Back when I worked for a PI firm, the agents used pretext, but there were pretty firm guidelines as to what was appropriate and what wasn’t. Confidential financial information was certainly out. One big use of pretext was in determining what the best times to conduct surveillance would be.
For example an insurance adjuster would contact the company and say “hey, I think claimant X is falsely claiming worker’s comp, could you check it out for us?”. An agent or the case manager would conduct a pretext by telephone in order to find out when the claimant was typically home. Common pretexts were things like “I’m conducting a survey on television viewing habits, what are your favorite shows” or other such things. The results of a successful pretext would be used to schedule surveillance by an agent and often lead to obtaining more evidence. The evidence would then be sent to the adjuster who would determine if the claimant was within the limitations of their abilities as determined by their doctor.
In other words, pretexting helped bust fraudulent claims. This overall might have the effect of decreasing fraudulent worker’s comp payouts and limiting things like that <i>should</i> help keep insurance rates down. Most of our clients were state insurance funds.
I wonder if CandidGamera feels that this type of pretexting constituted fraud and should be illegal as well.
I am not entirely sure, but we were told that pretexting of this type was protected by PI laws in our state so long as the appropriate guidelines (like no private financial info) were followed. Furthermore, it was the responsibility of the agent to know and uphold any relevant law in any state in which they operated (i.e. an agent’s pay rate could be affected adversely if any guidelines were not followed).
I should say that I was never an Agent, but had agents under my supervision in my capacity as QA manager/Video Specialist. I never used or needed pretext, nor did I instruct others to pretext or in pretexting methods.
In my personal opinion I feel that there are acceptable uses of pretext and there is a very firm line between the two. Pretext to verify things like address, schedule, other contact information or vehicle information is ok (and in my state is allowed by law). Pretexting to gain confidential financial information or other things that are (or should be) protected is not. Typically if we needed something like a social security number, like for a background check, the client would provide the necessary information.