What I, Spy Teaches Civilians That Professionals Take for Granted

I, Spy: How to Be Your Own Private Investigator exists because of a conversation that repeats several times a week. Someone calls with a suspicion, describes it, and it becomes clear within five minutes that they do not need to hire anyone. They need a method.

Lesson One: Separate What You Know From What You Fear

Almost every caller presents a mixture of the two, and the mixture is what makes the situation unbearable. Writing them in two physical columns is startlingly effective. The "know" column is usually short and the "fear" column is long, and once they are separated, each item in the fear column becomes a specific question with a specific answer available somewhere.

Lesson Two: Public Records Are Genuinely Public

Property records, corporate filings, court dockets, licensing databases, marriage and judgment records, UCC filings. Most people have never opened one. They are free or nearly free, they are legal to search, and they answer more questions than any surveillance operation. The book walks through which records exist and which question each one answers.

Lesson Three: The Legal Line Is Not Where You Think

The most important chapter is the legal one, and it is the chapter people skip. Searching public records is legal. Photographing someone in a public place is generally legal. Accessing an account you do not own is a federal crime in the United States. Installing tracking or monitoring software on someone else's device is a crime in most jurisdictions. Recording a conversation you are not part of is a crime in many. People destroy their own legal position — and occasionally their liberty — doing things they assumed were merely rude.

Lesson Four: Evidence Has to Survive Someone Attacking It

An unlabelled photo on a phone proves very little. The same photo with a documented time, date, location and an unbroken account of who held it is evidence. The book covers the discipline of contemporaneous notes, and why the habit matters even for someone who never intends to see a courtroom.

Lesson Five: Know When to Stop

There is a point where amateur work stops helping and starts destroying the case — when a subject becomes aware, when the evidence needs to be admissible, when the matter turns criminal, or when the emotional cost of doing it yourself exceeds the fee. The last chapter is about recognising that line before crossing it.

The book is available on Kindle. It is written for people in a difficult week, not for people who want to sound like an investigator at a dinner party.

About the author

Dan Ribacoff is a licensed private investigator and the founder of International Investigative Group, a certified polygraph examiner, certified firearms instructor, GIA Graduate Gemologist and the author of I, Spy: How to Be Your Own Private Investigator. He works from offices in New York, Boca Raton and London, and has appeared as a polygraph expert on American and British television.