About
Joe Stephenson
Joe started his unique journey decades ago when he first got his hands on a Commadore 64 in the mid-1980s. While still in high school, he took a basic coding class at his local adult education center, and dabbled with simple functions, but soon discovered that this was not his passion.
Fast forward a few years, and he was now a full time police officer in Maine, watching as typewriters were shelved and word processors became mainstream. Soon it wasn't long before he was helping to build Access databases with Windows 95/98 and developing his technical skills as an accident reconstructionist.
Joe learned that while he didn't have an appetite for coding, he certainly did with trying to understand the nuisances of data. How computers talked to each other, how cell phones & GPS transmitted signals, and more importantly how Google indexed information on the Internet, made him think of what could be done with all that data if harnessed properly.
As Joe transitioned from police work to the insurance fraud sector, he had the opportunity to enhance these skills as he worked national files remotely from Maine. Understanding where to look on the Internet for data, how to pull information from free government resources, how websites were indexed, and what could be discovered from images posted on social media all became vital to his success as an investigator.
Not one to keep that information to himself, Joe began sharing tips with others in his immediate law enforcement and insurance fraud network. This lead to requests to speak at anti-fraud meetings, task forces, and eventually national and global conferences.
Because of his professional, and personal, network and the opportunities that were afforded to him by his employers, and organizations like the International Association of Auto Theft Investigators (IAATI) and the International Association of Special Investigation Units (IASIU), he has been able to lecture extensively in the US, Canada, Europe and Latin America.