By Cynthia Hetherington, Hetherington Group

Cynthia Hetherington has more than 15 years of experience in research, investigations and corporate intelligence. She is a consultant for Thomson Reuters and the founder of Hetherington Group, a consulting, publishing and training firm focusing on intelligence, security and investigations.  Visit Cynthia on Twitter.
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Sharing your thoughts and activities online in and of itself is not necessarily a problem. The problem comes when users forget that everyone in their social network is reading their post. So when you post something in frustration with your boss, co-worker, spouse, or friend, remember that the boss, co-worker, spouse, or friend – and all their networked friends (and all THEIR networked friends) – are also reading your posts.

Having second thoughts now about using Facebook? It is possible to take part in Facebook and still maintain a semblance of privacy. To accomplish that, keep some of these things in mind when posting to Facebook:

1. Do not write in a fury

If you are angry, inebriated, or simply have a big secret that you are itching to share, that is the time to step away from the keyboard. What you think is hysterical or outlandish now might only serve to embarrass you as the poster later.

2. Do not ignore Facebook’s privacy controls

Your Facebook profile and its privacy settings can be customized. Limit access to only your friends, friends of friends, or only yourself. Do not enter contact info, such as your phone number and address. Restrict access to your photos, birth date, religious views, and family information, among other things. Give only certain people, or groups of people, access to items such as photos, or block specific people from seeing them.

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By Stephen Rubley, VP & GM, Risk, Fraud & Investigations, Thomson Reuters 

First of all, I’d like to welcome you to our new blog, Investigative Insights, where we’re excited to bring you a network of individuals with diverse backgrounds to talk about interesting topics and emerging trends in investigations.  We hope these insights will help our customer base and teach all of us a few things about the complex world of investigations. 

It’s amazing how differently we communicate and function personally and professionally from 10-15 years ago.  I remember the days when mobile devices first came out.  We were so excited to communicate even though we looked ridiculous. 

The change has transformed us. Our society used to accept and embrace “down time,” or time to just think and reflect outside the office.  But now we demand continuous access to information, constant connection to others all over the globe, and above all- it better be fast and easy.  With the advent of “apps”, people using mobile devices are growing accustomed to tapping a button to instantly get valuable information rather than taking several steps to retrieve information using a browser.  We can even multitask with several “apps” at a time while having a conversation. 

I walk around with two cell phones and frequently talk on one while answering email on the other. There’s just no way those messages could wait another 30 minutes until I get back to the office!  But it doesn’t stop there.  I can even download the latest score, receive weather alerts and breaking news — all while Pandora radio is playing my latest Steve mix genre.  Embarrassing?  Maybe.  Necessary?  Yes. 

The investigative community benefits from this insatiable appetite for immediate and easy access to information/data in seconds while out of the office.  Mobile technology has evolved in the past couple of years to allow corporate, government or legal investigative personnel to identify a suspect through a facial recognition app[i] or look up a potential jurors’ social media profile during voir dire[ii].  Law enforcement agencies are entering an era with mobile applications where situational awareness is taken to a new level.  Now they can have real time data streaming to mobile devices — location information on a fugitive, instant news feeds and updates, immediate identity verification, and crime mapping applications.  It takes the investigative community’s potential to a new level.   

How has technology helped your day-to-day investigative process?  Feel free to reach out via this blog or email me at CLEAR@thomsonreuters.com. 

Sidebar on Jean MacQuarrie of Thomson Reuters Testifying at the House Oversight & Government Reform Hearing

CLEAR for Healthcare Fraud: most comprehensive solution for fraud and abuse detection market

CLEAR, the powerful public and proprietary records service and investigative suite from Thomson Reuters, is well-regarded among law enforcement and government investigative professionals for helping nab criminals and recover missing children. Now, the business has introduced a new version of the service to aid in the recovery of the $60 billion that the National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association estimates is lost each year to fraud.

CLEAR for Healthcare Fraud takes specific industry data and key provider content such as NPI (National Provider Identifier) numbers, sanctions data and professional licensing information, and combines it with a deep collection of utility records, cell phone data and other public records, to provide a powerful search tool that can pinpoint not just minor data aberrations, but true inconsistencies warranting further investigation. The results of those investigations can help remove fraudulent healthcare providers from Medicare and Medicaid payrolls and recover billions of dollars in wasteful spending. 



