Read the full news release: At Least 1-in-29 College Students Have Criminal Records

Students with criminal records could be sitting in every classroom at colleges and universities in the United States, according to a new report.

A nationwide study by MyBackgroundCheck.com, a leading supplier of criminal background checks for students and faculty members, revealed that approximately one out of every 29 college students across the nation had some type of previous criminal record, and the actual cases of crime may be higher since juvenile records are not reportable or included in the study.

The study of 13,859 students in 125 universities, career colleges, nursing schools, and other educational institutions found a variety of convictions from across the nation. The convictions uncovered in this study did not include juvenile records – which are not accessible to the public in most situations – and were organized into the following categories and percentages:

• Child Molestation (2.4%);
• Sexual Abuse (5.2%);
• Assault (4%);
• Drug Possession (7.4%);
• Theft (8.8%);
• Fraud (2.7%);
• Driving Violations (60%); and
• Disorderly Conduct (9.5%).

“Parents sending children off to colleges and universities should closely view the background screening policies of those educational institutions,” stated Robert Mather, CEO of MyBackgroundCheck.com. “The days of secrecy surrounding previous criminal activity in a university are gone,” Mather continued. “In today’s world, parents, faculty, and students wish to be educated about the criminal convictions of their roommates, students, or instructors and, at the least, engage in conversation surrounding the facts, beginning with the question: Is there a criminal in the classroom?”

MyBackgroundCheck.com is one of the largest providers of “student-supplied” background check services to colleges and universities to use for their students, faculty members, contractors, and vendors. To learn more about student background checks, visit http://www.mybackgroundcheck.com/Students. Universities can find out more about MyBackgroundCheck.com's no-cost nationwide program by visiting http://www.mybackgroundcheck.com/Business/ClinicalDirectors.aspx.

Read the full news release: At Least 1-in-29 College Students Have Criminal Records

Follow MyBackgroundCheck.com on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MyBackgroundChk.

pr@mybackgroundcheck.com

While many identity theft cases have been reported on this website during the past year, there are a few stories that rise above the others in terms of uniqueness and how they impacted the ongoing debate on how to combat identity theft. Here are five interesting identity theft stories from 2009:

• May 2009: As if finding work in tough economic times wasn’t already hard enough, this story from WHAS-TV Channel 11 in Louisville, Kentucky showed how a jobseeker named Michael Anderson discovered first-hand how identity theft can turn the dream of landing a job into a nightmare. Unfortunately for Anderson, another man with the same name, date of birth, and social security number kept showing up when potential employers ran pre-employment criminal background checks – and this OTHER Michael Anderson had an extensive criminal record that included indecent behavior with a juvenile and assault. As a result, no one would hire him.
• July 2009: In what has to be one of the longest cases of identity theft on record, the Associated Press (AP) reported the shocking story of Tom Lesh, 66, of Coos Bay, Oregon, who had suffered from identity theft for 35 years – in other words, over half of his life. Lesh said he has known since the 1970s that his identity was stolen by a friend of his brother and he had spent, in his words, “thousands of hours” over the decades since repeatedly trying to clear his name and correct his financial records and credit history by writing letters to credit card companies, banks, and government agencies – and even appealing to the alleged identity thief’s mother for help.
• August 2009: In case there are still those who believe identity theft only happens to people with little or no financial acumen when it comes to matters of money, an exclusive report from Newsweek revealed that the nation's chief banker and the man credited by some with saving the world from another Great Depression, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke, was just one of the hundreds of victims of a sophisticated identity theft ring that stole over $2 million from consumers and financial institutions across the country, proving identity theft can happen to anyone.
• September 2009: A report by the Seattle Times showed that identity theft victims could strike back at criminals who steal their identities by telling the story of how Michelle McCambridge, a 23-year-old retail store clerk and college student, helped bring down an identity theft ring after a chance face to face meeting with the woman who stole her identity. The fast thinking McCambridge had the store security cameras zoom in on a fake ID the identity thief was presenting with another woman's name, an action which set in motion a federal investigation that ultimately brought down an identity theft ring.
• October 2009: An article on the website for the Lexington, Nebraska newspaper The Lexington Clipper-Herald tells the story of an identity theft victim who ended up in jail twice for a crime he didn't commit, once after being robbed and calling the police for help. Joe Salazar, 38, of Omaha, Nebraska, spent a night in jail after calling the police to report a burglary at his home, and he also spent two weeks in jail – including last Christmas and New Year's Day – after being pulled over for speeding, all because the identity theft victim had an arrest warrant for failing to appear for sentencing in a drug case meant for an identity thief using Salazar's name.

