> "doing searches for credit cards"
Is there an easy answer to "how on Earth?"
PIs and law enforcement can get access to credit card information in any of a number of ways, some more legal than others. Social engineering, digging through credit card receipts, impersonating the person who owns the credit card ("pretexting"--which wasn't illegal until recently), and so on are all common, at least according to a PI mailing list a friend of mine belongs to. Fascinating stuff.
I don't know about America, but here in the UK (and probably throughout Europe) credit cards are issued with only one name on. Maybe I've read it wrong and it means "a credit card account with two different names and two separate cards"?
Yep. One account with two authorized users.
This all seems like a lot of palaver for some extra nookie. Why doesn't the straying husband (say) go on a trip to somewhere he legitimately goes on business or recreation, and get the lover to meet him there? Then he can show genuine bills for legitimate hotel when he gets back, if necessary.
We're assuming a person of means who's supporting a mistress. More garden-variety affairs might be harder to track, but families where someone has a more garden-variety affair might not have the means to hire a PI.
I wouldn't know; all my partners know about each other.
