Case Stories

Illustrative case stories: how a trace, a surveillance operation, a workplace investigation and a romance-scam enquiry actually unfold.

These are illustrative case stories. Each is a composite built from the kind of work our investigators have handled over the years, with names, places, dates and identifying details changed or merged so that nobody can be identified. The methods, the order of decisions and the ethics are the part worth reading, and those are as described.

They are here because most people have no idea what actually happens when they instruct an investigator: how long it takes, what the evidence looks like, and how often the answer is not the one the client expected. They also show the judgement calls, such as when an address is not handed over, or when surveillance clears someone who had been suspected for months.

Finding Graham

Updated 5 October 2026

An illustrative people-tracing story: finding a brother missing for thirteen years, and what an ethical trace does when someone is missing on purpose.

The Engineer on the Rig

Updated 5 October 2026

An illustrative romance scam story: checking an online partner who did not exist, preserving the evidence, and stopping a £54,000 second payment.

Three Thursdays in South London

Updated 5 October 2026

An illustrative matrimonial surveillance story: how three Thursday evenings of lawful covert surveillance replaced months of doubt with certainty.

The Six-Month Bad Back

Updated 5 October 2026

An illustrative workplace investigation story: how three days of lawful surveillance ended a six-month sickness-absence fraud that HR could not act on.

Investigation Bureau: UK private investigators. To reach an investigator, send a confidential enquiry or email [email protected]. We reply within one working day. Investigation Bureau is a trading name of Bureau Nine Ltd, company number 17484009, registered with the ICO as a data controller (ZC259849).