The Expert Podcast

So one of the questions that we get as a licensed private investigator is can you get phone records this is a very common request because many clients could use records from a phone account whether it's a cell phone a business account even a landline to determine activity of the party who has the phone maybe who they've contacted maybe what text messages were sent and there are several methods that can be used to get the phone records the key to the whole thing is making sure that the methods are obtained legally and that means using what's called glb compliant methods graham leech biliact is the federal law that protects private information from being obtained using improper or illegal methods.
For example an illegal method would be for somebody to call up the phone company or contact them and represent that they are the account holder so if you want to get the phone records of joe schmoe you can't call the cell phone company and say hey i'm joe schmo here's my driver's license number here's my date of birth give me the records that's illegal because you're false pretexting to get the records.
However a method that could be used is there may be locations where those phone records are already in existence outside of the cell phone company because the cell phone company is not going to release them directly unless you have a court order a subpoena permission from the account holder but maybe those records are already outside of that there are many locations where phone records can be discovered maybe on the phone itself maybe through other records where they were saved sometimes an accountant or or a um business manager may have them sometimes they've been downloaded pdf files are downloaded sometimes they're actually mailed to the account holder using postal mail.
Phone records can sometimes be extracted from a third-party device it's possible that if that phone is connected by bluetooth or by wi-fi or some other connection to a computer or network or server the phone records may exist on that device for example anytime somebody uses a phone in a residence the phone is usually set up to connect by wi-fi to this the router of that home because instead of using the data from the phone and most you know phone accounts have pretty good amount of data but when you're home your phone will use data from your internet provider not from your phone account when that happens there may be access to the phone records through that wi-fi depending upon how it's connected sometimes phone records are actually saved and stored on a computer that's connected to the account.
So the first thing to look at is where do the phone records exist already outside of the phone company because here's the thing if you need to get the records from the phone company there's only two ways to do it either break the law in illegally pretext to get the records and you might think well i'm willing to do that that's a good idea you're going to get caught because when those records are released the the account holder will receive a notification that their records were released they're going to get a notification by email in the mail by phone by text that says just to let you know that your phone records were sent to you as you requested if you didn't request this let us know so if you try to do it illegally the phone account holder will most likely be notified and you're going to get caught not only is it illegal but you're going to get caught doing it you can't get away with it.
And no legitimate licensed private investigator is going to do that because not only now are you getting in trouble but they're getting in trouble for no benefit to them the private investigator illegally getting phone records for somebody else doesn't benefit them at all so they're not gonna put their license at risk and criminal record at risk so that's the one way to do it the other way to get it from the phone company is by court order if you're involved in a litigation or legal account with that party many times the court will give you a subpoena that you don't even have to give to the counterparty you can go right to the phone company with that subpoena and they have to give you the records directly now that's a legal question make sure you understand we're not attorneys we're not giving you legal advice but there's there are ways to do this.
Many times a client doesn't want to go that route because they think it's going to take too much time cost too much money they don't want to deal with the court that's fine there's no magic phone record search button you can just pop up search records right so either you have to go through the court or have an investigator look at these other sources that are already released the phone records now here's the downside you could look for all those sources and they may not be there usually they are phone records in many cases exist in other places.
In fact sometimes you can find phone records on a car infotainment system when you use your phone your mobile device in a motor vehicle and you connect the bluetooth to the infotainment system to make calls hands-free play your music whatever you're gonna do now your phone is connected to that infotainment system and it can store a lot of information phone records text messages emails pictures maps gps locations so you may find that getting the phone record you want is a lot easier than you think you just have to look in the right place.
Do not expect that somebody's going to break the law and do some kind of black bag hacker thing to get the records first of all it's probably not going to work second of all everybody's going to get in trouble people don't do that anymore but there are easier better cheaper ways to do it that allow you to use that data and that information in a legal setting if you want it because here's the thing if you get the records illegally you can't tell anybody you have them as soon as the other party finds out which they will anyways they're just going to come down on you.
So there are ways to do it a pr private investigator can do this for you mobile device text message pictures even something like a tablet or laptop or a chromebook has records that can be obtained so that's a common question use the links below let us know what you think put some comments down there to let us know what questions you have so we can answer those in the future.