Today’s employer requires more insight and knowledge about their labor staff than ever before. Employee integrity issues, drug dealing, sexual harassment laws, avoiding wrongful terminations and other realities of management, demand clear, complete and insightful intelligence. By far, the most effective means of gathering inside information; information unavailable through any other means, is through the use of Undercover Investigators.
Undercover Investigations are a very valuable and cost effective tool to determine the true extent of a problem within an organization. Undercover investigators function as regular employees, who are discreetly placed in ordinary positions within your organization through normal hiring procedures to observe and report on the operations inside your company.
The undercover operative works and is paid like any other employee and files reports on all observations, including systems issues, risks, health and safety violations, management practices (such as reporting harassment) and obviously, drug dealing, abuse and theft. How the issues identified are dealt with is totally up to the client. Many clients quietly address the issues without fanfare or disclosure of the undercover operation and others choose to deal with them publicly, to send a message to the staff.
If you have a business that is fast-paced, growing or has a high employee turnover undercover operations can be an important tool for maintaining the integrity and profitability of your enterprise.
Pinpoint Investigations & Security Corp. provides these services throughout Staten Island, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx.
Who Uses This Service
- Businesses, owners, boards, in-house counsel, compliance, internal audit, human resources, corporate security, risk management, and loss-prevention teams.
- Retailers, warehouses, distributors, manufacturers, hospitality operators, service businesses, construction companies, and other organizations with an authorized workplace or operational concern.
- Plaintiff and defense attorneys, employment and commercial counsel, insurers, special investigation units, and self-insured organizations needing discreet fact development for a lawful matter.
- Brand owners, intellectual-property counsel, manufacturers, and authorized marketplaces investigating counterfeit goods, diversion, gray-market sales, unauthorized dealers, or improper sales practices.
- Licensed investigative partners and out-of-state counsel needing properly supervised New York/New Jersey undercover, test-purchase, mystery-shop, or embedded field support.
When to Contact Pinpoint
Clients usually call when records, interviews, audits, or ordinary surveillance suggest misconduct but do not explain how it occurs inside a workplace, business process, or transaction. Common triggers include:
- Unexplained inventory shrinkage, cash loss, product diversion, theft of property or information, false returns, refund abuse, or recurring control failures.
- Suspected collusion among employees, supervisors, vendors, contractors, customers, or outside parties, including kickbacks, side deals, falsified paperwork, or concealed conflicts.
- Timekeeping fraud, unauthorized work, policy violations, unsafe practices, substance use, harassment, intimidation, or conduct that employees are unwilling to report openly.
- Counterfeit, infringing, diverted, substituted, or improperly represented products that require a lawful test purchase, customer interaction, or supply-chain observation.
- Prior interviews or announced inspections changed behavior, compromised the inquiry, or produced inconsistent accounts that require independent contemporaneous documentation.
- Counsel or management needs to identify the actual method, participants, frequency, control weakness, and evidence-preservation opportunities before deciding on interviews, discipline, civil action, referral, or operational changes.
What to Expect
Confidential intake: Pinpoint identifies the legitimate objective, allegations, locations, people and entities, known evidence, business process, deadlines, client authority, safety concerns, employment status, protected activity, and counsel or authorized contacts.
Legal and operational review: counsel and the client confirm lawful access, labor and employment restrictions, privacy and recording rules, anti-discrimination concerns, workplace policies, permitted transactions, and whether an undercover approach is proportionate.
Written plan: the scope defines the investigator’s approved role, permitted representations, prohibited conduct, access limits, schedule, communications, evidence rules, purchase or expense authority, escalation points, emergency contacts, exit conditions, retainer, and reporting.
Preparation: Pinpoint selects personnel suited to the environment, reviews the business and risks, coordinates any lawful onboarding or customer/vendor interaction, and establishes secure check-ins. We do not use forged government credentials or impersonate police, regulators, attorneys, medical professionals, or other protected roles.
Fieldwork: the investigator observes and participates only within approved boundaries, records contemporaneous factual notes, preserves receipts and lawful photographs or video, does not provoke or direct misconduct, and disengages when safety or legality is uncertain.
Deliverable: a confidential chronological report separates direct observations, statements, client-supplied information, transactions, exhibits, control weaknesses, corroboration, and limitations. Original media and physical items are preserved as agreed, with follow-up interviews, surveillance, referrals, or testimony available when requested.
Timing and Availability
A focused public-facing test purchase or mystery-shop assignment may begin quickly when the objective, lawful method, personnel, written authorization, safety plan, funds, and retainer are ready. No start time is guaranteed until the assignment is accepted.
An embedded workplace or business assignment generally requires several business days or longer for legal review, investigator selection, role design, access or onboarding, risk planning, communications, and operational preparation.
A known transaction may be addressed in one or several visits; recurring theft, collusion, safety, harassment, diversion, or control issues may require representative shifts or weeks so conduct and participants can be documented without forcing events.
Timing varies with schedules, turnover, access, hiring or vendor procedures, cover credibility, the frequency of the suspected conduct, safety, multiple locations, evidence opportunities, required purchases, client approvals, legal review, and whether outside specialists or law enforcement become necessary.
Material safety or evidence developments are communicated promptly under the agreed protocol. Interim summaries may guide scope decisions; the final report follows verification and organization of notes, statements, transactions, receipts, media, and exhibits.
