Sherlock
With the massive power of the Internet, you can sometimes find the haystack where your query is hiding, but not the needle itself…
…and at times, the Internet may not be the best tool for the job.
Ruth Balkin, president of Penguin, has a favorite tag line. She says, “If you can't find it in ten minutes on the Internet, give up and give her a call.”
Sherlock is one of the more atypical services offered by Penguin. This service is about finding unusual objects, facts, or people. With the vast searching power of web engines available today, one would think there is no need for such a service. People often take the “do it yourself approach.” But, that is not always the case.
Sherlock was born out of the need to find the location of unusual objects; in one case, we conducted a parts’ search for equipment that was long out of use, such as heating and AC equipment, odd plumbing fixtures, etc.
One of our more unusual searches involved looking for a man who had absconded with one of our clients’ savings. This Ponzi schemer had shut down his phones and website, and essentially disappeared. This did not stop Ruth from tracing his travels all over the country, and discovering where he was currently living and with whom.
She even located a class action suit filed against the schemer. Our client could have joined in, if he so chose. Ruth did this search using proprietary databases not usually available to the general public.
We are also able to ascertain if there are other better and more cost-effective avenues available.
A client wasted hours trying to find information about personal effects of MIA’s and POW’s in World War II. By knowing whom to call, we were able to retrieve the information in a short amount of time.
So...if you are looking for something unusual, and you can't find it with a garden variety Internet search, contact us. Often Sherlock can find things that you cannot.
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