A troubling story out of Charlotte, North Carolina shows the importance of background checks for home help – also known as “in-house” services workers – and how performing these background checks on painters, landscapers, builders, and anyone else working in and around one’s home  can help protect one’s family.

A report from WCNC News Channel 36 in Charlotte, NC revealed that Ruben Garcia-Rosario, 25, an illegal immigrant, was recently arrested and is accused of plotting to kidnap two area girls from a bus stop for ransom money. Garcia-Rosario had apparently done some painting at the girls’ home nearly a year ago, News Channel 36 reported.

According to News Channel 36, after the girls – aged 7 and 9 – saw a suspicious man in a dark car with tinted windows watching them at their bus stop, they told a parent who was later able to write down the car's license plate number and call police about the incident.

Officials say this incident underscores the importance of protecting yourself with background checks when you hire people and let them into or near your home, News Channel 36 reported, and that  people who hire home help should not be afraid to ask for proof of a background check and should look elsewhere if the company or person can't provide it.

Another solution is to have to home help workers perform background checks on themselves with a reputable company that provides “personal” background check services for painters, contractors, landscapers, babysitters, and other in-house workers. MyBackgroundCheck.com – a pioneer in consumer requested background checks – helps individuals screen home help workers through a unique and innovative “applicant supplied” background check system where the jobseeker foots the bill.

For more information on MyBackgroundCheck.com’s Home Help Background Check service, visit www.mybackgroundcheck.com, email info@mybackgroundcheck.com, or call 1-800-503-2364. Follow MyBackgroundCheck.com on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MyBackgroundChk.

tahearn@mybackgroundcheck.com

A story from Macon.com tells of a bill currently pending in the Georgia state Legislature that would require employees who work inside the homes of other people – also known as “In-Home Services” workers – to have pre-employment background checks performed on them by their employers.

According to Georgia General Assembly web site, House Bill 263 provides that “any person offering in-home services shall conduct a criminal background investigation of each employee” and that “such persons shall not employ individuals who have been convicted of certain crimes” that would include rape and murder uncovered through the required background checks.

The bill requiring employers to perform background checks on people who work inside other people’s homes was prompted by a 2008 sexual assault of a nanny who was watching a 3-year-old girl at the time of the attack, according to the Macon.com report, and that the accused rapist – Rudolph Valentino Smith, 44, who was released from prison in 2006 after serving 12 years for fatally stabbing a man – worked for a house cleaning company that cleaned many homes in the central Georgia neighborhood, including the one where the alleged crime took place. The nanny escaped further harm by locking herself and the toddler she was watching in a bedroom closet, Macon.com reported, and Smith was later arrested by police and charged with rape.

The bill requiring background checks for workers who enter the homes of others tries to strike a delicate balance between allowing rehabilitated criminals to re-enter the workplace while at the same time protecting the safety of residents through background checks of in-home services workers, Macon.com reported.

MyBackgroundCheck.com is a leading supplier of consumer requested and applicant supplied “personal” background checks for individuals, including background checks for In-Home Services workers. For more information about background checks, visit www.mybackgroundcheck.com, email info@mybackgroundcheck.com, or call 1-800-503-2364. Follow MyBackgroundCheck.com on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MyBackgroundChk.

tahearn@mybackgroundcheck.com

With the arrival of Labor Day weekend comes the official end of summer, and millions of students – from eager freshmen to seasoned seniors – will head back to colleges and universities across the nation, if they have not left already. While most will be thinking of what classes to take and majors to choose, one lesson that should be taught to students while at school is how to avoid identity theft.

According to the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) – a nonprofit, nationally respected organization dedicated exclusively to the understanding and prevention of identity theft – various studies, including the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) complaint study, reveal that the 18- to 29-year-old age bracket continues to account for almost one-quarter (24 percent) of all identity theft complaints.  Unfortunately, this “identity theft vulnerable” age bracket usually coincides with the years in which individuals do the following for the first time:

• Move away from home & family;
• Attend schools with thousands of NEW classmates (i.e. strangers);
• Rent apartments and housing;
• Open individual bank accounts;
• Receive first credit & debit cards;
• Travel without supervision;
• Apply for employment; and,
• Purchase first “big” ticket items such as cars and homes.

Now imagine trying to successfully accomplish all of these “major firsts” of life after suffering from identity theft, the fastest growing type of crime in America?

According to the 2009 Identity Fraud Survey Report released by Javelin Strategy & Research, the number of identity theft and fraud victims has increased almost one-quarter (22 percent) in the past year to affect nearly 10 million adults in the United States. Identity theft and fraud – defined as the unauthorized use of another person’s personal information to achieve illicit financial gain – can strike anyone, anywhere, and at any time, but students and young adults are at a particularly vulnerable time in their lives and identity theft could lead to more problems later on in life.

