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After 45 years in the business Frank Monte, who immodestly calls himself ''the world's greatest detective'', is still doing what he does best: lying, cheating and ripping people off.
A Sun-Herald investigation has confirmed (Frank) Monte is behind the firms:
- Monte Investigation Group,
- Monte Spy,
- Spy Biz,
- Morgan Mason Steele,
- Morgan Turner Freeman,
- Morgan Turner,
- Parker Taylor,
- Kennedy Marshall,
- Fairchild Kirby and
- Jack Diamond Investigations
Some of these have closed but calls to the various businesses are answered by Thomas Parker, Thomas Steele, Mark Strong, Harry Lime, Harry Lime Orson and Richard Clark, who all sound suspiciously like Monte.
A check with licensing police showed that, while Monte has a PI licence, none of the others have licences, despite charging people for services that are invariably not performed.
Almost 25 years after that first public warning, Monte is still at it. He still takes thousands of dollars and fails to do the investigations, then abuses and threatens his clients when they complain.
Take John, who rang the Melbourne office of Parker Taylor last year. The man who answered ''raspingly told me his name was 'Mark Strong', and gave me a quote for doing some investigative work''.
Several thousand dollars were required as his team of 40 investigators would be needed, said Mr Strong.
Five weeks later, Mr Strong wanted more money. When John called what he understood to be the Melbourne office once again and asked for a progress report before paying any more money, Mr Strong hung up.
After repeated calls were not returned, John threatened legal action. So Mr Strong emailed in reply: ''You do that, you f---ing little c---! You go ahead and take legal action, and I'll take action against you for wasting my f---ing time! I'll come to your house at 3.00 am and make your life a f---ing misery! Now don't call me again you f---ing little c---!''
Imagine John's surprise when he rang the Sydney office to complain, only to find Mr Strong answering the phone. An hour later he was even more surprised when the same Mr Strong answered the firm's supposed San Francisco number.
When asked about his alleged use of aliases this week, Monte said he had ''never'' personally used an alias but had employed other people, such as ''contractors'' to occasionally do work on his behalf.
And Mark Strong? "He worked part-time with me for five minutes. What's he got to do with anything?"
Mr Strong crammed a lot into those five minutes. Mark Strong is listed on corporate records as the person running Red Velvet Models, an escort agency which belongs to Monte's fiancee, Sharon Sargeant. Red Velvet Models' website says it's a "professionally managed business providing discrete liaisons". Mr Strong also seems to live in the very same Darling Point apartment as Monte and his fiancee.
Another person who alleges she was scammed by Monte last year paid $1500 to Spybiz for telephone equipment. When no equipment was forthcoming and Harry Lime Orson demanded $4500 more, the woman began her own inquiries. Her money had gone into an account operated by Sharon L Sargeant, of Thornton Street, Darling Point. The account name: Red Velvet Models.
Gwyn Hill from Rose Park Confidential in Adelaide is as keen as we are keeping other people's (and agencies') noses out of our private phone chats. Just because every Tom Dick and Harry agency and organisation is allowed to spy on your phone these days does not mean you have to take it lying down.
We have not yet tested this new neo-e encryption process, but you might want to check with Gwyn to find out all about it. We believe it's a lot more cost effective and reliable than what you've seen in the past elsewhere.
An official review of the "Australian Intelligence Community", released last month, warned the Gillard government that the events of 2011 had revealed how difficult it was for intelligence agencies to anticipate the collapse of seemingly stable social and political orders.
...It claimed that "bipartisan support" in parliament had ensured there was no "substantial criticism" of the controversial anti-terrorism laws. These laws define terrorism in such sweeping terms that it can cover many forms of political dissent and protest. They expand the surveillance and computer-hacking powers of the security forces, provide for semi-secret trials and erode fundamental legal principles, such as habeas corpus (no detention without trial), the right to silence and the presumption of innocence...
The Burerau of Investigative Journalism says: Technology now exists that can allow a government security agency to secretly and remotely install a small piece of software on your mobile phone. This will turn it into a device that can trace your location, listen in to your conversations, and even take pictures of you and the people around you using the built-in camera.
More interesting bed-time reading about how governments spy on you thanks to the technology readily made available by companies throughout the world.
