Private Investigator Exam Legal & Ethics 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), what must a PI have before obtaining a consumer credit report on a subject?
- A court order
- A permissible purpose as defined by FCRA (Correct answer)
- Client's notarized request
- State PI license number
Correct answer: A permissible purpose as defined by FCRA
The FCRA requires that anyone accessing a consumer credit report must have a permissible purpose, such as employment screening or a court-ordered investigation.
Question 2: What is 'spoliation of evidence' and why is it relevant to PI work?
- The deterioration of surveillance equipment
- The intentional or negligent destruction of evidence, which can harm a case (Correct answer)
- Presenting false evidence to a client
- Sharing case files without permission
Correct answer: The intentional or negligent destruction of evidence, which can harm a case
Spoliation of evidence refers to destroying or failing to preserve evidence that may be relevant to litigation, which can result in legal sanctions.
Question 3: In a two-party consent state, a PI records a phone call with only their own consent. This recording is:
- Admissible as long as the PI was a party to the call
- Potentially illegal and inadmissible in that state (Correct answer)
- Legal because the PI is a licensed investigator
- Legal if the client authorized it
Correct answer: Potentially illegal and inadmissible in that state
In two-party (all-party) consent states, all parties to a conversation must consent to recording; recording without consent may be a criminal act.
Question 4: Which ethical principle requires a PI to avoid taking cases where personal interests conflict with the client's interests?
- Confidentiality
- Conflict of interest avoidance (Correct answer)
- Non-maleficence
- Duty of care
Correct answer: Conflict of interest avoidance
Conflict of interest avoidance requires that PIs refrain from accepting cases where their personal, financial, or relational interests may compromise objectivity.
Question 5: What is the primary legal risk of using a pretext to obtain information from a bank about a subject?
- Violation of the PI code of conduct
- Potential violation of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), which prohibits financial data pretexting (Correct answer)
- Violation of the Fourth Amendment
- FCRA non-compliance
Correct answer: Potential violation of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), which prohibits financial data pretexting
The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act specifically prohibits using false pretenses to obtain customer financial information from financial institutions.
Question 6: A client asks a PI to find out where a person lives without disclosing why. The PI should:
- Proceed immediately since address lookups are routine
- Determine the purpose and ensure it is lawful before proceeding (Correct answer)
- Refuse all address location requests
- Provide the address only to law enforcement
Correct answer: Determine the purpose and ensure it is lawful before proceeding
A PI has an ethical and sometimes legal duty to verify that the client's purpose is lawful before conducting investigations that could facilitate stalking or harassment.
Private Investigator Exam Legal & Ethics 2
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), what must a PI have before obtaining a consumer credit report on a subject?