Criminal record searches typically originate from the results of a SSN and Address Information inquiry. This inquiry reveals names and addresses of the subject, from which CI determines the appropriate jurisdictions in which to run criminal record searches. The data searched in the SSN & Address Information inquiry comes from many different sources. The majority of the data comes from the credit bureaus and relates to the subject’s applications for credit and the name and address disclosed on those applications. Because of the manual process involved in entering all that data, there is room for error. A typo or misreading of hard to read penmanship can lead to a name and address being associated with a specific SSN. Very rarely, when other names and addresses show up in the results is it a case of identity theft.
Interesting article on the use of social networking sites:
http://www.thebackgroundinvestigator.com/articles.asp?artid=1643
There are many upsides to these database employment verifications. For one additional fee, equal to the cost of one verification, we can obtain all employment verifications matching the subject’s identifier(s). Through this method CI has been able to reveal gaps in employment, undisclosed employers and even aliases. It is our policy to always obtain this second tier of information. We have had too many valuable revelations from this information to even consider forgoing it.
In general, most people think reference checks are pretty much the same as employment and education verifications. However, they are really their own unique challenge. Is it amazing how low the return call percentage is on references when compared to employment and education verifications. It does appear to make a difference when the subject has alerted the reference to the fact that they are going to use them as a reference. We urge our clients to have their applicants supply professional references, preferably ones who supervised the applicant. Our investigators find it very rewarding when someone is excited about being a reference and gives very thoughtful and useful answers. Fortunately, this occurs a lot of the time. On those other occasions our investigators are reminded about how proper interviewing techniques will lead to the best results for our clients. They are great at stepping up to the challenge and using a sub set of questions to obtain further details about the subject. Sometimes they simply reassure an inexperienced reference that they are on the right track. This invariably gets the reference to open up more. As we see the number of different inquiries per subject rise, we find our clients looking to references to find out just how the applicant may fit into their work environment.
