She hired a PI to track her boyfriend's 5-day 'work trip' and let him complain the whole time — until a weather screenshot made him panic
While Steph continued her investigation, she noticed a woman stepping out of the car and Matt putting his arm around her.
The couple had been together for the past two years. But it wasn’t until quite recently that the girlfriend started noticing some red flags. Her boyfriend, Mathew (also referred to as Matt; later mentions Jacob as surname), was always concealing his phone. The other day, he said he was visiting San Francisco for a five-day work trip; he packed his bags and left. The girlfriend hired Steph (@yourfavinvestigator), a California-based investigator, to follow him for four hours and find out whether his San Francisco work trip was what he claimed it was. Steph’s steering wheel took an unexpected turn when, instead of arriving in San Francisco, Matt’s car stopped at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). In a series of two Instagram videos, starting September 3, 2026, Steph shared the entire case’s story, which has been viewed more than 656,000 times.
In disguise of a work trip
Steph started following Matt ever since he tossed a suitcase in his car’s trunk and drove off. Somewhere in the middle, he stopped his car, got out, and jumped into a black car’s back seat. Instead of arriving in San Francisco, the car headed towards LAX. While Steph continued her investigation, she noticed a woman stepping out of the car and Matt putting his arm around her. Instead of driving to San Francisco, he arrived at LAX with another woman, whom Steph saw him put his arm around.
Surveillance shows clues
Since Steph’s four-hour surveillance window was over, she retreated back without finding where the couple was headed, if not San Francisco. Hawaii and Japan were her top two guesses, but she wasn’t sure. In a follow-up September 10, 2026 video, she shared an update with a voice note from the girlfriend who had hired her. The woman revealed that after the LAX discovery, she immediately texted her boyfriend and asked him about the work trip. But Jacobs kept feeding her work-related excuses throughout the trip. He told her he was stopping for gas, later said he was exhausted and needed a nap, and asked her not to call the following night because he would be tied up in meetings all day.
No excuses
She then sent him another text: a screenshot of Hawaii weather and a message asking him to take care of himself. According to the girlfriend's account shared by Steph, he then began apologizing and explaining himself. But it was too late. Turned out the other woman was a co-worker, and she had no idea that he was in a relationship.
Private investigators handle personal cases too
Private investigators don't only work on criminal or corporate matters. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, private detectives and investigators held about 39,500 jobs in 2025, and their work can involve gathering information for both legal and personal matters. The agency Steph runs is an example of that kind of work, with surveillance cases involving relationships and suspected infidelity increasingly finding an audience online. Moreover, speaking to the Irish Daily Mirror, an investigator who has dealt with hundreds of such cases said that infidelity is so insidious that sometimes it glides underneath victims' noses and they don’t even sense it. "Self-reflection and, in some cases, therapy can help you learn to determine the difference between intuition and fear," she advised.
Women should trust their instincts
Meanwhile, viewers were enraged and embittered by the state of men in relationships, and a new fear was unlocked. @jessevcr commented, “Not only is he ‘cheating’ but taking another female on a trip! That’s next level!” @mrs.mai.tanner said, “I don’t understand why they choose to lie to their partner instead of just breaking it off and doing their thing…. Ugh!” @hnouwie remarked, “How can people be so scandalous!”
You can follow Steph (@yourfavinvestigator) on Instagram for videos of her surveillance cases.
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