Background Check ABCs

By a Biometrica staffer In 1993, a woman from Kentucky, Mary Byron, was raped, assaulted, and stalked by her ex-boyfriend, who was then arrested for those crimes. Unfortunately, he was released from jail when someone posted his bail. A short while after,...

By a Biometrica staffer Earlier this year, in April, eight people were killed by a 19-year-old at a FedEx facility in Indiana. The shooter’s mother had reported to police over a year earlier, in March 2020, that her son had confided to...

By a Biometrica staffer Only yesterday, Dec. 2, Europol announced the results of a massive international law enforcement operation that targeted money mules. The operation, codenamed EMMA 7 (i.e. the European Money Mule Action), involved 26 countries including the U.S., and led...

By a Biometrica staffer As the saying goes, where there’s a will there’s a way. A perverse version of this axiom is also applicable to fraudsters and criminals, who are always on the lookout for an opportunity to scam others. Whether that...

By Aara Ramesh Last month, we wrote about some gaps in the child welfare system that can lead to children in foster care being abused. Unfortunately, the reality is that it’s not just those children who can fall prey to abuse. Almost...

By a Biometric staffer Only yesterday, Nov. 4., we wrote about how the Justice Department had said in an interview with the Associated Press that they are stepping up firepower in the battle against ransomware attacks and cybercrime. The number of cybercrime...

By a Biometrica staffer If you are planning to apply for a new job, especially a federal one, or are planning to foster or adopt a child, or are considering other similar new opportunities or decisions in your life, it's very likely...

By Aara Ramesh On Wednesday, Oct. 20, Nikolas Cruz, 23, pled guilty to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted first degree murder for his shooting spree at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida in 2018. Despite this,...

By a Biometrica staffer A paper published in 1999 stated, in very simple terms, that fraudulent and abusive practices in the home healthcare space are costly. They damage the integrity of the home health agency, the home care industry, and home care...

By a Biometrica staffer A few months ago, Reuters News analyzed data from the National Emergency Medical Services Information System, which represents almost 90% of all emergency responses in the U.S., and found that during the pandemic, “the rate of drug-related 911...

By Aara Ramesh A year ago, last October, USA TODAY reported in a bombshell investigation that a foster father in Florida had been arrested in 2019 and had pleaded guilty to charges for rape, molestation, and producing and consuming child sexual abuse...

By a Biometrica staffer There's been a large increase in the number of sextortion complaints made to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Bureau's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) warned at the start of this month. As of July 31, 2021,...

By a Biometrica staffer Between 2015 and 2017, two ringleaders of a gang in New Orleans allegedly staged at least 100 accidents in a scam that was targeted at defrauding trucking and insurance companies. As part of a federal investigation into intentional...

By Deepti Govind "We know that shooters don't just stop after one shooting," ATF (the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) Special Agent Fred Milanowski told ABC 13 News in May. The first shooting is hard, the second one is a...

By a Biometrica staffer Winning the lottery is normally associated with excitement and happiness. And, let's be honest, it's something many of us have wished would happen to us and make us wealthier overnight. Yet, it's wise to not let that dream...

By a Biometrica staffer The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) issued a warning in May asking the public to be wary of scammers looking to extort family members of missing persons who share details on social media. The goal of these missing...

By Aara Ramesh A couple of months ago, members of an esports organization called FaZe Clan started promoting a new cryptocurrency called “Save the Kids,” which promised to “build a better world for kids” through donating some proceeds of the sales of...

By Aara Ramesh In July, a pilot from Florida was convicted for operating a commercial airplane despite his airman’s certificate having been revoked and his medical certificate being suspended by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on May 7. According to the FAA,...

By a Biometrica staffer Two weeks ago, a Department of Transportation (DOT) Inspector General audit found that states fail too often when it comes to transmitting driver electronic conviction notifications in a timely manner to federal regulators, Transport Topics reported. What does...

By a Biometrica staffer On Wednesday, July 21, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued a warning urging parents to be aware and on the alert for criminals trying to steal their personal and financial information, as families across the country are starting to...

By a Biometrica staffer After someone has been evacuated from their home or been impacted in any other way by a natural disaster, the last thing they'd want is to fall victim to something else. Yet that's what happens to many Americans...

By Deepti Govind Millions of elderly Americans become the victims of some kind of financial fraud or internet scam each year. Just last year, for instance, senior citizens in the country lost $1 billion to fraud. That's an increase of roughly $300...

By Deepti Govind Sample this: Nearly one-in-three Americans have fallen victim to a phone scam in the past year, according to a report from Truecaller published last week. In total, Americans lost an estimated $29.8 billion, the report added. Of the survey...

By a Biometrica staffer Since the start of this year, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has received around 3,100 reports of unruly behavior by passengers, including about 2,350 reports of passengers refusing to comply with the federal mask mandate. In January, the...

By a Biometrica staffer For those who want to make easy, illegal money, any kind of enterprise can present itself as a potential opportunity. With more than 35 million Americans moving homes each year, the moving industry is a ripe target for...

By a Biometrica staffer There were 13,638 victims of real estate/rental fraud in 2020, amounting to a loss of over $213 million according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) Internet Crime Report for the year. That's a 16.7% jump in victim...

By a Biometrica staffer With several states across the U.S. legalizing the use of cannabis, for medical and/or recreational purposes, over the past six months or so, we began a series of posts on topics related to drug-free workplaces. Our very first...

By a Biometrica staffer In previous posts, we've explained Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) guidances on background checks, how negligent hiring can cost a company, and whether prospective employers can run checks on potential employees....

By a Biometrica staffer Several states across the U.S. have legalized the use of cannabis, either for medical or recreational purposes or both, over the past six months or so. With that comes questions for employers on how to address a possible impact...

By Kevin King We’ve come a long way from when we had to sign paper receipts when paying by credit card, and then have a store manager or cashier look over at that receipt and the signature at the back of the...

By a Biometrica staffer Imagine flying an airplane with nothing but a magnetic compass to guide you. Sounds impossible? But that was, in reality, the only navigation tool aviators once had to guide them on flights, making early aviation a risky business....

By Wyly Wade Section 13402(e)(4) of the HITECH Act requires the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights, to post notice of any breach of unsecured protected health information that affects 500 or more individuals. According to...

By a Biometrica Staffer According to an October 2019 report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), there were 1,954 background screening companies operating in the United States in that year, with a total revenue of about $3.2 billion. According to the...

By Anand Vasu A substantial surge in March, a month which had several mass shootings as the United States began returning to business as usual, resulted in the FBI conducting more background checks for individuals wanting to buy firearms in the first...

By a Biometrica staffer The short answer, yes. The longer answer is that yes, they can, but for most kinds of background checks, including obtaining a criminal background check report, running a credit check, or information on school transcripts, they need permission...

By Charlotte Spencer Sometimes the paperwork involved in bringing on a new hire can seem like a mere formality that you don’t want to spend time and money on. Recent court cases, however, demonstrate just how risky it can be to skip...

By a Biometrica staffer Employers of all stripes, private corporations, NGOs, public agencies, schools, colleges, hospitals, delivery services, home health care providers, political campaigns, even religious organizations, use background screening reports to make a determination on potential or current employees, contractors, volunteers...