From Cheating Exposés to Dating Background Checks, TikTok Detectives Are Thriving

It’s a dark November night in Los Angeles. The car in front is lit by its rear lights only. After driving for 20 miles, it stops, suddenly, in the middle of the street. A man in a dark T-shirt gets out and runs toward an apartment. A woman appears and jumps up, wrapping her legs around him. They start making out before going to get tacos and, later, returning to her place.

At 6 am the next morning his car is still outside the woman’s apartment. A few hours later, they emerge holding hands, heading to a local farmer’s market where they kiss and hug publicly.

The whole time, a private investigator named Stephanie A., who goes by Your Fav Investigator online, has been sending videos of the interaction to the man’s wife, who she says hired her to sleuth for suspected infidelity. Once presented with the video evidence, Stephanie says, she never heard from the wife again, but the video remains on her social feeds. While the man’s face is obscured and no personal information is revealed, the video of his misdoings has been “liked” by over 85,000 people on Stephanie’s Instagram. Infidelity stake-out videos on Instagram and TikTok titled ‘Trust your gut … CASED CLOSED!’ and ‘Pickleball or cheating?’ are her bread and butter.

“I love everything” about being a PI Stephanie, 39, explains over Zoom. “The investigation prior to the case, the adrenaline rush during surveillance. I really enjoy helping people find peace of mind or clarity in their situations.” She did not want her last name used due to the nature of her work.

With a family history in law enforcement and a background in loss prevention, Stephanie is at the vanguard of a new wave of very online private investigators, often focused on outing cheaters, with each of them sharing the ins and outs of the PI life to massive TikTok followings in the US and beyond. And true crime-obsessed audiences are eating it up.

“People love the tea. It’s like riding shotgun into someone else’s drama,” says Stephanie.

Read the full story: https://www.wired.com/story/from-cheating-exposes-to-dating-background-checks-tiktok-detectives-are-thriving/