PRIVATE investigators in Jamaica say they are being paid up to hundreds of thousands of dollars to investigate cases of suspected infidelity, with individuals living overseas willing to spend top dollar to find out if their partners are loyal.

The Jamaica Observer spoke with the chief executive officers (CEOs) of three private investigation companies who said that the bulk of their clients are individuals 30 to 55 years old who reside in the United States, Canada, and England and have partners in Jamaica. These clients, typically, are married or in the process of filing for their spouses to join them overseas.

Maurice Richards, CEO of Prominent Investigations, said his company offers more than 20 investigative and surveillance services. Still, investigations around infidelity — which is the act of being unfaithful to or cheating on a spouse with another individual — are a gold mine, with more than 25 per cent of his clients requesting the service.

He shared that an equal number of his male and female clients request infidelity investigations.

“I do get work [from residents of] Jamaica, but it is very slow and it is not that much. Persons overseas, however, are sending me like US$1,000 or US$2,000 a week to handle their business for them and spy on their partners,” Richards said, adding that in some cases, investigations go on for months.

“If there is a girl who wanted to get her green card, or wanted to get straight [regularise their immigration status], or even marry to someone overseas, people from overseas are checking them out. They are using the private investigators to do surveillance on them,” he told the Sunday Observer.

Richards said, in some instances, international private investigators also reach out to local sleuths to help them with their probe on cheating spouses.

“For instance, if a company got a work to watch this female in America for a client but the lady is coming to Jamaica, they would hire us in Jamaica because they are not going to take a plane and come here,” he explained.

However, when suspicions are confirmed and clients come face to face with evidence — videos, audio recordings, or pictures — of their spouse cheating, many are not prepared to handle that information.

“When you show them the pictures and stuff, it’s crazy. Some of them, I’m not physically in front of them when I show them the pictures, but when they talk you can hear them get mad or cry and say they’re gonna get divorced or leave. I just have to sympathise and go about giving them the information in a good way,” he said.

Paul Gordon, CEO of Majestic Investigation, said his company, in its more than four years of operation, has investigated about 80 suspected cases of infidelity. Of that number, only five cases concluded with no evidence that the person was being unfaithful.

“I do over 70 services; however, I only post about six or seven services — and infidelity [investigation] is the number one service that people require. That’s where the lump sum comes in,” he told the Sunday Observer.

The CEO said his company charges $15,000 or more a day, depending on the resources needed, with a minimum of three days required to carry out investigations.

He stated that he mainly gets requests for suspected cheating probes from women, who form 70 per cent of his clientèle.

“Some of the cases, by the first day you will actually know or have a feeling of their routine, so within three days you can tell if this person is actually doing something or not doing something,” Gordon explained.

“Right then and there, we use a different approach, where we place a tracker on the person’s vehicle or, if they are not mobile, we have to use investigators travelling on public transportation to where that person is travelling,” he shared.

At the end of the investigation a flash drive containing pictures, videos, audio recordings, and more is submitted to the clients.

He stated that the process can be time-consuming, but many are anxious to know the truth, often bombarding him with requests for information before the investigation is finished.

“I remember two persons pushed and said they wanted to see what I had before the investigation ended, and that was a mistake I made to let them have the footage. They called while I was trailing their spouse and right there the person knew I was trailing them. I almost got burned one time, and the second time I deviated when she told me that she told [her spouse that] she knew,” said Gordon.

Now, as a standard, and to ensure his safety, he does not release any information before the end of an investigation — a decision many do not like because they are bubbling with curiosity and in need of answers to ease their mind.

CEO of private investigation company Six Paths, Stephen English told the Sunday Observer that his company mainly deals with corporate clients investigating employees or insurance claims. However, if these corporate clients are removed from the equation, 65 per cent of his customers would be those looking for evidence on whether their spouses are cheating.

He shared that, working with these cases, some people spend big bucks to have their partner watched for months, sometimes even after it is confirmed that the spouse is engaging in activities outside of their committed union.

“We have this case that we’ve been doing for 11 months now and the person has paid us some serious money. For the week, we probably provided the service for the person for like five to six hours per day, for four or five days a week,” he said, noting that his company typically charges $6,000 an hour.

Justifying the cost of surveillance, he said the services are expensive because investigators have to rent different cars, book hotel rooms and tickets for events, travel long distances, purchase gas, and more, in order to efficiently execute their duties.

“On a monthly basis, we get more inquiries than people who actually use the service. On average, per month we’ll get somewhere between 20 and 30 persons seeking information on [infidelity investigations], but when we get to the stage where we start talking about cost, people would back away or say they will get back to us,” said English.

“However, more men actually pay for the service. The bulk of the queries that we get come from women, but whenever a man actually reaches out to us, they normally follow through,” he said.

English added that law firms also request the service on behalf of their clients who are filing for divorce.

“Even if a prenuptial agreement is not involved, you know that there are certain conditions under which an individual would’ve forfeited their right to anything in the relationship based on how the separation took place. People are always trying to get evidence of infidelity to use,” said English.