CLEAR for Healthcare Fraud offers the fraud, waste and abuse detection market its most comprehensive solution to date, including more live gateways to real-time data as well as Web analytics that combine public records data with Web search capabilities.
The business is uniquely positioned to combine market expertise and unique content sets from across Thomson Reuters to provide customers with a new level of power in the healthcare fraud, waste and abuse mitigation space.

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Here’s where we’ll be in the next two weeks.  Please say hello if you’re in the area.

May 9 – 11
Thomson Reuters Healthcare Customer Conference
For Thomson Reuters clients
Salt Lake City, UT 

May 13 – 16
C.O.P.S (Concerns of Police Survivors) & National Police Week
Washington, DC 

May 17
Nat’l Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Hope Awards Dinner
Washington, DC 

May 24
Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE)
Cynthia Hetherington Speaking
Chicago, IL 

May 24
East Coast Gaming Congress
Atlantic City, NJ

May 22 – 25
Association of Criminal State Investigative Agencies (ASCIA)
Savannah, GA

Thomson Reuters proudly sponsors the Hero Award, which will allow CLEAR, Westlaw PeopleMap, and Batch Services customers to submit their stories on how they, or someone they know, have been successful using our Risk, Fraud and Investigation solutions to:

• solve a crime

• change a life

• right a wrong

• uncover fraud

• perform another heroic act

Stories are being accepted now through August 15, 2011 to be eligible to receive a $10,000 charitable donation.  Three separate recipients in the government, corporate and law firm markets will each be awarded a $10,000 charitable donation.

To learn more, please click here.

By Jason Thomas, Thomson Reuters

On a recent trip to Minnesota, I had the pleasure of taking a cab ride from Minneapolis to St. Paul.  It’s about an hour and a half ride.  As you can imagine, the driver Tony and I got to know each other during the trip.  I particularly like to speak to cab drivers.  I like to know their story.  Most of them are not from the United States and they typically have interesting tales to tell.  Tony was no different.  He is originally from Nigeria (and by the way, Tony is in fact his real first name).  He moved to the US thirty years ago, got married, and went to college at St. Cloud State University.  Now he owns his own taxi service.

So what’s the interesting story?

Well for one, the only thing I previously knew about Nigeria relates to those lovely emails I get asking me to help them move money out of the country.  So talking to a native Nigerian was refreshingly educational.  But, more importantly, about halfway into our trip, I asked Tony if he considers himself more Nigerian or American.

I know that’s an unfair question, but I’ve been thinking recently about identity.  What does it mean?  Is there a difference in what we present in our real lives versus our digital ones?  Can we keep them separate or does one bleed into the other?  Is the digital world capable of supporting anonymity anymore?

Tony struggled with an answer.  He explained that while he loves his native country, America represents the fulfillment of what the world can be.  He launched into a condemning discussion of Nigerian politics (civil war, assassinations, tyranny) then settled on the response that ultimately he can’t choose.  He is both Nigerian and American.

I think digital identity works the same way.  It’s very possible to have two or more digital identities in additional to your real life identity.

Some folks disagree.
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Submit your award application by June 1, 2011.

Thomson Reuters is proud to partner with the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) in sponsoring the Award for Excellence in Criminal Investigation – an award that’s been established since 2003.   As in years past, the 2011 award will be given to a law enforcement agency, law enforcement unit, task force, or inter-agency task force in recognition of exceptional innovation and excellence in the area of criminal investigations, with the goal of sharing information to advance the art and science of criminal investigations. 

The IACP Police Investigative Operations Committee will evaluate each application and select a winner and two runner-up recipients. The announcement of the winners and the award presentation will be at the IACP Annual Conference in Chicago, IL on October 22 – 26, 2011.

We’re accepting nominations from now until June 1, 2011.  To learn more and download an award application form, please click here.

By Cynthia Hetherington, Hetherington Group

29 Apr 2011Investigative Insights

Cynthia Hetherington has more than 15 years of experience in research, investigations and corporate intelligence. She is a consultant for Thomson Reuters and the founder of Hetherington Group, a consulting, publishing and training firm focusing on intelligence, security and investigations.  Visit Cynthia on Twitter.
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Foraging through Facebook

According to Experian’s Hitwise, Facebook has unseated Google.com as #1 Web site visited on the Internet.  And as the market share leader of social networks, searching Facebook for leads is now mandatory for all investigators.