Why Pinpoint
Firsthand undercover experience: Igor Galitsky served in NYPD undercover narcotics assignments from 1999 to 2003, conducting more than 400 undercover purchases and participating in more than 100 search-warrant operations.
Operational leadership and training: Igor became a Detective Investigator and NYPD Sergeant, later serving in the Organized Crime Control Bureau Training Unit and supervising complex investigative and financial-crime work during a 23-year law-enforcement career.
Licensed regional capability: Licensed Private Detective, in New Jersey and New York, with practical New York/New Jersey corporate, theft, fraud, surveillance, witness, records, and litigation-support experience.
Plan before placement: role fit, lawful access, cover boundaries, safety, evidence needs, secure communications, purchases, escalation, disengagement, and reporting are addressed before fieldwork rather than improvised after a problem occurs.
Integrated investigation: undercover observations can be corroborated with records research, background and entity checks, surveillance, locates, interviews, inventory or transaction records, public online evidence, and qualified forensic or accounting support.
Evidence discipline: Pinpoint separates what the investigator personally observed or heard from allegations and analysis, preserves original notes and agreed exhibits, documents unsuccessful periods and limitations, and provides clear reports suited for counsel, management, insurers, or testimony.
Important Limits
- Undercover investigators are not police officers and have no arrest, search-warrant, subpoena, or compulsory authority. They cannot force access, seize property, threaten anyone, or act under color of government authority.
- An undercover assignment does not authorize hacking, trespass, theft, bribery, unlawful purchases or possession, forged records, access-control bypass, financial pretexting, or impersonation of law enforcement, regulators, attorneys, medical personnel, or another protected profession.
- Pinpoint does not create or encourage misconduct merely to produce a result. The investigator documents naturally occurring conduct within approved boundaries; any test purchase, controlled transaction, or evidence handling must be lawful, preauthorized, and safety-planned.
- Covert audio or video is not automatically lawful. Recording, privacy, employment, access, and consent rules depend on jurisdiction and circumstances; the method is reviewed in advance with counsel, and Pinpoint does not unlawfully intercept private communications.
- Undercover work cannot be used to spy on protected union organizing or concerted employee activity, discriminate, retaliate, or evade labor and employment rights. Client authority and counsel review do not make every proposed objective or method permissible.
- No assignment can guarantee an admission, transaction, identification of every participant, recovery, discipline, prosecution, or favorable outcome. Cover can be exposed, conduct may not occur, and safety may require withdrawal; counsel or the client decides the significance of the documented facts.
A De-identified Example
De-identified representative matter: A business experienced recurring inventory loss and irregular transactions. Records suggested that more than one person or a control weakness might be involved, but interviews and announced reviews had not explained the pattern.
What Pinpoint did: After counsel and management approved the objective and boundaries, an investigator entered a limited business-facing role, observed ordinary operations, documented transactions and statements, preserved receipts and authorized media, and maintained secure check-ins. The investigator did not induce theft, direct misconduct, access restricted systems, or exceed the approved role.
General result: The report identified the observed method, participants and control gaps, separated direct facts from allegations, and documented the limits of the assignment. Counsel and management used the chronology and exhibits to plan interviews, preserve additional evidence, strengthen controls, and decide any employment, civil, insurance, or law-enforcement response.
Service area and contact
Pinpoint Investigations & Security Corp. serves Staten Island, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx. Call 718-667-6422 to discuss your needs.
Related services: Corporate Investigations; Corporate Theft Investigations.
Frequently Asked Questions
What kinds of undercover assignments does Pinpoint handle?
Lawful assignments may include employee theft or fraud, inventory shrinkage, vendor or customer collusion, policy or safety violations, harassment or intimidation concerns, counterfeit or diverted products, test purchases, mystery shops, and other business-facing observations. Acceptance depends on the legitimate purpose, access, law, safety, staffing, and counsel-approved boundaries.
What information do you need to evaluate the assignment?
Usually the allegation and business objective, locations, people and entities, schedules, access and onboarding process, relevant policies, union or protected-activity concerns, prior reports, records and losses, available video or transaction data, permitted purchases, known risks, authorized contacts, deadlines, and counsel’s instructions.
How is an investigator placed, and will employees know?
The lawful approach may be an approved employee, contractor, customer, vendor, applicant, visitor, or test-purchase role suited to the objective. Knowledge is limited to authorized contacts, but zero risk of recognition or disclosure cannot be guaranteed. We do not use forged official documents or impersonate government or protected professionals.
Can the investigator secretly record conversations or video?
Not automatically. Audio, video, privacy, workplace, access, and consent rules vary by jurisdiction and circumstances. The method must be approved in advance, and Pinpoint will not unlawfully intercept communications, record where privacy is legally protected, or exceed counsel-approved boundaries.
Can you guarantee that the investigator will catch the person responsible?
No. Misconduct may not occur during the assignment, participants may change behavior, records may be incomplete, or safety and legality may require disengagement. Pinpoint documents observed facts, statements, transactions, corroboration, unsuccessful periods, and limitations; the client, counsel, insurer, employer, or authorities decide what follows.
How long does it take, what will I receive, and what does it cost?
A test purchase may be completed quickly; an embedded operation may take days or weeks and is reviewed as information develops. The deliverable is normally a confidential chronological report with agreed exhibits and limitations. Pinpoint works on a retainer basis; investigative time is commonly $150 per hour per investigator with a five-hour minimum per occurrence, plus approved cover expenses, purchases, mileage at $0.60 per mile, tolls, travel, specialists, and testimony.
