Pretext: Using deception to obtain information you're not entitled to have.

If you hire an investigator who uses pretexting, you may be writing your own ticket to a grand jury.

The practice is widespread among private investigators and commercial information brokers and under intense attack by lawmakers, law enforcers, and tort lawyers, alike.

Pretexting may be illegal in some circumstances, and unethical in most circumstances, but it also can come back to haunt the unwitting client of the private investigator who uses it.

Unfortunately, the practice also is highly profitable.

When authorities raided the Aurora, Colorado, office of private investigator, James Rapp, earlier this year, they found a list of 1,200 clients who were using Rapp to obtain confidential information, including bank records, unlisted telephone numbers, telephone records, medical records – anything that can't be obtained without deception. Published reports of the case indicate the clients of the investigators who hired Rapp's business, Touch Tone Information, included The Globe, The National Enquirer, banks, insurance companies, private investigators. One of the clients was a Florida detective agency, which rang up a bill in four-months totaling $20,000.

Many of the Rapp clients are Colorado investigators working for Colorado clients. It's virtually certain that at least some of those investigators will be called before the Jefferson County Grand Jury. When they start talking, it's virtually certain that their clients will be identified and issued invitations, as well.

Rapp became the target of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation after the Los Angeles Police Department found records in the home of a private investigator, which included the home addresses, phone numbers, and pager numbers for detectives assigned to the L.A. department's organized crime squad. The information allegedly was provided by Touch Tone.

The excuses already are flying . . . "We only did this to find deadbeat fathers... We did nothing illegal... We only did this for banks looking for deadbeats...."

Curiously, banks are among the prime targets of pretext artists.

The indictment by a Jefferson County Grand Jury against Rapp and his wife, Regana, appear to be the first of its type in the country and is based on a Colorado law barring the impersonation of someone to obtain information. But new law, including federal law, is on the horizon. And the Federal Trade Commission has filed a civil action against the Rapps and Touch Tone, alleging invasion of consumer privacy.

The Congress is considering anti-pretext legislation as part of the Financial Modernization Act. This effort is being fought by the Coalition to Amend the Financial Information Privacy Act. This coalition is urging information brokers nationally to add $5.00 to each bank and stock search to fund the fight. The coalition also is fighting the FTC's lawsuit against Touch Tone.

The coalition also is warning information brokers to beware of "Stings," like the one that caught the Rapps and Touch Tone. It's too bad they are not as concerned about the intent of all of their clients.
The point is that many information brokers have no interest in the real purposes of the people who hire their services – or the harm that can result.

Even the victims of the Columbine shooting were not immune to the pretexters.

Information obtained by authorities during the investigation of the Rapps indicates that the company obtained the unpublished phone numbers, phone records, and addresses of some of the Columbine victims, and that this information apparently was passed on to a California firm which appears to specialize in providing information to media outlets, including the tabloids.

Privacy Watch

HR 10 and S 900 , the House and Senate Versions of the Financial Privacy Act, are headed to a conference committee. The bills make it a federal crime to use pretexting to obtain confidential bank records.

Privacy Watch-2

The Senate is considering a provision in an appropriations bill for the Department of Transportation that requires motor vehicle departments to obtain the express, written consent of an individual before that individual's driver information may be sold or otherwise conveyed to a third party. The bill is S 1143. The bill includes an exception for law enforcement agencies.

The Falacy in Pretexting

Pretexters claim they only do it for good reason; for example, child support and deadbeats. But anyone with a legitimate claim to bank records and other confidential information has a perfectly legal and appropriate recourse:  the courts.

Discreet, Thorough,
Accurate & Creative

• Eight years in the Denver& Jefferson District Attorney's Offices
  
  
• The only private investigative agency in Colorado to be hired by the Denver Election Commission to investigate allegations of campaign fraud.
  
  
• Broad Knowledge of criminal & civil law, insurance regulations, and common sense acquired through 20 years of investigative experience.
  
  
• One of the very few investigative firms in Colorado to carry $1 million in liability insurance.
  
  
• More than 20,000 civil and criminal investigations.
  
  
• Associate Member: Colorado and Denver Bar Associations.
  
  
• Member: World Association of Detectives, Metropolitan Law Enforcement Agency, Intelnet, ION, NCISS National Association of Legal Investigators.