Pastor Pleads Guilty to Stealing 200K from Church…

Churches and all other nonprofit organizations need to take a closer look at the risks of hiring pastors, volunteers or anyone without conducting background checks.  In a recent case reported by Cleveland’s Newsnet5, a pastor took money from a fund for the poor, stole another church member’s identity, and took out loans against the church’s assets. This man, Donald Robinson, had already served time in a federal prison for real estate fraud in another state. A simple background check would have prevented him from victimizing this church and its members.

There are countless historical and recent incidents of pastors, priests, and other religious leaders taking advantage of their positions and financial contributions from members.  Affordable background checks are now readily available to help stop these individuals from infiltrating your organizations.

All nonprofit organizations seek to gain from background checks for many reasons other than embezzlement and identity theft.  Child sex abuse is a growing problem for religious organizations as well as other areas of society. The Baptist Press issued a press release last month on the initiative of the International Mission Board (IMB) to increase the use of background checks, mainly to protect children from sex abuse.

If your organization is concerned about affording background checks, the costs are far less than that of a catastrophic incident. MyBackgroundCheck.com offers a Volunteer Tracking System for Nonprofit organizations that encompasses an overall risk management program at minimal costs. This program is recommended by the National Council of Nonprofit Associations.

Please visit www.mybackgroundcheck.com/Business/VolunteerGroups.aspx. for more information and resources.

*We welcome relevant comments and questions from consumers, experts, and human resources professionals. Please do not submit comments with advertisements as they will not be posted publicly. Thanks for visiting our blog!

As identity theft becomes an escalating risk  for Americans, we find that the Oakland Mayor’s office failed to conduct a background check on an intern who turned out to be an identity thief and embezzler (SF Gate report here). Patricia Williams allegedly stole the bank account information of 100 donors to their Holiday Toy Drive, stole the identity of a co-worker, and charged over $10,000 on stolen account information.

In a world where private information is so easily obtained and used for fraud, every business, especially government offices, should be conducting background checks. If government offices and businesses are skimping on background checks because of the cost, imagine what this incident cost the Mayor’s office. I wouldn't be surprised if the phones have been ringing off the hook and the attorneys have already moved in for a negligent hiring kill.

Fortunately, there are solutions for those who have found their information has been stolen. Because of the astronomical amount of identity theft occurring today, financial institutions and credit reporting agencies are willing to help in protecting you from further damage and relieving much of the problems.  The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is working diligently on solutions to help consumers. With identity theft protection services, including credit alerts and criminal background checks, you can monitor discrepancies and receive notices when your accounts are being accessed by a third party. You can also limit access to your account information.

In addition to the emergence of identity theft protection services, the Identity Theft Red Flag Rules issued by the FTC will be going into effect in November. Financial institutions will now have to closely monitor your accounts for identity theft and identity fraud and respond appropriately to prevent and mitigate damages.

To read more on identity theft and how it can affect you, please visit our resource pages.

*We welcome relevant comments and questions from consumers, experts, and human resources professionals. Please do not submit comments with advertisements as they will not be posted publicly. Thanks for visiting our blog!

An article in the Denver Post  warns college graduates about the risks of embellishing resumes during the economic downturn. It’s true that the job market is more competitive than ever, the country is experiencing a serious economic crisis, and many companies are laying off or going through acquisitions. To put it lightly, it’s a tough road ahead for anyone seeking employment. However, falsifying your resume is not the answer.

Most employers conduct background checks today (80%) and, although many resumes are not thoroughly checked (according to the Post’s article), you will run the risk of the employer discovering that you misrepresented yourself.  Losing a job over something as serious as resume fraud could be detrimental to your career, as most employers check employment references even if they are not conducting other types of background checks.

If there is something that may put you behind on a candidate list, be honest and keep searching for the right job for you. Please read these articles in our newsrooms on job seeking and background checks: http://www.mybackgroundcheck.com/newsroom/category/Featured-Articles.aspx.

