This is an opinion piece (revised edition) on the SWIFT network and the PI’s that claim they have legitimate access to it. I am not a Private Investigator, but rather a collection agency owner specializing in asset investigation and judgment recovery consulting.
If there is one area of asset investigation that has provided me the most difficulties in learning, it’s bank locates. There is very little knowledge concerning this practice. There are certainly books that give related information. Ronald L Mendell is my favorite author when it comes to learning the art of financial asset investigation. Many of the techniques are older, but if one is creative, they can find a legal way of applying it to current times.
With the aid of a very forgiving client, a loss of about one thousand dollars and a lot of time in learning several bank investigation techniques, I finally got to the point of being able to offer bank locates as a service (under the scope of debt recovery). For over a year, its been a regular service I’ve offered without having to farm out anything to another agency.
SWIFT stands for the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication. Transferwise.com explains the SWIFT network in this way: “Banks around the world needed a consistent, universal way to get money from one country to another. The SWIFT network became that answer. SWIFT provides a secure network that allows more than 10,000 financial institutions in 212 different countries to send and receive information about financial transactions to each other.”
Investopedia has this to say: “SWIFT is a vast messaging network used by banks and other financial institutions to quickly, accurately, and securely send and receive information, such as money transfer instructions. In 2019, more than 11,000 SWIFT member institutions sent approximately 33.6 million transactions per day through the network.”
In the past few years, I’ve seen a few companies claiming they have access to the SWIFT network and can learn where someone banks. I have done significant research into this and have found that unless you have an inside source at a bank or lending institution, you’re not accessing the SWIFT network.
This research was verified several months ago when a PI laid out the scheme for me, which other PI’s have reluctantly alluded to. Obviously this individual wishes to remain anonymous. Please understand that this may not be the only method, but I was told that it’s the most common. The way it was explained to me is that typically there will be 3 parties:
- The Provider. The provider is generally a small operation lending institution that will typically consist of under 10 employees. It will be a legitimate agency engaging in small loans, sometimes payday or title loans. They will have access to the SWIFT Network.
- The Broker. This will be the middleman. The broker is friendly with the lending institution and has worked out a monetary deal to obtain and sell the data.
- The Private Investigator. The PI is the receiving party and the last stop before it is sold to the customer. The PI will not know the provider and the provider will not know the PI. The PI will typically buy for an amount ranging from as low as $35.00 to as high as $150.00. This will vary greatly depending on the agreed amounts between all involved parties. The PI will then markup their prices to attain a profit.
I am not an attorney, but as it was explained to me, this method is completely illegal. A private investigator, collection agency or other similar business can not legally access the SWIFT network or obtain and utilize information purchased by someone illegally pulling this information.
Another thing is that there are PI’s that say they have a BIC. Per the site — https://transferwise.com/us/swift-codes “A SWIFT code is an international bank code that identifies particular banks worldwide. It’s also known as a Bank Identifier Code (BIC).”
Obtaining a BIC is not a difficult process and it’s free. Officially it’s called a “non-connected BIC.” A PI having a BIC and using that in their advertising, is nothing more than a gimmick. If you see this, you may want to consider asking the PI how they can legally access data within the SWIFT Network. The most common answer that I’ve received, is “trade secrets.”
I hope you’ve enjoyed this article and were able to gain a better understanding of the subject content. As I frequently tell my readers, please always verify. Whether it’s me or others, verify everything!
