How we verify a listing

An agency appears on Shleuth only when we find proof that a woman owns it. Today that is true of 156 agencies. We held back 9 more that we could not prove yet.

The three kinds of proof

• SBA certified

  The U.S. Small Business Administration certified the agency as a Women Owned Small Business.

• Federal self certified

  The agency declared itself woman owned in the federal contractor register, where a false claim is a crime.

• In their own words

  The agency says it is woman owned on its own website. We quote it and link the page.

We never guess from a first name or a photo. Certified agencies sort first, then federal self certifications, then agencies that say so on their own site.

State licenses

Most states license private investigators. When we look an agency up with its state, the listing shows the license number, its status and the date we checked. You can click through and check it yourself. When a listing says not checked, that is not a red flag. It means we have not done it yet, so ask the agency.

What we leave out

We never write reviews or make up ratings. When a listing shows a star rating, it is the real figure from public reviews of that agency. We do not list single investigators who have not asked to be listed. We do not rank agencies by who pays.

Fixing a listing

If something on a listing is wrong, send a correction. If an agency loses its certification or license, we change the listing when we find out.