Busted – A story worth investigating!

4 February 2021

Guest writer: Ron McQuilter

Private Investigators are involved in all sorts of crazy situations with people always saying you should write a book. And so, a couple of years ago recovering at home in a sling from a shoulder operation, I decided to take up the challenge. It took only four weeks to write because when I started the stories just flowed.

I arrived in New Zealand in 1983 and within six weeks I was conducting an insurance claim investigation for Commercial Union related to a burglary on Great Barrier Island. Turned out it was a $40,000 attempted fraud which at that time was huge. First job and I scored a result, testament to the fact that the harder you work, the luckier you get. Since then I have performed countless insurance claim investigations and have saved insurers millions.

My sole purpose in writing the book was to educate people in what real PI’s do, the hard graft involved and the amount of good we do for the community. A couple of the stories include insurance claims, one couple in particular tried to scam 12 different insurers. The degree of planning and how they went about getting paid by the insurers will blow you away. I came up with a crazy idea for the insurers to fund the police to the tune of $20,000 and pay for a copper to travel the world gathering the necessary documentary evidence and statements. It worked, but sadly has never been repeated.

There is a lot of humour in the book, like me getting peed on in the bushes while on surveillance, getting conned by a client dressing up as a tree, though the common denominator is the sad indictment on society of people that prey on the public and businesses.

I do a lot of work for Star insurance & I love their approach to claims handling. My book is now available nationwide but I’ve gifted The Hub two copies to give away, if you want to be in the draw just email [email protected].