New York is a global city. Money, business, and family ties here reach every corner of the world. So when something goes wrong in New York, the trail often leads somewhere else. A spouse quietly moves money into an offshore account. A business partner in another country turns out not to exist. Someone you met online, who now asks you for money, lives on another continent. A relative leaves the United States and stops answering calls.
We have handled cases like these since 1989, and one pattern holds. The moment a case crosses a border, most people hit a wall. The records are in another language. The laws are different. You cannot knock on a door six thousand miles away. That is exactly where an overseas investigation earns its keep.
International work is broader than most people expect. A licensed investigator with the right partners abroad can handle:
Each of these starts the same way: with facts gathered here in New York, then verified on the ground overseas.
The internet makes overseas research look easy. It is not. Public records abroad are kept in local languages, in local systems, and often only on paper in a local office. Many countries have no central database you can search from home. Privacy laws differ too. A search that is routine in New York may be restricted, or even illegal, somewhere else. If you gather information the wrong way, you can taint evidence you may need later. And if the person you are looking into learns you are asking questions, the money or the person can move again before you get answers.
A licensed investigator has access to databases and records that are not open to the public. More important, a good agency knows how to work a case across borders: which records exist in which country, who holds them, and how to get them legally. Experience matters here. An agency that has run international cases for decades knows which details get overlooked and which shortcuts fail. That saves you time and money. It also means the evidence is collected in a way that can stand up in court if your case ends in a lawsuit, with an investigator who can testify to how it was gathered.
No single investigator knows every country. Nobody honest will tell you otherwise. What a serious New York agency has instead is a network of vetted partner investigators and agencies abroad, built over years of casework. Your case is planned and directed here in New York. The local partner does the on-the-ground work: pulling records, confirming addresses, watching a location. Everything comes back through one licensed investigator who answers to you. You never chase a stranger in another time zone. You call David, and David is accountable for the whole case.
The more you bring, the faster the work goes. Gather full names and any spellings you have seen, dates of birth, last known addresses, and phone numbers. Save emails, chat messages, and social media profiles. If money is involved, bring wire receipts, account details, and contracts. Photos help. So does honesty about what you know for sure versus what you only suspect. Then tell us your goal. Finding a person, recovering money, and building a court case are different jobs, and the plan changes with the goal.
An overseas case feels impossible from your kitchen table. It usually is not. It just needs the right access, the right local partners, and one accountable investigator running the case. If your situation has crossed a border, call for a free, confidential consultation. We will tell you straight whether it can be done and what it will take.
Whatever you are facing, NYIA can help you find the truth. Our private investigator team works as a discreet private detective across New York, and we offer last minute surveillance when timing matters. Contact us for a free, confidential consultation.
David J. Schassler
Emmy® Award Winning Private Investigator · NYS DOS License #11000169770
David founded New York Intelligence Agency in 1989 and has personally directed every major case since. His investigative work earned a New York Emmy® Award. More about David →