Background check email spam is a huge problem. On average, I receive 7-10 of these emails every single day. That fact alone is enough to have me concerned—not because I’m worried about someone checking the public records on me, but because this level of activity indicates that the emails are working. In this case, “working” means tricking recipients into clicking a link in the email.
One background check email example
Public Records Notice #19764084
========================================Date: 05/07/15
Re: Background Report Check
—————————————-
To: (this was my correct email address)
This automated notice is to inform you that someone run a background-check report on you.
Your criminal/arrest records are publicly available online for anyone to see.
Types of information available:
-Divorce
-DUI
-Criminal Records
Find you who may be viewing your records here: (this was a link to a site with the domain “instbggreportingdocs”. I won’t supply the extension because I don’t want to encourage anyone to go there.)
What’s wrong with this background check email
Did you spot the grammatical error in the first complete sentence? To be honest, even I didn’t notice it at first. There’s also another typo in the last complete sentence—“find you who”? I won’t even try to guess which language that one was translated from. So, we have two grammatical errors in a short email. It doesn’t pass the sniff test, but if you’re not paying attention, those booboos might just go unnoticed.
Why background check email spam is a problem
Two factors make the background check email something to worry about. First, the idea of people running background checks on us is enough to give most people concern. Even those who have no reason to be concerned might begin to wonder, “what if?” What if someone really did run a check on me? What if my record includes incorrect information? Should I be worried about this?
The other factor I mentioned up front is the sheer volume of these emails. Even with a very low probability of success, sooner or later, the spammer is going to get lucky.
The site referenced in this example is on at least one blacklist and should be considered a dangerous place to visit.
Dealing with background checks
Simply send the background check emails to the spam folder. They’re not legitimate and you should never click one of the links in the email. On the other hand, it is possible for almost anyone to run a background check on someone else. That’s the subject of today’s scam tip this month in The Snitch.
From the spam emails it said about the public records is that fake emails try to trick me
At the link below or enclosed, is a consumer report that was requested about you by Amazon.com, Inc. or its subsidiaries or affiliates (“Amazon”). Information contained in the report may influence your eligibility for employment, or continued employment with Amazon.
What does this mean?
Sounds like a scam to me. Unless you know exactly who sent that email, don’t click the link and don’t give out any information.
Hi Terry I’m having an issue with my husband’s ex-wife, I did a background check on her a few years back just out of curiosity
A year ago her mom called my husband and ask that why was I constantly searching for her daughter
I spoke to her and admitted to her that I did a background check on her daughter out of curiosity and also told her that I wouldn’t even type her name on any type of device, and I’ve kept my word. I haven’t even typed her name once but my husband’s ex-wife keeps getting alerts that I’m doing searches with date and time, how is that even possible? and she’s understandably mad.. she gets them almost on a daily basis
How is this possible? Please let me know if someone else out there is having the same or similar problem I would really appreciate your response
Notifications of a background check are usually generic and don’t specify who did the check. If your name is listed in those notifications and if you have not done any searches, it sounds like someone is using your original check as a lure in a phishing scam. In other words, they’re looking to get money or information from the other party. I’d suggest contacting the company where you did the background check to see if their database was ever hacked. The other thing you can do is to see what the return email address is on those emails she’s receiving. I’ll bet those addresses are not linked to any legitimate background-check service.
I keep getting someone may of done a back ground check on you (me ) when I open it there’s nothing there happens a lot
I receive an email almost daily from a very popular background search website saying I have a new criminal history item added. This has to be false information but how do I get them to stop showing stuff about me, especially false criminal records?
Hi Suzanna, sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner. Website issues, ugh! Anyway, you might want to report this to the IC3.gov website. They may be receiving other complaints about the same issue. You might also want to run a free credit report just to make sure nobody is using your credit information. You can check your credit at freecreditreport.com.
Jaclyn, There May Be Negative Items on
Your Public Background Profile – I keep getting these from Mylife.com. Is this a scam?
