This was a good article. Prior to retirement I was a fraud investigator for an insurance company. During that time I conducted over 1,000 in-depth background checks and would like to share some of the things I learned.
Commercial background check services generally scratch the surface of the available information, but are generally pretty…
This was a good article. Prior to retirement I was a fraud investigator for an insurance company. During that time I conducted over 1,000 in-depth background checks and would like to share some of the things I learned.
Commercial background check services generally scratch the surface of the available information, but are generally pretty good at picking up criminal histories (not all of them will pick up a Federal criminal conviction, depending on which one you use.) They are often terrible at picking up civil litigation, especially if the matter has not yet been fully adjudicated. For sensitive positions I would suggest a much more in-depth investigation than a pass/fail commercial background check. For example, I once investigated a new hire (in a department which handled a lot of checks) which turned out to be a serial rent scofflaw. She had used her knowledge of legal proceedings to avoid paying any rent FOR THE PRIOR EIGHT YEARS. She did this by tying up the eviction litigation with various motions until the landlord was so frustrated that they agreed to drop the proceeding if she would just go away; in one case the landlord paid her money to go away. In each of these litigations the plaintiff voluntarily dismissed the matter prior to any actual "verdict." None of the standard background search engines (Accurint, Clear, TLO) picked up these facts, and we only got wind of it from a realtor who knew one of our executives and alerted him to the possibility.
On the subject of background search engines, be aware that the report generated will sometimes conflate information of family members with the same name, or living in close proximity (i.e. Jim Jones I, Jim Jones Jr., Jim Jones IIII). Also, depending on the culture, persons from Spanish cultures may sometimes travel under several iterations of their name (i.e. Juan Carlos Valdez-Perez; Juan Perez; Carlos Valdez-Perez). In such cases it is important to confirm that the subject of the report is the same individual as the one you requested the report on. In such cases, I tried to locate data artifacts in the public records which would help identify my subject and rule out the others--things like signature exemplars on a mortgage or marriage license or traffic ticket. One background report I pulled showed that the subject had 49 prior felonies; a deeper look revealed that those belonged to several other individuals who shared the same name and the same general geographical area.
A social media search is a great source of information; it can give you an idea as to the company the subject keeps and who their friends are (but can be a little bit of a grey area, depending on where you reside). Although their friends list might be private, it is safe to assume that whomever comments on one of their photos is a friend or family. One of our company's directors once asked me to perform a background search on several women he was considering for a position of live-in nanny. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that his top pick had several Facebook accounts, one of which showed romantic photos of her with her boyfriend, whom I was able to identify as a local gang banger with a long rap sheet for violent assault, drugs and dealing in stolen property.
If you need to run a really deep background search, in addition to the commercial services, I suggest that you do the following:
>Check the Clerk of Court records for the counties the subject has lived in, including Official Records, Civil and Criminal Court records. These are often online, however in some of the smaller counties they may not be. Be aware that probate and family/domestic court records will be redacted--if you really need to see them, it will require a trip to the court house.
>Check social media. One subject was threatening our company with a religious discrimination lawsuit. He claimed to be Jewish and wanted to attend service during hours in which he was hired to work. The social media trail ultimately led to a time, only two years prior, where he claimed to be a Christian evangelist and was advertising himself as a revival speaker in a regional Charismatic publication.
>Check your state's Department of Corporations to see how many corporations they are/have been a principal in. Fraudsters will often open multiple corporations in order to deceive the unwary or play a shell game with process servers.
>Check the Federal Court Database- PACER- you will have to register for an account, and provide a credit card, but unless you are going to download a lot of information, the occasional search will not reach their de-minimis for billing. I once caught an insured who had filed an insurance claim for $200,000 in stolen property. Searching PACER showed that he had filed for bankruptcy 18 months earlier, listing only $3,200 in total property on his schedule of assets AND that he had been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for his part in a (well known) crime family's fraudulent time share sales scheme. He had served 18 months and was currently out on probation. When his attorney heard these facts, he turned to his own client and said: "are you crazy, you want to go back to prison for 10 years?"
