Business Detective Agency Aschaffenburg | Detective Aschaffenburg (Case Example)*

After receiving several puzzled inquiries from customers asking about the whereabouts of a scheduled field representative, as well as subtle hints from colleagues, Mr. Kronberg, managing director of an outpatient care service, began to seriously question the integrity of one of his employees. He contacted Aaden Detective Agency Frankfurt am Main to have the suspect, Mr. Karben from Aschaffenburg, placed under surveillance during working hours in order to verify whether he was performing his duties properly in accordance with his recorded working hours (suspicion of working time fraud). In addition, Mr. Kronberg doubted the accuracy of the submitted expense reports of the field service employee; therefore, this suspicion (expense report fraud) was also to be investigated.

Uneventful day for our detectives in Aschaffenburg

Before arriving in Aschaffenburg* to observe Mr. Karben, the investigators analyzed the surveillance environment and determined that the residence was located in a traffic-calmed residential street. Such situations always involve risk, even for experienced surveillance operatives, as residents tend to react sensitively to unfamiliar vehicles. Furthermore, motion detectors were installed around the house, illuminating a wide area at night. Multiple possible departure routes additionally complicated the work of our investigators from Frankfurt am Main. Despite these challenges, our team attempted to successfully balance maintaining visual contact and remaining inconspicuous.

According to the client’s organizational records, Mr. Karben was scheduled to have his first appointment at 08:30. However, the detectives observed no sign of him by that time. At 08:40, his wife left the house with two children, presumably taking them to school—yet the target individual remained unseen. Over the course of the day, investigators observed the wife returning, leaving again, bringing groceries into the house, disposing of glass bottles, and later picking up the children. Meanwhile, Mr. Karben’s company vehicle remained stationary in the driveway. Late in the afternoon, our detectives were instructed to end the surveillance and return the next day.

Field representative: working hours = leisure time?

When the investigators returned to Aschaffenburg the next morning, the company vehicle was still in the same place. First, there were again some activities by the wife, while the scheduled start of the target person’s workday at our commercial detective agency from Frankfurt a.M. slipped hour by hour into the past. Only shortly before noon did the detectives see their target for the first time. Mr. Karben got into the company vehicle, which had been provided to him exclusively for business trips, and headed onto the A3 toward Frankfurt. His driving style was not only leisurely but almost absurdly slow, which made the work of our Frankfurt detectives considerably more difficult, because following a car inconspicuously on the motorway that never drives faster than 100 km/h and is sometimes overtaken by trucks is anything but easy.

The trip led to the company headquarters of the clients of our Frankfurt commercial detectives. After an almost half-hour stay, Mr. Karben left the building again and revealed to our observers just how downright sloppily dressed he was: stained, far too baggy sweatpants, an old hoodie and sneakers – no one who cares about the well-being of his company would visit customers dressed like that. After returning to the company vehicle, the target of Aaden Detective Agency Frankfurt a.M. sat in the driver’s seat for a quarter of an hour and tapped away on his smartphone. Finally, the target vehicle moved again and drove toward Mr. Karben’s home address. Along the way, the field service employee interrupted the trip with the following activities one after another: a stop at a motorway service area to buy rolls and a drink, which he then consumed while driving, a visit to a Media Markt, which Mr. Karben left carrying several DVDs or Blu-rays, a visit to a dubious massage studio in Aschaffenburg, from which he returned to the vehicle after a good hour, and finally driving home and not appearing again until evening.

Friday at 13:00 End of Work: Short Surveillance by Our Detective Agency in Aschaffenburg*

The previous surveillance showed that Mr. Karben was not only working too little, but was completely inactive during working hours and therefore of no benefit to the employer paying him. In order to prove the regularity of these violations of the employment contract, a third surveillance operation by our detective agency in Aschaffenburg was scheduled. On that day, the target person visited a Volksbank branch, a courthouse, where he received a warning for parking in a no-parking zone, a mailbox into which Mr. Karben dropped a letter, and a private address that, according to the client, had no connection to the field service employee’s gainful employment. At none of these places did the target of our detectives from Frankfurt am Main remain longer than 25 minutes, and so at 13:00 it was already “end of work” – Mr. Karben did not leave the house again until evening.

Immediate Dismissal Including Demand to Return the Company Vehicle – Refused!

After the following weekend, the Aaden detectives from Frankfurt/Main were summoned to the client’s company headquarters. There, the managing director, Mr. Kronberg, handed them a letter addressed to the target person, in which the immediate dismissal was communicated. The private investigators were to personally serve the termination and a confirmation of receipt to be signed, so that the receipt of the dismissal could be witnessed. In addition, various company assets that had been entrusted to Mr. Karben for use were to be secured – including, among other things, the company vehicle.

Back in Aschaffenburg, the detectives rang the target person’s doorbell and were greeted at the entrance by him, wearing Adiletten. They introduced themselves by name and stated the reason for their visit, but the visibly surprised field service employee was in no way cooperative and refused to accept the termination letter. A look inside the house revealed considerable disorder to the private investigators, matching the target person’s shabby appearance. In response to the refusal of acceptance, the officers informed the fraudulent employee that they now had to involve the police. After a brief discussion in the operation vehicle, the Frankfurt private detectives called the police and learned that a patrol car was already on its way to the address, because the target person had called the police himself. Mr. Karben then told the officers a fairy tale about feeling threatened, but the police refused responsibility, since it was a civil matter. Mr. Karben then changed tactics and, in the presence of the police officers, proposed a peaceful settlement that included the handover of the company vehicle and other materials from the employer’s assets. After consulting with the client, the latter agreed.

Successful Vehicle Recovery to Frankfurt a. M.

At the agreed pickup appointment, the target person of Aaden Commercial Detective Agency Frankfurt, as feared, staged another farce. Mr. Karben claimed to have spoken with his lawyer, and the lawyer was of the opinion that the vehicle would only have to be returned at the end of the month (in three days) – apparently the meaning of the word “immediate” had not fully sunk in here. After some back and forth between the managing director and his lawyer on the one hand and the dismissed employee and his lawyer on the other, the instruction was finally given to our commercial detectives in Aschaffenburg* to take possession of the vehicle immediately and return it to the company headquarters. The resigned target person no longer resisted and handed over the company car together with some electronic devices and file folders. The detectives finally left Aschaffenburg heading toward Frankfurt and were able to close the case.

Notice

Note: For reasons of discretion and data protection, the locations and certain personal details have been altered without changing the substance of the actual events.

*Note: All assignments of Aaden Commercial Detective Agency Frankfurt are processed by our operations management in Frankfurt. We have a network of qualified, vetted investigators who can be active on site for you within a short time.