Throughout the summer, franceinfo makes you discover surprising or unknown professions through the column “Is it really your job?” Tuesday, July 11: private detective with Charles-François Chazit, general manager of the UXAM private detective group in Lyon, who takes us on a spin.
2:30 p.m., parking lot of a supermarket. A man discreetly takes a picture of documents left on the dashboard of a car. “I see that there is a visit voucher. The info could be interesting…”, slips Charles-François Chazit, private detective in Lyon. This voucher is indeed interesting: its target of the day is a woman who works in real estate and who has signed a non-competition clause. Since leaving her previous company, she is prohibited from working in a specific geographical area. As the former company has doubts, its boss called on this private detective.
Abuse, fraud and social affairs
3 p.m., the target has finished shopping. Spinning starts.“Ok, great start!” If the target arranges a house showing, it’s a breach of his clause. To find out, you must not let go. Charles-François and his accomplice each follow her on their own, talking to each other on the phone: “OK, first exit on the right. A priori, we are 100 meters from the address of the visit voucher…” Impossible to get any closer. Now be patient.
“Patience is a determining factor. Afterwards, you need reactivity, it can start all at once, and at the same time, you need great self-control.”
Charles-Francois Chazitprivate detective
Insurance fraud, abusive work stoppages, abuse of corporate assets are about half of the cases handled by the firm of Charles-François. The other half is family matters. Adultery, child care. “It’s a real example the person who babysits his child, who takes him to a bar, who drinks, who takes the wheel behind.”
But the services of Charles-François are not within everyone’s reach, between 90 and 110 euros per hour. “Ah, there is a woman who just parked right behind her”, he exclaims suddenly. It is potentially the client of the visit. There “fishing” is good today, it’s time to “pick up availability”.
Charles-François summarizes: “People who do this job are hunters, we are looking for this increase in pressure. For me, it is clearly a profession for enthusiasts.” Passionate people who do not count their hours, all for a salary that varies on average between 2,000 and 3,000 euros per month.