With its captivating ability to allow a user to upload photos and videos, express thoughts and opinions, reference other Web sites, and keep in touch with friends, both old and new, Facebook has kept itself at the top of the game. It also doesn’t hurt that Facebook’s layout and design are user-friendly, simple, and easy on the eyes. This allows Facebook to draw attention from Web dwellers of all ages, booting its numbers high above the other social networks.

This is where the Facebook addiction—or “Facecrack,” as we like to call it—phenomenon begins. When becoming a user for the first time, you create an account, offering up information such as books you’re interested in, movies you prefer, whether you are married, single, in a relationship, or in a relationship and “it’s complicated.” Next, you’re adding in your high school, college, perhaps company name, adding years of graduation where appropriate.

Next thing you know Facebook has aggregated all the other graduates from your high school and offered them up as people you should “friend” (which is now a verb, along with unfriending, in Webster’s Dictionary).  Given the natural curiosity of most folks, they start to friend these individuals, if only to see how they’ve aged, and this is where the little addiction gets severe. First you’re checking out how much they have aged, then you find yourself looking through all their photos, checking to see if they had kids, if they’re married, and trying to learn where they work and what they do with their lives.  Like an old high school reunion, everyone is excited the first few days and the fervor of friending, chatting, swapping apps, and playing voyeur into other peoples profiles is high.  Next you are updating everyone on what you’re doing every day, whether it’s baking cookies, being bored at work, looking forward to the weekend, etc. This first week is often a blur, and when it’s over, you stop and think, “What happened?” and you have two choices at this point. You either fall victim to the Facecrack, into the Zynga world of managing a pretend farm or Mafia—committing you as a Facecrack addict with no hope in site—or you pause and realize this is something you’ll probably pop in and out of on a daily basis, but certainly slow down in using, deciding it’s not important to tell a group of “friends,” who you haven’t seen or heard from in over 20 years, that you just clipped your toenails.
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By Jason Thomas, Thomson Reuters

Valentine’s Day is a stressful event.  Usually I wait until the last minute to do anything related to this holiday.  Not because I don’t love my wife.  I do.  Rather, I REALLY hate spending lots of money on flowers that any other time would be priced at half what they cost in the buildup to Valentine’s Day. Moreover, Valentine’s Day reminds me of 1) how cheap I am, and 2) how gullible I am that I still expect a dozen roses to prove my love to my wife.

This year, however, was different.  A few weeks before February 14^th, I received a Groupon which promised me that for $20, I would receive $40 worth of flowers, plants, or gifts from a well known national florist.  Every economically challenged bone in my body screamed out to take advantage of this deal, which of course I did.

Shortly thereafter Valentine’s Day arrived, but, unfortunately my flowers did not.  It seems that the florist experienced major delays in delivery.  Three day later, my wife received her roses.  As you can imagine I was quite angry.  So angry in fact that I tweeted about it.  Little did I know that the florist actively monitored Twitter for messages about their company.  Not only was I contacted by the florist and offered a refund, they also provided me with a $20 discount coupon to use in any future order I placed with them.  Clearly, they were concerned about keeping me as a customer.  More importantly however, they were anxious about what I might say about their brand in the social media universe.
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The Risk, Fraud, and Investigation (RF&I) group of Thomson Reuters is very excited to welcome you to our new community blog – Investigative Insights – a forum for thought-provoking investigative content, upcoming events, and engaging dialogue with our readers.

What You’ll Find Here on Investigative Insights
We are dedicated to providing you with relevant and interesting topics of conversation, including:

• Articles written by guest bloggers who are subject-matter experts to become seen as “thought leaders” in our markets
• Exchange of insights and experiences through your participation
• Valuable links to other blog posts, web sites, LinkedIn pages, and Twitter feeds to encourage the sharing of ideas and information
• Videos and news about what’s happening in the world of investigations
• Upcoming RF&I events such as conferences and webinars to keep you informed

What Do You Think?
We want to hear from you.  Your comments, ideas, and suggestions will help shape this forum into a place where everyone can learn, share, and grow.  Leave a comment below or email us at west.investigativeinsights@thomsonreuters.com.

A Bit About Us
The RF&I group was formed in 2010 and offers powerful public and proprietary records with tools for fast, immediately usable results.  Our customers are professionals across government, corporate, and law firm markets seeking information about individuals and businesses.  For more about our products and services, click here.

Welcome to Investigative Insights and stay tuned for content updates!

Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.