Showing posts with label intelius. Show all posts
Showing posts with label intelius. Show all posts
Thursday, June 14, 2007
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A Brief Comparison of Background Checks

International investigations and background checks are increasing in demand as businesses, organizations, corporations and even individuals are impacted by globalization. Whether or not globalization is a positive for the world and the existing cultures is up for debate. The need to verify individuals and organizations across foreign borders, however, is not.

Organizations and individuals increasingly require the service of a background check firm for due diligence and for peace of mind. A firm in Europe seeking an employment candidate in Malaysia wants to be prudent in its hiring decision. Management wants to confirm his identity and professional experience. In addition, the company likely wants to check for any criminal background, and other red flags. Individuals around the world are increasingly dating and establishing new relationship via the Internet. A background check to confirm a lover's identity overseas is not only important, but an essential path to preventing fraud.

So, what options are available if you want to confirm your business partner's identity in Colombia? How can you verify a website and small business located in Russia as a legitimate concern? How can you be sure about sponsoring your Russian fiancee for a visa? And how can the small business in London conduct due dilignece when forming a partnership with a firm in Mexico City? The examples are endless. The answers on where to find assistance, however, are suprisingly limited. We list a few below for our top choices for professional investigations.

From an international perspective, investigating outside of one's home country, we recommend three major firms who provide reliable, professional background checks and customer service.

Wymoo International, Owens Online and Kroll are at the top of our list. Depending on the services required, one of the three may be the best option. We suggest contacting each to learn about the services offered, and to determine which firm offers the best services and pricing for your specific situation. Wymoo offers a highly personalized client service and wide range of investigation in over 100 countries. Their signature market is in confirming international relationships, an area where they clearly lead the competition. Owens offers an impressive list of 250 countries, while Kroll may be suitable for more business clients.

Depending on the individual case, an international background check or investigation may cost between $200 and $800 USD. Pricing is usually based on what information the client requires, and in which country. Given the amount of fraud, scam and misrepresentation in the global marketplace, the background check is a key insurance policy against loss, whether emotional or financial, or both. Do your due diligence and verify relationships abroad. The alternative may be more expensive!

Best of luck,

A. Hathaway

Copyright © 2005-2007 A. Hathaway
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Tuesday, March 6, 2007
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Sifting through the Competition

In recent years, as the access to the Internet has increased significantly, the number of brick and mortar and e-commerce firms offering background checks has truly exploded. Fraud has existed for over 5,000 years, since the civizations of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, and it's been growing ever since.

Most clients today find their background check or investigative firm via the Internet. This leads us to the question: How can one sort through the pages and pages of background checks on the web? Many of the investigative or background check sites are fraudulent themselves, i.e., false advertisments misleading website traffic, offering substandard service, and never produce any service representative of a real background check.

The search is less complicated when choosing an international background check firm. Few players are successful at obtaining results on a global level. Thus, we divide our rankings into two divisions: 1) National or U.S. and 2) International or Global.

* Quality Score reflects pricing, services, client service and cases
** Quality Score Ranking is between 1-5 (1 = excellent, 5 = poor)


National or U.S. Rankings
1. Owens Online (General, National & International, QSR = 1)
2. Wymoo (General, National & International, QSR = 2)
3. HireRight (Employment Screening, QSR = 2)
4. Intelius (Strictly U.S., Automated Reporting, QSR = 3)
5. Kroll (Employment Screening, Corporate Service, QSR = 3)
6. Abika (General, National & Some International, QSR = 4)

* Results are general in nature and should give the consumer an idea of services and quality offered. Depending on the client's situation, additional information can be found at the Company websites.

International or Global Rankings
1. Wymoo (General, International 100+ countries, QSR = 1)
2. Owens Online (General, International 250+ countries, QSR = 2)
3. HireRight (Employment Screening, 200+ countries, QSR = 2)
4. Kroll (Employment Screening, Corporate Service, QSR = 3)
5. Abika (General, International 12 countries, QSR = 5)

Owens Online, while offering more than 250 countries worldwide, earned a lower score than Wymoo with 100 countries. Wymoo's personalized client service, wide range of services with fully customized cases, and narrative reports boosted its ranking.

As stated previously, each of the above firms (or websites) offers a different range of service, products, client service, investigative methods and reporting styles. These rankings should only be used to aid in the initial screening of the many services available.

Yes, it still pays to do your homework!

A. Hathaway
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All the Fluff or All the Fuss

Intelius is another prime example of good marketing strategy. The Washington based firm specializes in information and data warehousing technology, full automation and volume at low prices. Well, you do get what you pay for sometimes. Customers of Intelius will most likely be dissapointed with their "Background Check" reports, as they run between $30 and $70 on average, depending on the search criteria. However, buyer beware that information in these reports are often meaningless, such as public phone records which one could find by using Yahoo people search, etc. In addition, there is no guarantee of accuracy. Automation brings about speed and efficiency, but this is in no way a real investigation. Buyers of the service should expect limited results, and if any criminal records are found (often overlooked) expect to have to follow up with the corresponding jurisdiction for detailed case and prosecution information.

The firm has been highly successful at leading the market in the multitude of Internet offerings for background checks. While Intelius at least provides some kind of service (although limited and not a background check or investigation) some of the other background check websites are scams themselves. For a international background check, the number of sites are far fewer, as few data processing organizations can access the technology abroad. For real investigations and background checks abroad, try legitimate firms such as Wymoo International or Kroll.

Lastly, you are at a loss if you are looking for information outside the United States. Currently, Intelius services do not cover anything but U.S. public record searches, and some fluff to make their reports more marketable (such as neighborhood information??). I'm still not sure what this is... are you?

Best of luck,

A. Hathaway
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