In order to help prevent identity theft and other scams they might encounter while living on their own for the first time, the ITRC offers several identity theft prevention tips for college students, including:

• Keep Social Security Card or Social Security Number (SSN) – the most desired information in identity theft – in a safe place. Do not carry it.
• Don’t share SSNs with anyone without knowing why they need it.  Schools should use student identification numbers instead of the SSNs.
• Safely store laptop containing personal information when not in use.
• Be wary of identity theft exposure while on social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, YouTube & Twitter.
• Never loan a driver’s license or identification card to anyone. They could use it as an ID card when stopped by the police.
• Once credit has been established credit, check credit reports annually for signs of identity theft.

By avoiding the harsh lesson of identity theft, sudents will get a better start on their next stage in life: work. Since students will eventually have to find employment after graduation, they will most likely also have to pass a pre-employment background check since over 80 percent of U.S. businesses now perform such background checks on prospective employees. Employers usually run criminal background checks and sometimes check credit reports, so students nearing graduation may want to get a leg up on the competition by performing "personal" background checks on themselves.

Learning what a potential employer will see in a background check before they see it helps the student turned jobseeker along the path to employment. At the same time, personal background checks can also detect criminal identity theft, such as when one person commits a crime in another person's name, and helps keep personal information up-to-date, accurate, and secure.

MyBackgroundCheck.com is a leading supplier of consumer requested "personal" background checks that individuals use as students, jobseekers, renters, volunteers, and consumers who want to avoid identity theft. For more information on how personal background checks can fight identity theft, visit www.mybackgroundcheck.com, email info@mybackgroundcheck.com, or call 1-800-503-2364. To follow MyBackgroundCheck.com on Twitter, visit www.twitter.com/MyBackgroundChk.

tahearn@mybackgroundcheck.com

The results of a recent sample of criminal background checks on prospective church volunteers show the need for churches to remain on guard in protecting their congregations against workers with criminal pasts.

According to an article posted online at The Birmingham (AL) News, an agency that conducted 5,000 background checks for 450 churches found serious felonies in 80 cases and more than 600 people – almost 1 in 8 – that had some criminal history that may disqualify them from working at a church.

For example, the article reports that the Westmont Baptist Church in Birmingham – which supported a resolution adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention in 2007 that urged churches to perform criminal background checks on employees – has a policy in place that even volunteers that work with youth down through preschool cannot work as a volunteer unless they pass the background check. According to the story, the church began using a background check service two months ago and already has declined security clearance to a potential volunteer because of information found during a background check.

The churches that have taken part in the background check program are not all Southern Baptist, the article reports, and the statistics did not include geographical or denominational breakdowns. Overall, according to the report, while only a small percentage of churches even do minimal background checks, the message is getting out to churches about the importance of background checks.

The results of the background check program reported in the article shows that any organization – even if it is a church – must take steps to ensure the safety and security of its members and the community. MyBackgroundCheck.com – a leader in consumer requested and applicant supplied background checks – offers a Volunteer Tracking System (VTS) to help non-profit organizations manage risk at minimal costs.

For more information about how the Volunteer Tracking System (VTS) helps volunteer organizations like churches, visit www.mybackgroundcheck.com/Business/Volunteer, fill out a "Request More Information" form, call 1-800-503-2364, or complete a Volunteer Screening and Risk Management Nonprofit Organization Survey. To follow MyBackgroundCheck.com on Twitter, visit http://www.twitter.com/MyBackgroundChk.

tahearn@mybackgroundcheck.com

With only weeks left in the summer vacation, and another year of school set to begin in the fall, a recent survey finds that college students may be putting their parents at risk when it comes to identity theft.

The Campus Security Survey of 1,000 college students and an equal number of parents – conducted by uni-ball pens and the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) – revealed that less than a quarter (21 percent) of students interviewed were concerned about identity theft, while nearly three-quarters (74 percent) of parents believed students were at moderate-to-high risk for identity theft.

According to college security expert Robert Siciliano, students who ignore their own personal security are not only putting themselves at risk for identity theft, but also their parents as well. It is a common practice among college students to use their parents’ names, bank account numbers, and other personal information to co-sign loans and leases, write tuition and housing checks, and register online to receive grades. When identity theft occurs, the parents’ personal data – not students’ – is compromised.

While nearly all (89 percent) parents said they had discussed safety measures with their students before they left for school, some warnings have fallen on deaf ears. The students’ lack of concern over identity theft is evident from the finding that 40 percent said they provided their social security numbers online.

According to the ITRC, 30 percent of all identity theft complaints come from 18- to 29-year-olds.

MyBackgroundCheck.com offers consumers "personal" background checks of themselves to keep their personally identifiable information (PII) secure and accurate. To learn how personal background checks help stop identity theft, visit www.mybackgroundcheck.com, email info@mybackgroundcheck.com, or call 1-800-503-2364. To follow MyBackgroundCheck.com on Twitter, visit www.twitter.com/MyBackgroundChk.

tahearn@mybackgroundcheck.com