Documentation: Official or unofficial require human input. And that creates an opportunity for inputting errors.
Errors are a result of not paying attention, hitting the wrong key, having old information and/or not providing updated information. Below are examples of how incorrect information can be misleading.
Example #1: Public Records: Recently we discovered that an individual who had no interest in a case was listed as one of the defendants when in fact they were the Registered Agent. They never received any notification from the court that a judgment was awarded against the rightful defendant and them, as the Registered Agent. Years later when conducting a background check upon themselves, this “error” was discovered. Although the judgment was small, the reporting error played a huge role in the Registered Agents reputation. *Neither the Plaintiff nor the Defendant had any idea the “Court Employee” inputted the information into the system incorrectly.
Example #2: Public Records: We conduct Profiles on various individuals. A Profile is information reported on an individual by association, public records such as criminal charges and civil litigation, from credit reporting agencies, reported addresses, family members, dates of birth and associates. It is important to understand that this information is obtained from various unsubstantiated sources and can contain information from “human error” such as inputting incorrect information into a database. From the report, it might appear as if “Joe Smith” is using “John Smith’s” information, when in fact at one point, Joe’s Social Security Number was inputted incorrectly and now he is linked to John Smith, with whom he had no prior association. *John Smith had no idea he was linked to Joe Smith and the human who inputted the incorrect information was clueless of the mistake.
Example #3: Public Records: We conducted a case that required us to determine where Mr. Jones resided. Mr. Jones had moved out of the marital residence in 2014 and purchased a place of his own. The ex-Mrs. Jones called us to let us know Mr. Jones was still reporting the marital address as his place of residency. Upon research, we obtained Mr. Jones’ current residence and proved he had stopped reporting the marital residence in 2014. Some databases and credit reporting agencies do not update their records, they just keep adding to the individual’s information without making corrections. Since Mr. & Mrs. Jones had obtained credit together for over 20 years, the databases did not recognize that the previous information reported had changed and was no longer valid. *Mr. Jones didn’t do anything deceptive, he failed to verify if his information had been updated, he just assumed it would follow him.
Identity Theft is much different. It is an intentional way one’s information is utilized without their permission or knowledge. If you suspect that your personal information is not accurate or there is evidence that someone is using your information call us, , we can make that determination for you.
Brenda J. McGinley
