In case anyone is interested in a review on Biowolf private investigations company from Moscow (www.private-detective-agency.com/ and b-e-o-w-u-l-f.com/) who run a large number of ads on various web sites, here is one such review.
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One of my clients hired Biowolf PI to perform a search for a particular person. The client had several pictures of a young lady. He wanted to locate the person on the pictures. He initally contacted my company, but I declined taking the case, because I did not know (and I still do not know) of any method of locating a Russian citizen based on nothing but his or her picture. I warned the client at that time that any other detective agency who agreed to take the case would probably be either exaggerating their abilities or did not understand the assignment. But the client was extremely determined to locate the person on the pictures, so he kept searching for an agency who could help him with his project.
He informed me that a Moscow agency Biowolf agreed to take the case. At that time, I warned him that I was skeptical about Biowolf's ability to complete the assignment, but it was decided that the client would go ahead with Biowolf's offer and hope for the best.
A few weeks later the same client contacted me again asking whether it would be possible to expose Biowolf as a dishonest agency.
Here is the recap of the story.
One of my clients hired Biowolf PI to perform a search for a particular person. The client had several pictures of a young lady. He wanted to locate the person on the pictures. He initally contacted my company, but I declined taking the case, because I did not know (and I still do not know) of any method of locating a Russian citizen based on nothing but his or her picture. I warned the client at that time that any other detective agency who agreed to take the case would probably be either exaggerating their abilities or did not understand the assignment. But the client was extremely determined to locate the person on the pictures, so he kept searching for an agency who could help him with his project.
He informed me that a Moscow agency Biowolf agreed to take the case. At that time, I warned him that I was skeptical about Biowolf's ability to complete the assignment, but it was decided that the client would go ahead with Biowolf's offer and hope for the best.
A few weeks later the same client contacted me again asking whether it would be possible to expose Biowolf as a dishonest agency.
Here is the recap of the story.
Biowolf agency initially gave him a quote of 150$ to locate the Russian citizen depicted on the pictures. According to Dmitri Leonidovitch Turin, the principle of the agency, his agency had access to the database of Federal Migration Service which contained the passport photos of all Russian citizens, and Dmitri claimed that he planned to use that database to locate a match to the pictures that the client had. According to Dmitri, locating a match was guaranteed. The data that client would receive about the person in the pictures would include everything but the kitchen sink: her criminal and civil conviction, education, marital status, family members, health insurance, employment, current residence, past residences, phone numbers... All for only $150!
The client agreed on one condition - Biowolf would provide him with additional photos of the person in question. Mr. Turin agreed to that condition. The money was supposed to be sent to Olga Tyurina, a relative of Mr. Turin.
After the cleint submitted the payment, Dmitri said that the search was initiated, and at his personal request someone even optimized the photos to account "for a slight change in age" (that service was apparently included in that catch-all $150 payment). A few days later - the result.... no matches found because the lady in question did not apply for a passport in Russia.
The client was extremely disappointed and sent a couple of messages demanding clarification of the search procedures used. No response from Biowolf. He got just a short message that Dmitri will be out of town for about 2 weeks.The client tried to call the phone number provided - no answer. A month later - no responses to his emails or phone calls.
My impression of this story is this:
I believe that Biowolf took a gamble on this case. Mr. Turin probably planned to locate the lady via the same search that my Online Photos Search service performs (http://www.russian-detective.com/services/photo.htm). If he got lucky and found any leads, he would probably pursue those leads and eventually find the lady in question, or at least get enough info to show the client that he "worked" on the case. But because the Online Phone Search was of no help in this case, he had no plan B to rely upon, and so he just told the client that the girl was not from Russia.
I very strongly doubt his claim of being able to access the database of the Federal Migration Service to view pictures of people who applied for Russian passports. This would this be a gross violation of laws on personal privacy, and the Federal Migration Service personnel would risk not only their jobs but also criminal charges if such information-sharing situation became known.
I also do not think that the Federal Migration Service has any face-recognition capabilities. I have worked with Russian police in the past 12 months on criminal cases in which the identity of the person on the pictures was unknown, and the Russian police at that time didn't have the means to obtain information about the persons on the picture. If the Federal Migration Service had face-matching capabilities, Russian police was not aware of them.