These are just a few of the literally millions of stories about identity theft. According to Javelin Strategy & Research, identity theft and fraud increased 22 percent in 2008, affecting nearly ten million Americans. Overall, approximately 1.8 million more adults fell victim to identity fraud in 2008 as compared to 2007, the first year-over-year increase since Javelin began collecting data in 2004.

To help protect against identity theft, “personal” background checks – where people perform background checks on themselves – can ensure that personal information is current, accurate, and secure. While many background check firms only service businesses, MyBackgroundCheck.com – a pioneer in consumer requested and applicant supplied background checks – offers individuals affordable “personal” background check services. Over one million individuals have purchased background checks through MyBackgroundCheck.com.

For more information about personal background checks, visit www.mybackgroundcheck.com, email info@mybackgroundcheck.com, or call 1-800-503-2364. Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MyBackgroundChk.

pr@mybackgroundcheck.com

While “Black Friday” – the day after Thanksgiving – is known as the beginning of the holiday shopping season when retailers go from “red” (posting a loss) to “black” (turning a profit), online shoppers recognize “Cyber Monday” – the Monday after Black Friday – as the beginning of the online holiday shopping season.

However, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are also the beginning of the holiday season for cyber-criminals looking to commit identity theft and fraud. According to the 2009 State of the Net Survey from Consumer Reports, online scams that included identity theft and fraud cost consumers $8 billion over the past two years.

As a result, security technology company McAfee, Inc. is warning online shoppers about “The Twelve Scams of Christmas” that could lead to identity theft and fraud during Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the rest of the holiday shopping season.

To protect themselves during Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the holiday shopping season, McAfee offers consumers tips on how to avoid identity theft and fraud and steer clear of “The Twelve Scams of Christmas” that could make their holidays a little less happy. Each of the following are examples of ways cyber-criminals can trick consumers into giving away personal and financial information in order to commit identity theft, fraud, and other crimes:

1. Fake charity websites;
2. Fake delivery invoices;
3. Fake “New Friend Request” e-mails;
4. Holiday e-cards carrying computer viruses;
5. Fraudulent discount jewelry websites;
6. Unsecured, public area computers;
7. Fraudulent holiday-related websites;
8. Job-related e-mail scams;
9. Auction site fraud;
10. Password theft;
11. E-mail banking scams, and;
12. Ransomware scams.

In order to avoid identity theft, fraud, and other scams during Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the rest of the holiday shopping season, McAfee advises online shoppers to protect their computers and personal information by: avoiding suspicious e-mail links; updating security software; shopping on secure networks; changing passwords, and; using common sense.

In other words, if a deal seems “too good to be true” during Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the holiday season, it could lead to identity theft and fraud instead.

MyBackgroundCheck.com is a leading provider of consumer requested “personal” background checks that allow consumers to keep their private information up-to-date, accurate, and safe from identity theft and fraud. To learn how personal background checks can help prevent identity theft and fraud during Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the holiday shopping season, visit www.mybackgroundcheck.com, email info@mybackgroundcheck.com, or call 1-800-503-2364. Follow MyBackgroundCheck.com on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MyBackgroundChk.

pr@mybackgroundcheck.com

How much would you spend for a background check? How much should you spend? In certain cases – such as being a Vice-Presidential candidate potentially “a heartbeat away from being President” – the cost would, and should, be higher.