Graduates can benefit from ordering their own background check before an employer sees it. Inaccuracies on background checks are common and it is wise to correct them before job seeking. MyBackgroundCheck.com offers services that help you manage employment references, criminal background checks, and credit reports, giving you the control to invite employers and others to view your reports over our secure server. These services can help you maintain accurate public information as well as prevent identity theft, the fastest growing crime in America. The site also has interesting facts and important resources for job seekers.

*We welcome relevant comments and questions from consumers, experts, and human resources professionals. Please do not submit comments with advertisements as they will not be posted publicly. Thanks for visiting our blog!

In an era of data breaches and a trend in stolen identity crime rings, it seems no one is secure.  A story published today in ConsumerAffairs.com brings the reality of identity theft  home to one woman, Suzanne Finch, who has been struggling for over a year to determine the source of a data breach that has altered her life dramatically.

Finch found that a data breach into Citibank’s servers may have been the cause of her personal information being used to open accounts and make purchases she never authorized. But Citibank isn’t admitting to the breach or the cause of the fraud against Finch. For anyone discovering their identity has been stolen, this story is one that leads to no resolve or hope…and government laws that do little to protect identity theft victims.

The only way for individuals to protect their identity is to take control of their personal information. Identity theft protection services help keep you aware of what is happening to your credit and your accounts before the crime spirals into an uncontrollable dark hole of uncertainty. In a world where good credit is needed to purchase almost anything, or even to obtain some jobs, Americans need to take measures to limit access to their accounts and personal information.

In some cases, stolen identities are used to commit crimes, giving identity theft victims a criminal record. With some 80% of employers conducting background checks, you may not know about this until you apply for a job or get pulled over for accidentally running a stop sign.

Please visit www.mybackgroundcheck.com for resources and information on taking total control of your personal information.

*We welcome relevant comments and questions from consumers, experts, and human resources professionals. Please do not submit comments with advertisements as they will not be posted publicly. Thanks for visiting our blog!

Today, the CEO of our company received an email from the Arrested Development Foundation (ADF) publicizing their “Project New Vote.” He thought it was a joke (maybe because its name parodies the band Arrested Development), but, with further research , found it was an organization that assists criminal offenders in expunging criminal records, finding employment , and exercising their rights to vote under certain state laws.

I’m not so sure I want any major criminals choosing my next president or voting on propositions that could sway toward lenient criminal laws, but apparently the legislators in 39 states believe they should be given that right after serving their time.  ADF has a portal where ex-offenders can find out if they are eligible to vote in their state, which depends on the crime, the time served, and the extent of their criminal records.

I checked out the website at http://www.arrestfoundation.org/index.htm , which argues that there is a great deal of nonviolent offenders or people who have had a run in with the law at some point, but have been rehabilitated. They also state that the way hiring managers deal with background checks is discriminatory to those with criminal records, reporting that most employers make their hiring decision based on the background check before the applicant has a chance to explain the crime or make the case that they have been rehabilitated. ADF also believes that hiring ex-offenders will decrease the rate of recidivism and reduce the overall crime rate.

Here’s my take on ADF’s position…

People who make mistakes pay for them in one way or another and those who truly want to change their lives after crime naturally must try harder than law abiding citizens to get a job. But that is the additional price they pay for the crimes they committed, whether it’s right or wrong. Those of us who have never broken the law should be given preference above those who have. Why should an employer simply trust every applicant with a criminal record and give ex-offenders a chance? It must be on a case-by-case basis and depending on the position in relation to the crime. I wouldn’t hire a two-time thief to run a cash register, for instance.

If you have a criminal record you know is going to show up on a background check, you will have to go the extra mile in contacting the hiring manager and convincing him or her that you are a changed person and deserve a chance at a job or career, but you can feel confident that you have the right to vote (if allowed in your state).
I would advise those with criminal records to go to our MyBackgroundCheck.com newsroom where there are two helpful articles on how background checks affect job seekers and explore other resources throughout the site.

Industry experts, ex-offenders, concerned citizens, and HR people are welcome to post comments to this with thoughts on these issues.

*We welcome relevant comments and questions from consumers, experts, and human resources professionals. Please do not submit comments with advertisements as they will not be posted publicly. Thanks for visiting our blog!