We've all heard about criminals making dumb mistakes -- posting on Facebook about the crime they've just committed or holding up a convenience store using a banana as a weapon, for example. We asked private investigator Mark Chauppetta, who specializes in catching cheating spouses, to share his top stories about cheaters who made stupid mistakes and blew their own covers.
We're curious: What are the dumbest mistakes that Boston private eye Mark Chauppetta, author of Happens All The Time: Cheating in the Good Ol' U.S.A., has seen cheaters make? He gave us his top three stories about two-timers who didn't even need his help getting busted.
1. Hide and seek
"I once had a female client call off an investigation because while she was cleaning out her husband's closet, she found a maid's outfit, a pair of nipple clamps and lubricant. The husband swore up and down that he bought it for her, however, when she pointed out the top was for a D cup when she is an A cup, the cat was out of the bag, and he confessed to it all."
2. Online dating fail
"We were hired by a male client who was separated from his wife and started dating a woman he met online. This new flame of his sold him a bill of goods, saying that she was the heiress to a fortune in France and that soon she would lavish him with a life he always dreamed of. For the time being, though, she had no money and was continuously milking him for tens of thousands of dollars. We were hired to investigate if she was soon going to hit the jackpot and claim her inheritance. Take a guess what we found out."
3. Dial C for cheater
"One woman hired us to investigate a cheating boyfriend. The problem was that my rookie agent had lost the subject in rush-hour traffic and started to panic. I instructed him to canvas the area before I informed the client, since this is always standard operating procedure. Turns out that wasn't even necessary. Almost as soon as I hung up with him, the client called and informed us that her boyfriend had butt-dialed her (that's when a guy leaves his cell phone in his back pocket and the buttons get accidentally pressed), and she overheard a whole in-person conversation between him and a female about how he was playing his wife for a fool. Well, he also mentioned where they were eating, so I sent my agent in, and we retrieved all the hidden video we needed of them holding hands and kissing."