But $50,000?

An article in the Los Angeles Times reports that – according to her new memoir, "Going Rogue" – Sarah Palin claims the Presidential campaign of Senator John McCain had her cover $50,000 of the cost of the background check that vetted her as the Vice-Presidential candidate for the Republican ticket after she and McCain lost the 2008 Presidential election, a charge disputed by a former campaign aide.

The Times reports that in her book Palin said that no one had informed her she would have to take care of any expenses related to the background check process, and she writes that when she asked the McCain campaign if they would help her financially, she was told that the bills for the background check would have been paid if the McCain had won the presidency, but since he had lost, the bills for the background check were her responsibility.

While the idea of making someone pay $50,000 for a background check seems hard to believe, the idea of job applicants paying for their own, albeit less expensive, background checks is not so strange. According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 80% of U.S. businesses perform some form of background checks before hiring job applicants. In the current down economy, and since they would most likely have to undergo a background check anyway to find work, many jobseekers are taking the initiative and performing “personal” background checks on themselves in order gain an edge on their competition and show prospective employers they have nothing to hide.

While most background check firms only service employers, MyBackgroundCheck.com provides consumer requested background checks for job applicants to show employers or to use in current jobs as teachers, healthcare providers, volunteers, or other employment that deals with vulnerable populations such as children, the elderly, and those with special needs. Personal background checks also allow individuals make sure their personal information is up-to-date, accurate, and secure from identity theft and fraud.

And these background checks will cost A LOT less than $50,000.

For more information on personal background checks, please visit www.mybackgroundcheck.com, email info@mybackgroundcheck.com, or call 1-800-503-2364. Follow MyBackgroundCheck.com on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MyBackgroundChk.

pr@mybackgroundcheck.com

An eye-opening video report by CNN Homeland Security Correspondent Jeanne Meserve (watch here) shows just how public our supposedly private information can be online.

The CNN report cites two examples – one somewhat embarrassing and the other downright dangerous – about people who discovered that pictures they posted online had reached far more people than originally intended.

• A newly-married man posted intimate pictures of his Hawaiian wedding on social networking site Facebook to share with “friends,” but when he mentioned it on micro-blogging site Twitter, a link was attached that gave more than 3,000 “followers” access to the photos.
• A mother was horrified to find a picture of her young daughter that she posted on Flickr – an online photo sharing application – used in an improperly suggestive way on another website. When she posted a warning, strangers used the Internet to find her phone number and home address. 

To show how easily available information is online, CNN gave the mother’s name – with her permission – to a private investigator who specializes in harvesting information from the Internet; he found 100 pages of possible links in less than two minutes.

Of course, posted photos are just the tip of the iceberg that is data privacy in the Internet age. CNN reports that more and more Americans are making their private information public on sites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and YouTube, and warns that any time users hit the "send" button, their information is no longer their own.

While many websites try to provide customers with the tools they need to protect their personal information, the bottom line is that people are going to have to deal with minimal privacy in the future, according to the CNN report, which concludes with the following advice: “Privacy is dead. Get over it.”

However, while privacy may be dead, more people are realizing that personal data – including personally identifiable information (PII) such as name, address, birthday, and social security number (SSN) – needs to be protected at all costs and at every moment. One way individuals can view their own personal data and make sure that the information is current, secure, and accurate is by performing a "personal" background check on themselves.

While most background check providers only service employers and companies, MyBackgroundCheck.com – the nation’s leader in consumer requested and applicant supplied background checks – is at the forefront of the growing movement empowering individuals to take control of their personal information through personal background checks that they may use as jobseekers, students, volunteers, and consumers worried about identity theft.

To learn more about personal background checks from MyBackgroundCheck.com, visit www.mybackgroundcheck.com, email info@mybackgroundcheck.com, or call 800-503-2364. To follow MyBackgroundCheck.com on Twitter, visit www.twitter.com/MyBackgroundChk.

pr@mybackgroundcheck.com