Most subjects won't need this level of background search, but for sensitive positions such as those who handle the money, I would recommend the extra effort that it entails.
This was a good article. Prior to retirement I was a fraud investigator for an insurance company. During that time I conducted over 1,000 in-depth background checks and would like to share some of the things I learned.
Commercial background check services generally scratch the surface of the available information, but are generally pretty good at picking up criminal histories (not all of them will pick up a Federal criminal conviction, depending on which one you use.) They are often terrible at picking up civil litigation, especially if the matter has not yet been fully adjudicated. For sensitive positions I would suggest a much more in-depth investigation than a pass/fail commercial background check. For example, I once investigated a new hire (in a department which handled a lot of checks) which turned out to be a serial rent scofflaw. She had used her knowledge of legal proceedings to avoid paying any rent FOR THE PRIOR EIGHT YEARS. She did this by tying up the eviction litigation with various motions until the landlord was so frustrated that they agreed to drop the proceeding if she would just go away; in one case the landlord paid her money to go away. In each of these litigations the plaintiff voluntarily dismissed the matter prior to any actual "verdict." None of the standard background search engines (Accurint, Clear, TLO) picked up these facts, and we only got wind of it from a realtor who knew one of our executives and alerted him to the possibility.
On the subject of background search engines, be aware that the report generated will sometimes conflate information of family members with the same name, or living in close proximity (i.e. Jim Jones I, Jim Jones Jr., Jim Jones IIII). Also, depending on the culture, persons from Spanish cultures may sometimes travel under several iterations of their name (i.e. Juan Carlos Valdez-Perez; Juan Perez; Carlos Valdez-Perez). In such cases it is important to confirm that the subject of the report is the same individual as the one you requested the report on. In such cases, I tried to locate data artifacts in the public records which would help identify my subject and rule out the others--things like signature exemplars on a mortgage or marriage license or traffic ticket. One background report I pulled showed that the subject had 49 prior felonies; a deeper look revealed that those belonged to several other individuals who shared the same name and the same general geographical area.
A social media search is a great source of information; it can give you an idea as to the company the subject keeps and who their friends are (but can be a little bit of a grey area, depending on where you reside). Although their friends list might be private, it is safe to assume that whomever comments on one of their photos is a friend or family. One of our company's directors once asked me to perform a background search on several women he was considering for a position of live-in nanny. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that his top pick had several Facebook accounts, one of which showed romantic photos of her with her boyfriend, whom I was able to identify as a local gang banger with a long rap sheet for violent assault, drugs and dealing in stolen property.
If you need to run a really deep background search, in addition to the commercial services, I suggest that you do the following:
>Check the Clerk of Court records for the counties the subject has lived in, including Official Records, Civil and Criminal Court records. These are often online, however in some of the smaller counties they may not be. Be aware that probate and family/domestic court records will be redacted--if you really need to see them, it will require a trip to the court house.
>Check social media. One subject was threatening our company with a religious discrimination lawsuit. He claimed to be Jewish and wanted to attend service during hours in which he was hired to work. The social media trail ultimately led to a time, only two years prior, where he claimed to be a Christian evangelist and was advertising himself as a revival speaker in a regional Charismatic publication.
>Check your state's Department of Corporations to see how many corporations they are/have been a principal in. Fraudsters will often open multiple corporations in order to deceive the unwary or play a shell game with process servers.
>Check the Federal Court Database- PACER- you will have to register for an account, and provide a credit card, but unless you are going to download a lot of information, the occasional search will not reach their de-minimis for billing. I once caught an insured who had filed an insurance claim for $200,000 in stolen property. Searching PACER showed that he had filed for bankruptcy 18 months earlier, listing only $3,200 in total property on his schedule of assets AND that he had been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for his part in a (well known) crime family's fraudulent time share sales scheme. He had served 18 months and was currently out on probation. When his attorney heard these facts, he turned to his own client and said: "are you crazy, you want to go back to prison for 10 years?"
Most subjects won't need this level of background search, but for sensitive positions such as those who handle the money, I would recommend the extra effort that it entails.
Great info Richard! Thanks for sharing.