A private investigator has revealed the surprisingly low-tech way that Aussies have been busted cheating on their partners.
Cassie Crofts has been catching cheaters for the last two years and said her industry has been aided by new-age devices and technological advancements that track and record people’s movements without them even knowing.
It’s not James Bond-level equipment, but digital bank statements, Alexa home assistants, and text messages that can reveal if someone is doing the dirty on their loved ones.
But the Queensland-based PI told Yahoo Lifestyle about an old-school sign that someone isn’t being faithful: cash.
“We’ve seen a lot recently, as it gets rarer and rarer to pay cash,” she said.
“If your partner normally does everything on Apple Pay and then suddenly he’s carrying around cash… potentially, that’s so they can buy some fancy dinners and that don’t show up on the bank account.”
RELATED:
Cash has been on the decline in recent years as Aussies find it easier to use their cards or digital wallets on their phones.
There has even been speculation that Australia would become a fully cashless society in a few years.
But cash has been making a comeback.
RBA data found that only 13 per cent of transactions were cash in 2022, but that lifted to 15 per cent in 2025.
So if your partner starts carrying cash, they could just be hopping on this new trend, or there could be something else at play.
Do you have a story to share? Contact au.lifestyle.ent@yahooinc.com
How are cheaters being caught with technology?
While cash is a fairly low-tech way to get caught, Cassie said it’s not the usual way she catches cheaters.
“More and more people are getting caught by tech, rather than, you know, me, in a car following them,” the Venus Investigations founder explained.
“We had a case recently where a woman thought her partner was cheating, and we went through ways we might be able to determine that without the expense and time of surveillance.”
Cassie asked if the woman had an Alexa device, which is the Amazon home assistant that you can ask to make a shopping list for you or tell you the weather.
People might not realise that you can get the voice history off these devices.
“She went to the days when she had been away on a work trip, and there were multiple times where he was asking Alexa for things, and she could hear a woman in the background,” she said.
She said there was another case where a man repeatedly told his partner he was going to New South Wales from Queensland to visit his family every few weeks, which was odd because he wasn’t “super close” with them.
There was nothing on their joint bank account that indicated something was amiss.
But Cassie suggested looking at the man’s Flybuys card, which showed transactions at Kmart and Bunnings in the next town over, where his ex-partner lived.
How did Cassie become a private investigator?
Cassie got into private investigation after discovering a gap in the market.
When her friend suspected she was being cheated on, she searched high and low for someone to do some digging, but felt the industry was “so inaccessible”.
“It always just felt like something you didn’t do in real life, like it was something from the movie,” she said.
“It would be some old man who you’re trying to tell your deepest fears to, and he’s sitting there with a cigarette being like, ‘Don’t worry, lovey.’”
She said spilling your darkest secrets to a man like that felt off, so she decided to become the person she was looking for.
Cassie had to complete a self-paced course, which allowed her to keep her full-time job and study in her own time.
Now that she’s fully qualified, she’s encouraging more women to leap into the profession.
Want the latest lifestyle and entertainment news? Make sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
