The Expert Podcast

Do you like doing online research? Do you consider yourself to be an amateur investigator? Well, that's good because, did you know that if you discover certain types of fraud, you can benefit from this as what's called a whistleblower? There are certain government procedures and programs where people who discover fraud against the government could potentially benefit. This could involve someone not paying their taxes, defrauding the government on a contract, or even offering an unregulated security—such as an investment without a license.

Basically, you can benefit from turning these people in to the government, and there's a process to go through. One of these processes is under what’s called the False Claims Act, also referred to as a "qui tam" case. This applies when the government is being defrauded by some type of contractor or business deal. If you discover this—whether you’re an employee of the company or just an amateur sleuth—you can report it to the government. By properly declaring yourself a whistleblower and using the correct paperwork, you may be eligible to receive a percentage of the fees the government recovers or the losses it stops.

Now, remember, we are not attorneys and are not giving you legal advice. You should look into exactly how to do this. However, as a fraud investigative agency, we encounter these situations often. There are cases of fraud against government agencies, improper securities or investments being offered, and even tax evasion. Any one of these could, hypothetically, present a way for a private individual to benefit by discovering the fraud.

If you enjoy online investigations, are good at snooping out data, and love deep dives into intel, you can use these skills as a way to potentially earn income. Keep in mind that many of these cases take years to go through the courts and the system, but if you’ve filed yourself as a whistleblower, you may eventually benefit from the process.

For more information about how this works and how you can conduct such investigations, you can check out our website at activeintel.com. The site provides free consumer resources to help you learn how to conduct these investigations and, perhaps, benefit from them financially.