The other day an HR Manager from a new client called Corra. We had run a criminal background check for her and a Social Security Trace, and now wondering why on their job candidate there were different names attached to her employment candidates Social Security Number. Corra informed the HR Manager that we see this quite often and there are several reasons for this occurrence.
Corra explained that one of the reasons and the most benign is that her job candidate had applied for either credit or an apartment, something, with another party and now their names were conjoined on a credit report. The second reason, we told her, is that the person could be an illegal worker and is working under a Social Security Number that they either bought on the black market or swiped somewhere. The third reason is that someone has another person’s social security number and their date of birth and may be planning a little identity theft.
The Hr Manager was skeptical as to how could a person’s Social Security Trace yield name’s other than the owner of that number. Corra asked for her Social Security Number, which she provided, and ran a trace. Sure enough, another person came up on her number. The HR Manager was shocked and shaken. Since there was someone else using her number, probably in this case to pose as a legally documented worker, Corra advised her to run her credit reports on all three services about every six or eight months. This would help assure her she wasn’t a victim of identity theft and didn’t have a new business partner, sharing her financial information.
The HR Manager thanked Corra and now understands the ramifications of a Social Security Trace. If you are a business and are not running the trace, then Corra advises you to do so. Be smart. Check them out before you hire.
