators Catching…Private Investigators?

Another interesting way of busting fake private investigators is through services from actual private investigators. While this is probably not something that an average consumer will pursue, in 2010 private investigators were used to track down and report unlicensed private detectives in California. This is a technique usually reserved for organizations that govern private investigative licensure.

The Dangers Of Hiring An Unlicensed Private Investigator

Some private investigators try to find clients by offering extremely cheap rates since they are not technically allowed to operate as private investigators in California. However, the consequences of hiring an unauthorized private investigator could be grave. In the worst case scenarios, unlicensed private investigators may use illegal techniques to gain the information you’re after, in which case YOU can get in trouble or the evidence you obtain may not be permissible in court. In other scenarios, personal information you give to the P.I. may be used to take advantage of you or people that are close to you. Many unlicensed investigators have a criminal history themselves and could be dangerous. There is also a chance that they may run off with any money that you may have paid them in advance for their services.

When looking for a private investigator, make sure that you spend some time checking their credentials. There are plenty of online sites available that not only help you find out if a private investigator is legitimate, but whether or not they have done good work for past clients. There is no reason to take a chance and hire a private investigator that has a checkered history. By doing your due diligence and putting some time into researching the work of a potential private investigator in Downey or other parts of Los Angeles, you can save yourself from being victimized by criminals that could steal your money, or worse.

Need to hire a licensed Newport Beach Private Investigator? Contact Mike Garroutte, owner of Linked Investigations. With more than 30 years in the industry, you will get the results you need at a competitive price.