Hey Jaclyn, sorry for how long it took to answer this. I had a problem on my website with the settings and wasn’t seeing comments. In answer to your question, yes, that was probably a scam. If it was unsolicited, it definitely was and may not even really be from MyLife.com
I recently received a few emails from MyLife.com. One of them said the following:
This important alert requires your IMMEDIATE action below – We’ve found critical changes to your Public Records and Background Report which was recently viewed by 2 people. You need to verify your info, correct errors or remove private information so your employment, credit, housing, relationships and finances aren’t negatively impacted.
Is this spam? I’ve checked up on this site and see alot of people labeling it as Spam, but then I see that some people believe it is an official thing. Who do I believe?
– One (1) or more people have searched and viewed your mugshot as well as court records on 6/16/17. Can u help me with this please
That message is spam. Mark it as junk or spam, delete it, and do not open it. Unless you’ve got a mugshot online, you should have nothing to worry about.
Hello I’m getting as well YOUR ARREST RECORDS by CRIM 58673652 and also complt i was bit frightened for the first time i thought i did something really but i never opened my an emails but i getting that everyday i tried to thing logically that if somebody would send me from solicited they wouldnt send me through the spam e mails. Do you think i should worry or i can just leave the message and not to open? Thank you very much
Hi Julius,
That message is spam. Mark it as junk or spam, delete it, and do not open it. No legitimate agency is going to contact you via email to talk about an arrest record.
Thank you very much for the info it is good to know
Thank you for your very helpful site as I think I was one of the victims that all scams tried to take me into trouble. These scam knew very well about the 3rd country that still less knowledge about these bad stuffs. Just this morning again that I got up with the email in my box telling me I may have been added the negative item to public record. How the frighten was I have plan for requesting my working visa. Even I knew I have nothing about the bad record, but how we can rely on if it may put the wrong record for purpose and might make trouble to prove later. Advice to get a background check, looks very professional and with the sensitive trust of people around the world.
I keep getting emails in regards to background check, arrest records released, or emails that say “your criminal records has been updated”. Just asking to make sure even though I know its not for real just wanted to hear from a legitimate expert.
Hi A.H., the bottom line is that a legitimate service is not going to contact you via email unless you ask them to. If you want to be really, really sure a particular email is not from a legitimate source, you can check the real sender of the email by looking at the email headers. However, in my opinion, this is an unnecessary step because the real sources simply don’t send this type of email.
I see I think more than likely its a virus trying to infect my computer. Plus as you mentioned the real source just do not send emails out like that. There has to be some documentation of some kind for it to be real. Thank you Terry for your response.
You’re welcome. And, yes, the links in those emails could easily be used as a way to download a virus or malware to your computer. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you’ll come back!
No problem. I’ll be sure to let you know if anything changes. Thank you again for the info.
There seems to be a never-ending barrage of these e-mails saying that a negative item was posted to my public record–I keep selecting “block sender”–but they keep coming–I guess the culprit has some kind of random-generating e-mail they bounce off. Enjoyed knowing that this is indeed a scam–yes, it has all the earmarks–just reassuring that others have the same problem.
There seems to be a huge number of these going out right now and they do spoof addresses, so it’s almost useless to try and block the single address. If you’re on a Mac, I’d recommend SpamSieve to help get that junk mail under control. If you’re on a PC, the choices aren’t quite as good, but you could for “spam blocking software” and see what comes up. Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.
what about: The reason that we are reaching out to you today via this automated-alert
is to inform you that one (or more) negative-item(s) were recently added
to your public record-files (sometime within the last 48 hours). ?
then it lists an records search site.. either from australia or the states.
It’s most likely bogus. You can always run a credit check once a year if you’re uncertain. Those annual credit checks are free in the US.
I’m confused. I just received one of these, however, I have recently consented to a background check by a potential employer. Any chance this is a legitimate acknowledgment that it did happen?
If you received one of these emails, it’s probably a scam. A legitimate background check will be conducted by a company that identifies itself. You can also contact the employer and ask who will be conducting the background check and ask if you should be on the alert for any contact from them.