I conclude that if Russian police handling criminal cases has no face-ID capabilities, neither should Dmitri Turin.
My persnal follow up on the case:
While in Moscow on a business trip in June of 2012, I decided to visit Biowolf agency's office and to speak with Dmitri Turin personally about this case. With that goal in mind, I attempted to visit the office location that Biowolf provided on their web site: 123022, г. Москва, Б. Декабрьская ул., д. 3/9, стр. 1 (123022 Moscow, B. Dekabrskaya St. building 3/9, section 1).
Building #3 on that street turned out to be high-security gated business center with no access to the building except for the massive-looking locked metal door. I spoke by speakerphone with some invisible security officer inside. He informed me that there was no Biowolf detective agency, or any detective agency, among the tenants of the business center, and that he could not let me in.
I called Dmitry on the phone to see if we could arrange a meeting in person. Dmirty refused to meet to discuss the situation with client's case, claiming that the case was not worth his further attention, and that the client has received everything that he could possibly expect for a meager $150 payment. I asked Dmirty whether I could still meet him in his office, since I traveled all the way to that part of Moscow and was now standing right next to his alleged office building. Dmirty sounded caught off guard and said that he was away from the office at the moment and saw no reason for a meeting anyway.
Keeping in mind that the security guard told me that Biowolf agency was not among the tenants of the building, I kept pressing Dmitri about an office visit just to see what Dmitri would do. After several such prompts, he said that it would be difficult for me to get into the building because of a need for a security pass, and that his company did not have good accommodations to meet with clients in that building.
As of right now, I cannot say for sure whether or not Dmitri really has an office at the address at the B. Dekabrskaya St. building 3/9, section 1. I was never granted access to the grounds of that business center. But the security guard stated directly that there were no detective agencies in the business center, and Dmitri refused to allow me to see his company's office.
I also do not think that the Federal Migration Service has any face-recognition capabilities. I have worked with Russian police in the past 12 months on criminal cases in which the identity of the person on the pictures was unknown, and the Russian police at that time didn't have the means to obtain information about the persons on the picture. If the Federal Migration Service had face-matching capabilities, Russian police was not aware of them.
I conclude that if Russian police handling criminal cases has no face-ID capabilities, neither should Dmitri Turin.
My persnal follow up on the case:
While in Moscow on a business trip in June of 2012, I decided to visit Biowolf agency's office and to speak with Dmitri Turin personally about this case. With that goal in mind, I attempted to visit the office location that Biowolf provided on their web site: 123022, г. Москва, Б. Декабрьская ул., д. 3/9, стр. 1 (123022 Moscow, B. Dekabrskaya St. building 3/9, section 1).
Building #3 on that street turned out to be high-security gated business center with no access to the building except for the massive-looking locked metal door. I spoke by speakerphone with some invisible security officer inside. He informed me that there was no Biowolf detective agency, or any detective agency, among the tenants of the business center, and that he could not let me in.
I called Dmitry on the phone to see if we could arrange a meeting in person. Dmirty refused to meet to discuss the situation with client's case, claiming that the case was not worth his further attention, and that the client has received everything that he could possibly expect for a meager $150 payment. I asked Dmirty whether I could still meet him in his office, since I traveled all the way to that part of Moscow and was now standing right next to his alleged office building. Dmirty sounded caught off guard and said that he was away from the office at the moment and saw no reason for a meeting anyway.
Keeping in mind that the security guard told me that Biowolf agency was not among the tenants of the building, I kept pressing Dmitri about an office visit just to see what Dmitri would do. After several such prompts, he said that it would be difficult for me to get into the building because of a need for a security pass, and that his company did not have good accommodations to meet with clients in that building.
As of right now, I cannot say for sure whether or not Dmitri really has an office at the address at the B. Dekabrskaya St. building 3/9, section 1. I was never granted access to the grounds of that business center. But the security guard stated directly that there were no detective agencies in the business center, and Dmitri refused to allow me to see his company's office.
Disclaimer: At this time I do not claim that Biowolf agency is a scam. But their vague pricing, their claims of many unusual abilities, and their lack of communication with the client once the case took a bad turn are signs of a what I would call "a questionnable agency".
See the correspondence between Biowolf agency and the client below:
