Corra Newsboy - Background Checks

2009-11-09T16:06:00.000-08:00

I read a lot of spy books and thrillers. But The Guys Who Spied for China is one crazy book. Very offbeat, and very different than most espionage thrillers that I read. This is a roman a clef about the writer’s own relationship with this crazy Good Shepherd type of old world Cold Warrior, and how he helps the old spook root out Chinese Espionage Networks operating out of California and other parts of the United States. This story is not located in Moscow, or Berlin or some foreign city. It all takes place here in Beverly Hills and California. The author describes with great style the different events that made headlines in the eighties and nineties, as spies were picked up left and right on espionage charges. The book can be nasty. It can be violent. But you will not want to put it down..

Greater Scutiny for Employees: Pre-Employment Screening

2008-04-16T17:46:00.000-07:00

The Wall Street Journal has a new article about the increase in background checks by employers of prospective new job candidates:

Last year, 80% of employers did criminal-background checks on potential hires, up from 51% in 1996, according to the Society for Human Resource Management, and 35% did credit checks, up from 19% in 1996. In addition, 79% checked previous work history.

The article goes on to discuss what to do if you are up for a new job. The basic idea is to own up to what you have done before they discover it with a background check.

If you have a more serious black spot, say a conviction for marijuana possession, own up to it, but be able to show that you've made amends by getting counseling or doing related volunteer work (maybe educating teens about drugs).

Background checks keep games safe

2007-03-19T16:03:00.000-07:00

The Daily Leader has this article today about Background checks and how they are keeping the parks and recreation services safe from employees with criminal histories.

'Tis the season of fly balls, strikeouts and grand slams. And as parents suit up their little sluggers, the question has to arise as to who will be supervising the players on the field.
Nationally, the National Recreation and Park Association is providing background screening and photo identification for volunteer coaches.

Advertisement

Here in Brookhaven, though, the recreation department has teamed up with the Brookhaven Police Department to make the screening process more affordable, since the NRPA charges $90 per screening. It also helps to have local hands on the job.

"Chief (Pap) Henderson screens all the coaches in all the sports one time a year," said Terry Reid, recreation department director. "So if they're coaching two sports, they're only screened once that year. And Pap lets us know if there's a problem before they ever make it to the field."

The police department does not make the decision on who is passable and who is not, though. Authorities pass the information on and let the recreation department handle the decision-making process.

"Without a doubt, we give them every bit of the information we find," said Henderson. "But then the decision lies with them to decide who they will admit and who they won't."

Reid said part of the advantage of a smaller city like Brookhaven is that everyone is fairly familiar with each other already.

Hurricane Katrina threw a bit of a wrench in those gears, however. With people displaced and migrating north, there were some new faces in town.

"We've only had three predators call, but that's it out of about 500 coaches a year," said Reid. "And two of those were from Louisiana after Katrina."

Background checks go back five years for offenses such as minor drug charges and misdemeanor offenses. A sexual offense, however, automatically disqualifies a candidate no matter how far back on his or her record it is.

The background check system is first and foremost to protect the children who enroll in the sports sponsored by the recreation department, but Reid said it also protects the programs.

"The insurance company did an audit for the first time in forever," he said. "And this is the first thing they asked about."

Both Henderson and Reid said the screening process is an imperative one, especially when coaches are allowed to volunteer. Henderson said while a criminal record shouldn't keep someone from a normal life, it's still something that should be taken into consideration in situations where children are involved.

"For example, sex offenders," he said. "Depending on the crime, we don't want to hold it over their heads forever, but we certainly don't want them around our children. We owe it to our parents to screen for that."

And Reid took it a bit further, pointing out the dire need for positive role models in today's society.

"If you've got coaches you can trust, it gives the kids someone to emulate and hopefully follow in their footsteps," he said. "You do what you're taught, so we try to find positive role models."

Read the whole Article here

About do-it-yourself background checks

2007-02-01T09:53:00.000-08:00

The Seattle Times recenty wrote an article about conducting do-it-yourself background checks. We recommend you use Corra Background Checks to locate your subjects past history and provide you the details you need to make an informed decision, whether you are thinking about dating, or going into business, etc. An excellent quick way to determine if your subject has a criminal past is to run Corra's Nationwide Criminal Database Search for criminal records nationwide.

People leave footprints behind as they move through life, tracks etched in public records — property bought and sold, marriages launched and dissolved, blog musings and rap sheets.
Sometimes, their secrets are hiding in plain sight. You can run the name or address of a prospective date, nanny or housekeeper through the databases listed (see the attached chart) and get a pretty good picture of the public-records trail they've created.
Public records aren't perfect — bear in mind these databases could contain inaccurate information or be missing data.
While you can learn a lot, don't take any of it as gospel without double-checking

If Truth Be Told - Online Dating Offers Many Opportunities to Hook Up -- and to Be Rooked. Here's How to Protect Yourself.

2007-01-22T23:17:00.000-08:00

By LAUREN MORASKI
Jan. 12, 2007— Katherine Flansburg met her boyfriend through PlentyOfFish.com, a free online dating site. Several months later, they moved in together. Everything seemed to be going well until one morning when they were woken up by a loud banging on the door.
Flansburg, 26, a real estate agent in Santa Clarita, Calif., was shocked to discover that their unexpected guest was her boyfriend's wife. Moments later, a fuming Flansburg rummaged through her boyfriend's desk drawers and found recently filed paperwork for a legal marriage separation, as well as an IRS earnings statement that showed her boyfriend's salary was only one-quarter as much money as he'd told her.
"He was a piece of work," she recalled.
As long as people have been dating, there have been tales of liars, cheats and thieves. In the Internet age, with the anonymity offered by e-mail, and with people blogging about their bad experiences, it seems like there are more examples of nefarious behavior than ever.
In the pre-Internet days, if a woman wanted to find out about her beau's background, or if a man wanted to make sure his new girlfriend wasn't a gold digger, they would have to hire a private investigator, an expensive and time-consuming process. But 21st century daters have new tools that give them easy, inexpensive access to outlets through which they can run background checks on potential mates by tapping into databases and computerized records.
Digging for the Truth
Flansburg was just one of 16 million Americans who have logged on for love, according to a 2006 survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. If she had run a background check on her boyfriend before they moved in together and gotten serious, Flansburg may have found out that he was still married or that he'd lied about his earnings. More and more online daters are doing background checks, and some are discovering lies about their mate's age, education, employment and ownership.
The Los Angeles-based Corra Group, for example, used to specialize in employment background checks. But recently it launched a separate Web site for dating-related searches.
By signing up online for as little as $39, along with the name and birth date of a significant other, you can get information about a person's address history, property ownership, as well as any bankruptcy claims, civil judgments or aliases. For $20 more, the search includes criminal records, and an $89 fee gets you a nationwide federal crime search.
Co-founder Gordon Basichis, 59, has 20 years of investigatiive experience and says that requests for background checks are on the rise, especially around Valentine's Day. While about 75 percent of his clientele is female — largely professionals in their mid-30s to 50s — the Corra Group also receives nearly 25 percent of its dating-related inquiries from men. "If they met someone online, they just want to know — 'who is this person?'" Basichis says. "People want to know if someone's full of it."
Many of his calls come from single moms who want to find out if their suitor has a sexual predator history. Other times, it's as basic as verifying a person's profession. And the information rolls in quickly. The company typically turns around a background check in one day.

Pigs, Not Seals
Skipp Porteous, 62, founder of Sherlock Investigations Inc. in New York, is also seeing an increase in online dating inquiries. Background checks for daters are "snowballing," he says, because "you don't know who you're really talking to."
Porteous, who started his investigative career in Los Angeles during the 1960s, will do anything from surveillance to simple background checks. Relationship investigations now make up 20 percent of his work, and he says that at least half the time, his research uncovers people who have told lies about themselves. That number is so high because most of his clients already have an intuition that something doesn't sound right about their sweeties.
"They're suspicious to start with, and we find that their suspicions are usually correct," he says. Porteous frequently digs up lies that involve age, marital status, earnings and education. But some go even beyond that. "Guys love to say they're ex-Navy Seals," he says.
Currently, popular dating sites such as Match.com or JDate.com provide online safety tips but don't mandate background checks to post a profile. Match.com tells users: "Because privacy is of the highest importance at Match.com, we don't require background checks." But some dating services — including True.com and The Badge.org — do.
In 2003, Herb Vest, 62, founded the Dallas-based True.com, a site that encourages "safer dating" by requiring background checks on everyone. Anyone who has been convicted of a felony or sexual offense is banned from the site. "If they do come on, and we catch them, at that point we turn them into their parole board and the feds," he says.
Vest ran a finance company for nearly 20 years before deciding to start True.com. After tying the knot in 2003, he decided to launch a dating site with his wife. "We both decided that we had something remarkable and wanted other people to experience the same thing," Vest said. After learning that an estimated 30 percent of online daters were married, according to a 2002 Marketdata study, Vest decided to enforce marital checks on anyone wanting to access True.com.
But it's not always easy to screen out people who are married. "Our program uses about nine billion hits of different databases," he says, referring to the complex computerized system used to identify if a potential user has a spouse. "We're serious about this." So serious that he's encouraging all dating sites to follow suit. Vest is trying to help pass legislation that would require online dating services to either conduct criminal background checks, or prominently disclose on their Web sites that they don't.
But Basichis says that if a dating site starts requiring background checks, it can send out mixed messages. "On one hand, the site is promising you the hero or heroine of you dreams, while on other hand, they're saying, 'let's check on them first.'"
So what's a single girl or guy to do? Liz Kelly, a 41-year-old Los Angeles dating coach and author of "Smart Man Hunting," recommends that online daters first go the Google and MySpace route. People will portray their real selves on a site like MySpace, but exaggerate certain things on their dating profile.
Kelly knows this all too well. Before her current relationship, she had been on 200 dates in just four years. Many of her online matches lied about their personal traits — and about 90 percent of them lied about their height.
A Screening Method
So, how do you get the truth before it's too late? "You're meeting a virtual stranger, so you have take precaution," said Kelly, who has developed her own online strategy for some of the love-seekers she coaches. Her suggestion: Share two e-mail exchanges, one 15-minute phone call and a one-hour coffee date.
"I recommend that you don't do a background check right away," she advises. "You want to leave some room for romance." Then, she says, if there's chemistry, people can run a background check if they think something sounds off.
Sometimes these searches, however, come up flat.
Despite her past experience, Flansburg, for example, isn't completely sold on them. "I've seen background checks. They're not clear," she says, referring to the lack of information some of the searches turn up.
Flansburg's unpleasant discovery about her ex-boyfriend hasn't deterred her from scouring the Internet for love. "I've met some nice people since then." However, she only uses paid services now. She thinks that more married people log on to free online dating sites because nothing will show up on their credit cards statements.
These days, Flansburg is much more inquisitive and aware, admitting that she has even considered looking through a guy's glove compartment or at his cell phone's "recent call" list. "You have to do your own research," she says.
Basichis agrees, and urges online daters to look for red flags. "Everybody's bigger than life — until you meet them," he says.
Safety tips for Internet dating (according to dating coach Liz Kelly):
Never give out a home phone number.
Use an anonymous e-mail (don't use your entire name as your e-mail alias).
Always meet in a public place and in a neighborhood you know.
Women, in particular, should always get the man's number first and use caller ID to block (*67) for the first call.
Don't share home addresses. Always give a general area instead.
Dating Red Flags (according to Corra Group's Gordon Basichis):
Listen closely for inconsistencies in stories involving ownership, family background and living situations.
If he or she asks you to cash a check.
Watch the way the person behaves around your kids.
If the person is telling you about him or herself and can't account for a long stint of time.
If he or she doesn't have any friends or never introduces you to his friends.
If the person says he or she owns property, or a boat, for instance, and you never see it.

Who's Running Your Child's Daycare Center?

2006-08-24T15:39:00.000-07:00

We found this article on CNN Online.
Alabama officials say Karr was licensed for home daycare

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) -- John Mark Karr bragged to his landlord's family that "sexually, I am like a wolf," and said he preferred girls to women when he worked in Costa Rica as an English teacher, his former housemates told The Associated Press.

Karr, now jailed in Los Angeles after his arrest in Thailand, is named in a Colorado warrant as a suspect in the 1996 murder of 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey.

Karr traveled around the world in recent years, including brief stays in Honduras and Costa Rica, where he rented a room in 2004 from Canadian John Hall, who teaches at a private university in the capital of San Jose.

Hall, 42, told AP in an exclusive interview that he rented a room to Karr through an Internet posting, but asked him to leave after about five weeks because Karr was saying "rude and inappropriate things" to his Costa Rican wife and stepdaughters, then 16 and 20.

"I threw him out because he was causing problems for them," Hall said.

One stepdaughter, now 22, told AP that Karr said several times that he liked girls.

Odd conversation

"My mother asked him whether he was looking for a girlfriend in Costa Rica and he answered that he didn't like adult women, only small ones," she said, speaking on condition her name not be published. "I thought he meant young women, and never imagined he meant girls."

During his stay with the family, Karr would often either talk incessantly, or sit in his room and listen to dark rock music, like that of Marilyn Manson, something that also bothered the Halls, who are Pentecostal Christians.

After kicking Karr out, Hall remained suspicious enough to do a computer search to see if he was a sex predator.

"I suspected he was a pedophile. I looked on the Internet to see if there was something on him, but I didn't find anything," he said.

The following year, Karr taught for eight months at a small primary school in La Esperanza, Honduras, 60 miles from the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, a former co-worker said.

Renan Marquez said Karr taught second grade, but left because he had a contract with a school in another country; he didn't know which. Marquez told the AP by telephone that Karr was always "reserved, shy, responsible, organized and punctual."

Karr "required a lot of discipline" of his second-grade English students, Marquez said. "I never saw anything strange in his treatment of the children."

Alabama daycare license

Meanwhile, Alabama welfare agency officials said Thursday that Karr kept children at a home day-care center he operated in northwest Alabama.

The Marion County Department of Human Resources issued a license for Karr to begin operating a day-care out of his rural home in June 1997, said John Bradford, a spokesman with the Alabama Department of Human Resources.

He said the sheriff's department conducted a background check before the license was issued and no problems were found.

Karr didn't receive any complaints before the two-year license expired in 1999, Bradford told The Associated Press.

"We do know he kept children, but it is really hard to get a handle on the number," he said.

Karr, 41, has said he was with JonBenet when she was killed in the basement of her home in Boulder, Colorado, in December 1996, but he called her death an accident. (Full story)

Karr was living with his ex-wife in Hamilton at the time of the slaying.

Karr, who was working as a teacher, was arrested last week in Bangkok, Thailand, and flown Sunday to the United States. He is being held in Los Angeles, California.

He has agreed not to fight his transfer to Colorado to face charges of murder, kidnapping and sexual assault of a child in connection with the December 26, 1996 slaying of the child beauty pageant competitor.

While we find the entire Jon Benet murder episode particularly loathesome, we had to point out his ugly example of why you should be running a background check on anyone who is working near your home or who has charge of your children for any amount of time, yet alone the better part of the day.

Apparently Karr was cleared by Alabama for a license. The Sheriff's department claimed they ran a background check and nothing of consequence registered on the reports. Karr may well have slipped through the cracks on that one. His pedophilliac proclivities also went undiscovered as a teacher. While unfortunate, it is understandable. He had not yet been charged with any crime and, from the official perspective, he had not come under suspicion.
But, overall, the best way to avoid entrusting your children with the wrong people is to run a criminal background check, and include with it a check of the registry of sexual offenders. Every state has a crimnal registery, and so do certain counties. Most sexual registries will report to a central system. While nothing in life is absolute, this criminal background check and the sexual registry are pretty thorough and extremely comprehensive.

Corra always pairs the Sexual Offender's Registry with the Nationwide Criminal Database Search. We do it as part of our pre-employment screening package, because the last thing we need is to help put a sexual offender in the work place. This search is convenient, cost effective, and it returns quickly. If you are a parent about to put your child into daycare, it's the least you can do for your child's safety.

Check them out before you trust them.

Protecting Your Social Security Number From Identity Theft

2006-08-23T12:44:00.000-07:00

Any victim can tell you identity theft is no laughing matter. The hoops you may have to crawl through for weeks or even years to come, in trying to straighten out your life, can elicit far more tears than laughter. These tears would be most certainly tears of frustration as you do anything and everything to reinstate your good name and most probably your good credit.

Those of you who have no identity theft insurance, which means most of you, will spend at least a part of your day notifying businesses and agencies, credit reporting entities and credit card companies. You will write letters that will need to be notarized, claiming you are indeed the unwitting victim and not the architect of some nefarious plot to ruin your own reputation. Meanwhile, until the matter is cleared, you may suffer mightily as your credit score plummets and bills come due. Bills for things you never purchased.. This translates into being denied credit for products and services you really want or paying higher, penalty interest rates for having such lousy credit.

Identity theft begins with nine little numbers. These nine numbers can mean the world to you. They are the nine digits comprising your Social Security Number, and they are as vulnerable to corruption as a politician at a lobbyist convention. Chances are your Social Security has been disseminated, accidentally or for a job. You probably have it in your wallet and on your computer. It may be crumpled up in your trash can; along with the other papers you didn’t bother shredding. With your Social Security Number and your date of birth safely in hand, an identity thief is off to the races.

These are but a few ways thieves gain access to your Social Security Number. There are even creepier ways, including Internet and database hacking. Then there is your new found lover, the Mr. or Miss Possible you met somewhere or even online. This is the person you dated, brought home and after you fell asleep they went roaming your house, rifled your desk or purse, or rummage your computer for your most intimate files. Doesn’t happen? When you discover to your chagrin someone took out a credit card with your name but at a different address, you’ll know the answer.

To an even greater extreme, your Social Security, accompanied by your date of birth can enable an identity thief to not only acquire credit in your name, but maybe a passport, which can used by or sold to some of our more unsavory members of this planet. While there is an adage that there is no such thing as bad publicity, it’s questionable whether there is anything positive about having your identity associated with a terrorist who just made the headlines on CNN.

Losing your identity to someone else will not only damage your credit and create all sorts of legal troubles. You can face psychological difficulties as well. Besides the task at hand to make your life whole once again, you will feel violated and abused. After all, our very identity is based on…well…our identity, and if some louse has usurped it for his own purposes, then it is understandable that until you repair the damages you feel you have lost at least a little piece of yourself. Identity theft is also embarrassing, because it will become incumbent upon you to explain to everyone that matters why your life has been rendered upside down.

Perhaps the worst part about identity theft is it may be quite awhile before you realize how much damage has been done. If someone applied for credit or ordered credit cards in your name but at a different address, months can pass before you are located and notified of your lapses by either the credit service or the collection agency they send after you. It is a rude awakening the day you get that first call and throughout the day begin to wonder what other shoes may begin to drop. More often than not, if someone secured credit in your name, they will secure more, running the limit in many cases. From that day on you are facing the grim ordeal of cleaning up the mess.

Not all identity theft will relate directly to credit acquisition and unlawful purchases. In Border States especially but no exclusively you may find undocumented workers have somehow come upon your social security number. Perhaps, again, you neglected to shred the sensitive information you dumped into your trashcan. Perhaps he bought it from one of hundreds of peddlers who sell phony documents and someone else’s Social Security Numbers to undocumented workers questing increasingly to appear like legitimate immigrants.

In any event, you Social Security Number is not only used by that one undocumented worker. Chances are he has handed it out to his twelve best friends and family members. You don’t believe me? A woman called me recently to inquire as to why different names appeared on a Social Security Trace she ordered as part of a background check. It seemed odd to her that strange names would be appearing along with her employment candidate on the same document. As a favor, I ran her Social Security Number, and to her considerable chagrin, there was a male name attached to her number as well.

Can this be a problem? Often it is fairly benign and nothing comes of it. But then problems can arise, depending on your new bedfellow’s general behavior and whether he or she attempts to either get credit using your Social Security Number, or whether he or she is suddenly identified as part of a drug cartel or stolen car ring. These things do happen, and they happen when you need it least and least expect it. With the world growing increasingly crazy, what with terrorists and miscreants of every stripe the last thing you need is to be the target of a federal manhunt.

All right, so some of this I may have exaggerated. But not by as much as you think. So, how do you protect against it? Do you call the Social Security Administration? Go ahead, and see what happens there. If it wasn’t so pathetic and frustrating it may even be funny. They can’t do much, they will probably tell you. They are understaffed and overmatched and inundated all at the same time.

So what do you do? First get identity theft insurance. It may not protect you, actually, but most policies will notify you when there is suspected abuse of your credit cards and presumably good name. Credit Card Insurance provides services will assist you in repairing the damage done to your credit and reputation. The insurance will also be helpful in shortening the time and effort involved in making everything whole again. There are numerous policies, many given by credit card companies. I would suggest you shop around.

Run a credit check on yourself on a regular basis. Don’t access just one credit card service, but run all three major reporting companies. They are Experian, Trans Union, and Equifax. There are deals all over the Internet where you can run all three credit services for a decent price. It is best to run it at least every six to eight months. Monitoring your credit scores on all three services is money well spent.

Finally, we get down to the cheapest and often the best preemptive defense against identity theft, that is besides doing all the foolish things that were mentioned in the earlier paragraphs. Run your own Social Security Trace. There are a variety of reputable companies that should be willing to run your number. Some may require a consent form, verifying you are who you really say you are. This only assists you in protecting your identity, so I would never let that be an obstacle.

When you run your Social Security Trace you will be able to ascertain what names are attached to your number. Sometimes, due to mixed financial efforts, you might your spouse attached, and that is seldom worth concern. It is the strange name or, in some cases, strange names that should cause some alarm. As I noted earlier, this could be undocumented workers who usurped your Social Security Number to appear as a legal worker. Or, worse case scenario, it could be someone out to use your name for their own personal gain.

Once you know that someone has stolen your number, you can notify the appropriate credit services and authorities that there may well be an interloper. You can request they screen any purchases on you accounts and notify you when there are transactions in other cities. Identity Theft insurance will help with that. You can notify the legal authorities, and maybe they will help you track it down. In any event, the faster you become aware that someone has stolen your identity the greater the chance you will minimize the damage.

Finally, there is no reason to live your life with a siege mentality. It is wise to remain aware and to be sentient, especially with regard to who may have stolen your identity. Remember, credit is great but don’t abuse it. Most importantly don’t allow someone else to abuse it for you.

You have only one name. Keep it to yourself.

Human Resource Management Should Play It By The Numbers

2006-08-23T12:39:00.000-07:00

We found this interesting article in a Profiles International Newsletter

Changing Role of HR:
Forget 'Warm and Fuzzy' - Know Costs of Lost Talent

Jack and Suzy Welch, in the July 17 edition of Business Week, took on the issue of what HR must do to retain the line-item overhead category on most business balance sheets. Any HR professional who has experienced cuts in HR budgets, reductions in staff and outright elimination of HR departments will understand the importance of this move. Every HR professional should read the article, or stop pretending to want a strategic role in the company.

Welch says that HR must first become a functional part of corporate financial management. Quantify. Dollarize. Given the very large, real and documentable costs of vacancies, turnover and legal problems, this is relatively easy. The real payoff, though, is on the positive side of the coin, when HR can track and document the dollars associated with productivity increases, longer tenure, better managers and employee satisfaction. In assuming this role, HR professionals have two major obstacles:

1) Lack of training in finance, numerical reasoning and communication of financial impacts (and worse);

2) Lack of interest in any of these things.

Traditionally, people go into HR because of the warm and fuzzy, intuitive, "health-and-happiness" approach. Welch even counsels, "Drop the socialist &lsquotreat-them-all-the-same' mentality." In the words of cartoon character Pogo, "We have met the enemy and he is us."

If you're still not convinced you can (and must) take this route, answer the Welches' challenge: "What could possibly be more important than who gets hired, developed, promoted or moved out the door?"

If you're having trouble with the numerical side of this challenge, make the CFO your ally. As John Sullivan noted in his Workforce Week review of the Welch position, "The CFO is the undisputed king of placing valuations on activities that are difficult to enumerate." By the way, your CFO is probably as uncomfortable with your warm and fuzzies as you are with the financial reports. But together, you can make things happen.

Look at a specific example of this way of thinking: Talent retention - As far back as most of us care to remember, HR has tracked "turnover" as one of our few consistent metrics. As commonly used, however, turnover is at best a hodgepodge statistic, lumping together the results of current hiring practice, past practice, management change or failure to change, the winds of the economy and goodness knows what else!

Talent retention, on the other hand, is more focused on current practice. According to Leslie Stevens-Huffman, writing for Workforce Week, "Nearly 70 percent of executives say that they view talent retention as important or extremely important." Identify the costs (both direct and indirect) of replacing talented individuals in your company, learn when new hires are most likely to leave and identify the factors causing them to leave.

Design a program to extend the average life of talent in your company by even a few months and calculate the direct dollar impact. You will find you have reduced the costs of hiring, training, unemployment insurance, workers' compensation, management time and negative impacts on coworkers. Simultaneously, you will have improved productivity, job satisfaction and leadership, while holding on to valuable company knowledge and loyalty. The total positive financial impact of your talent retention initiative alone may well pay for your entire HR operation!

Even in the entertainment industry, a business that many thought so creative they needn't pay attention to things like cost overruns, employee efficiency and careful budgeting, there is pressure to be more cost effective in every way and to always keep an eyes on the bottom line. As competition grows in every industry, there is no business from watching its costs, hidden or otherwise. One cost that is often overlooked is the hidden costs within the workforce. Turnovers and retraining alone can be a drain on an otherwise healthy business.

Then there is the matter of employee theft and substance abuse, that in combo can jeopardize the security of your proprietary systems, your databases and your intellectual properties. With these threats looming over just about any business, it becomes incumbent upon the Human Resources Manager to conduct careful employee screenings while paying close attention to the bottom lines. In this changing age, overviews are not viewed as favorably as specifics.

The devil is in the details, and the details, at least part of them, are in the numbers. As the article suggest, HR Managers should work with the CFO who are after all the numbers people. Working together, you can assure better cost control and overall productivity. Human Resource personnel who learn this and become efficient with numbers will be far more eligible for promotions than those who don't.

Coupled with watching cost, measuring productivity and assessing the bottom line, always remember to conduct pre-employment background checks on every job candidate. Pre-Employment Screening is the foundation for efficient hiring procedures. We always suggest a criminal background check and a Social Security Trace. You may also want to conduct a DMV search and a variety of civil searches.

So play it by the numbers, and check them our before you hire.

Statewide Criminal Background Checks

2006-06-13T10:41:00.000-07:00

Corra, a Los Angeles based Employment Screening Firm, is now offering statewide criminal background checks to consumers nationwide. With this powerful resource you will be able to search statewide databases includes Sex Offender Registries, Administration of Courts, Department of Corrections, as well as many Counties with each state.

Statewide database searches are a fast and inexpensive way to reduce risk and protect yourself, no matter whether you are hiring employees, a nanny, or dating online. Statewide criminal searches are returned weith instant results and sometimes include photographs of the subject, where available.

Corra Introduces New County Lookup Tool

2006-02-26T10:45:00.000-08:00

Corra's website www.corragroup.com is now offering a County lookup tool to help you order county criminal and civil records for your prospective job candidates. All 3000 counties across the nation have been indexed and are easy to locate with your candidate's ZIP code or city.

Using hand-pulled county criminal records is the most accurate way to verify your candidate's criminal history background.

You can access the new free County Lookup Search tool here:

Checking Out Caretakers

2006-02-23T09:19:00.000-08:00

found this on ABC

Nanny Natalie Sessions loves to play with six month old Jazz Wilson. But
before the fun and games began, Jazz's parents ordered a background check, to
check out Natalie's past.

"You're kind of nervous about giving your
child to a complete stranger," Jay Wilson, Jazz's father, said.
The Wilsons
are part of a growing trend, people ordering in-depth background checks on
nannies, housekeepers, caregivers, tutors, even personal assistants! Why?

This person is going to be in close proximity to vulnerable family
members," Kathleen Webb, of 4nannies.com said.
4nannies.com is a company
that processes thousands of background checks every year. Webb says consumers
are now going way beyond the basics when it comes to identity verification.
Webb says it's "because of a growing awareness of what types of information
is actually available."

Collecting the information from numerous sources
can take days. Webb says these in-depth checks are not like the instant offers
you see advertised. Those instant offers often depend on online databases only.
"Most of them don't have data any more recent than 90 days to six months
from the date that you're actually searching the records," Webb said.
Even
if you get the extra protection an in-depth search provides, Webb says you
should still be careful.
"There's no such thing as a foolproof background
check because records in the United States are not in any type of central
repository," Webb said.
So be sure to check out personal references on your
own like the Wilsons did with Natalie. It gave them peace of mind and gave Jazz
a new playmate.
Keep in mind that if you're interested in having an in-depth
background check done, you will need consent from the person you're interested
in hiring. The cost of a report is typically 100-200 dollars, depending on what
kind of information you're looking for.

National Identity Card: a built in background check?

2005-12-26T10:26:00.000-08:00

A new method to conduct background checks on citizens

Article in slate magazine:

In a December 2002 Newsweek column, Brill laid out a potential solution to the twin fears gripping the nation: the anxiety about aviation security and the anxiety about the government's incompetence and tendency to violate privacy. A private-sector company should develop a sort of national identification card, he wrote. The company could sign people up, gather fingerprints, ask the government to perform background checks, and then issue special cards that would allow the prescreened holders to pass through dedicated lines at airports and buildings. The machines through which the cards would be swiped would also be equipped with biometric technology to read fingerprints or iris scans. Following the
publication of After in the spring of 2003, Brill decided to launch such a company himself.

Football Players are all criminals

2005-12-24T14:06:00.000-08:00

Not really. But check out this article about background checks laws affecting NFL Europe. Seems they can't follow the "strict" background checks in affect for anyone entering school property. How many football players, coaches, assistants are registered sex offenders? Is the recent scandal involving the Minnesota Vikings just the tip of the iceberg? Perhaps a strict new law about background checks should expand to anyone include anyone who appears on TV at the same time as Sunday morning cartoons.

A new law requiring strict background checks for those who regularly come onto school property has forced six NFL Europe teams to abandon high school fields and locker rooms they used for preseason training camps and look for new facilities.
The Jessica Lunsford Act, which took effect Sept. 1, requires fingerprinting and background checks for contractors, vendors, sports referees and others who regularly go onto school property. The law is named after the 9-year-old Homosassa girl who was kidnapped and slain, allegedly by a registered sex offender who had briefly worked at her school as a mason's assistant.
The teams will move preseason practices to fields owned by Hillsborough County, the University of Tampa and the University of South Florida, league officials said Thursday.
''We are keeping all the teams in Tampa Bay,'' NFL spokesman Pete Abitante said. ``The area has been a great place for training camp.''
The six teams bring an estimated 750 players, coaches, scouts and other officials to the area.
They used facilities at King and Jefferson high schools, Dunedin High School and Lakewood High School in St. Petersburg and Boca Ciega High School in Pinellas County for their February workouts.
''We are bound by the law,'' Hillsborough County public schools spokesman Steve Hegarty said. ``We are sorry they feel they can no longer use our facilities.''
Players arrive Feb. 10, with full squad practice beginning Feb.

The Ukrainians are Coming

2005-12-20T21:32:00.000-08:00

Belarus Cracks Down on Online Dating MINSK, Belarus — Belarusian lawmakers on Wednesday passed legislation that would crack down on Internet dating and online spouse searches in the latest in a series of stringent government controls backed by authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko.

Maybe they got upset about all those website promoting Russian wives. No sense in working hard every day for your rubles and fifth of vodka, only to come home and find your wife has been packed off to Torrance, California, care of Russianwives.com

ukraine

And so the road goes on

2005-12-19T23:54:00.000-08:00

Found some new search directorylists today: Check out this search directory submission list. Then we also decided to research possible submissions for Human Recources and Recruiting options

The woods are lovely dark and deep but I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep. and miles to go before I sleep.

The work goes further and farther, onwards and upwards.

Why Employee Fraud could happen to you

2005-12-16T16:12:00.000-08:00

Another recent article discusses the rise of fraud and theft perpetrated by company insiders. Employers should be aware of the potential exposure they have from employees, especially if they haven't conducted thorough background checks on new hires, as well as follow up background checks on employees who have promoted to higher positions of trust and authority. Corra Group recommends combining a nationwide criminal database search with at least one hand-pulled criminal record search in the candidates last county of residence.

Survey on economic crime found that nearly half of all businesses have been victimized by fraud in the past two years.
By Daniel Kehrer

Question: A fellow entrepreneur confided recently that he suspected a trusted employee of stealing from his business. Then another business owner I know was hit with check fraud. It got me thinking how vulnerable we are to different types of theft or fraud, from both inside and out. What can be done?

-- FEELING VULNERABLE

Answer: The facts on fraud are frightening. "Rising economic crime poses a growing threat to business,"

Remove the worry and start ordering background checks. Corra Group can offer you reliable background checks as well as a customized screening policy for your and compliance with the FCRA.

LIVESCAN fingerprinting saves your tax dollars

2005-12-14T22:00:00.000-08:00

I find it strange that livescan fingerprinting actually made the news in Washington. This is old technology that's been around in California for several years. Furthermore, the state has outsourced the ability to statewide vendors who efficiently fingerprint any applicants for bonded state officials as well as employee background checks. We wish Washington good luck with the new technology.

MARIETTA - The Washington County Sheriff's Department is now equipped with technology that will increase the efficiency of background check services offered to the public.

For the past several years, the sheriff's department has offered background checks that use fingerprints to check an individual's criminal history, said Sheriff Larry Mincks. The service is used by many employers in the county who wish to ensure that the person they are hiring is trustworthy, he said.

Until now, the process was time-consuming and inefficient. Sheriff's officials had to take fingerprints using ink and paper methods and send them to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The service involved a great deal of paper work and there was a significant waiting period while the request was processed, Mincks said.

Now, the sheriff's office will use a digital fingerprint scanner. This will virtually eliminate the paper work involved and result in faster results, Mincks said.

fingerprints

Background checks for Volunteer Groups

2005-12-12T20:52:00.000-08:00

When the New Year arrives, every member of the staff at the United Methodist Church of La Mirada and every Sunday School teacher, counselor and volunteer will have undergone a background check.

It's just one of the policies instituted by the La Mirada church and all of the United Methodist churches in Southern California, Guam, Hawaii and Saipan as part of an effort to stem any sex abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church from occurring in United Methodist churches.

"We'd like the community to know that if they bring their children to our Sunday School, we're doing everything we can to ensure your children are safe at our church," said Linda Tremain, a member of the La Mirada church's Safe Sanctuary Committee that wrote up its plan.

"We've never had a problem at our church, but we are protecting ourselves," Tremain said.

The "Safe Sanctuary" policy - set by the California Pacific Conference of the United Methodist Church was instituted after its insurance company required it.

That's a good thing, said John Hergesheimer, lay leader for the East Whittier United Methodist Church.

"It is a kick in the pants that we needed," Hergesheimer said. "We all have the sense we're playing catch up. We see it as a moral imperative."

The policies at all of the churches will include background checks, safety procedures such as having two or more non-related adults present in a classroom or at an activity and development of an ongoing education plan.

"We believe the Christian faith calls us to offer both hospitality and protection to the little ones, the children," said Larry Hygh, communications director for the California Pacific Conference of the United Methodist Church, "The

Social Principles of The United Methodist Church" state that children must be protected from economic, physical, emotional, and sexual exploitation and abuse."

The La Mirada church also will have doors with windows and the ability to look into classes from the outside. Youth counseling will be done in a public or other visibly observable location and the adult teachers will have to be at least five years older than the oldest participant.

Whittier-area church officials say they haven't had any problems with sexual abuse scandals, but that doesn't mean the Methodist Church hasn't had problems.

There have been news reports about scandals in Detroit and Long Beach.

Hergesheimer said he's not surprised that the Methodist Church also would have problems.

"There's no reason Protestants should have an advantage," Hergesheimer said. "You just have to figure that when people are inclined to molest kids they are going to seek settings which kids trust adults. What better places than schools, youth organizations and churches?"

The East Whittier United Methodist Church is in the planning stages for its "Safe Sanctuary" policy, Hergesheimer said.

On Monday, the church's leadership council will vote on a proposed plan.

The policy would include requiring background checks on staff and volunteers who deal with youth, guidelines on how to supervise children and procedures for handling complaints.

Prevention is the best method of damage control. Not only do background checks minimize your exposure to negligent hiring lawsuits, they also eliminate the loss of good will as your crisis management team works overtime to repair the damage in the hearts and minds of your customers. Order a comprehensive background check from Corra Group.

Why Motor Vehicle Records (MVR) Searches are Important

2005-12-11T22:53:00.000-08:00

Anyone driving for you should have their Motor Vehicle Records (MVR)Search checked regularly. These records can sometimes reveal DUI (driving under the influence charges which otherwise do not appear to county criminal records.

See current article at WTSP news:

Clearwater, Florida - Lucia Bone of Dallas, Texas has dedicated her life to the memory of her sister Sue Weaver.

She's trying to keep what happened to her sister in Orlando, from happening to other people across the country.

Lucia Bone, President Sue Weaver Cause:
"It's in memory of my sister who was raped and murdered by a twice convicted sex offender who had been hired to do service work in her home."

Now Bone is trying to get notification laws passed which would force companies to tell consumers if they do, or do not do background checks on their delivery people.

Bone says Home Depot for example, does do background checks on all of its delivery employees.

Lucia Bone:
"We're hoping that the awareness from consumers will also force employers to understand they have a moral and legal obligation to their clients to do background checks to make sure that their clients are safe."

Bone says if you're going to have something delivered to your home, make sure the store does background checks on all of its delivery people and try to have someone else there with you when the item is delivered.

Lucia Bone:
"If you're a young mother, or a mother period, with children, don't be home alone with the children because the perpetrator might use the children's life as a means to get you to do something."

Bone spoke to pre-employment screeners at their annual conference in Clearwater. These screeners say more background checks for all delivery people is long overdue.

Daphne Large, Pre-Employment Screener:
"It's something they should be doing already. The negligent hiring potential lawsuits are far going to outweigh any initial cost and it's very inexpensive to do."

Bone says Florida lawmakers introduced a bill on background checks for delivery people last session but it didn't get very far. She's hoping legislators will pass the notification bill next session.

Is Santa Claus a Pervert?

2005-12-09T14:38:00.000-08:00

Gordon writes in Daily Planet:

Christmas is the time of year when we like to spend our time with our children, friends and family. At least, that is how the story goes, and for the most part it is pretty true. We forget last year’s tribulations, the traffic jams and crowded stores. We fill our cars with ever-precious gasoline and our spirits with holiday cheer, and then we head off to the mall. We do a little shopping, trying to avoid the crazies who in increasing frequency are ready to do physical battle over the fad gift of the moment.

We stand in line for what seems like forever, juggling shopping bags and restive children, waiting our chance for a few minute conference with none other than the Big Guy from the North Pole, Santa Claus. There he sits on his gilded throne, amid all the blinking lights and Christmas décor. He is assisted by his helpers, who less often these days are midgets or dwarves, posing as elves. Midgets and dwarves allegedly scare the kiddies. The scene is fully nostalgic, resplendent with your own childhood memories. Your children are so anxious to sit and tell Santa what they want for Christmas, they can barely stand it. And here, amid the fake snow and the holiday festivities, it never occurs to you that Santa Claus may be a pervert.

That’s right. Despite all good intentions, your favorite mall may have mistakenly hired a child molester, whose recent residential address may have been the state penitentiary and not the North Pole. And you think you should be concerned about your child’s fear of midgets and dwarves. The truth is, that very lap where you place your child to declare his holiday wishes may actually belong to a pedophile.

To support this claim, CBS News recently had one of its staff impersonate a convicted felon and child molester. The staff member applied in five Los Angeles malls, under the name of the actual felon. The felon was a man who was registered along with 63,000 sickos on what is commonly known as “Meagan’s List.” He was hardly a well-kept secret. And yet all five shopping malls hired the man to be their Santa Claus. Later, when confronted with the issue, one man claimed to have run a free pre-employment background check that is generally good for nothing. The others mumbled lame excuses that, when translated logically, meant they probably had not run any kind of pre-employment background check.

In other malls throughout the country, those responsible do conduct pre-employment background checks, along with drug testing. The good news is, employers like Santa Plus, of Fallon, Missouri, which screens the 500 Santas it places in 250 malls, in 46 states, do conduct background checks. However, by some accounts, 70 out of every 1000 applicants for the Santa or Santa’s helper jobs have a felony record of some sort. That is approximately seven percent of those screened. They may also be applying to the malls and services that don’t do any background checking. They may be like the staff member of CBS, who, while posing as a child molester, got hired anyway. At five different malls. In the case of CBS, their guy was an imposter, helping to work a feature story. In the other cases, they are the real thing.

I know this is terrible. But if it ended there, we could almost be grateful. . Perhaps the larger question is, who are what are you having over for the holidays? Are you not doing the same thing as the shopping malls when you are thinking of dating someone without first checking him out? I know, your new Mr. Possible seems perfectly lovely on the Internet, and he is charming on the telephone. It is the holiday season. You feel lonely. It would be nice to share the holidays with someone who shows the potential for romance. But a confidence man, a criminal, or a pedophile, has had lots of practice at disarming his pray. Winning you over is what his life is all about. Getting to your wallet; getting to your children. They are good at it.

This is not to suggest you investigate old Uncle Fred, although it’s not always a bad idea. It is to suggest, however, that if you are a single woman, especially a single parent, and you are using the singles and online dating sites, you had best run an online dating background check on your potential paramours. Not only does an online singles background check help protect you from theft of goods, confidence scams, identity theft and your own risk of physical harm, but most importantly, it helps protect your children from the kind of strangers they should never meet.

Remember, Check Him Out Before You Date Him.

Criminal checks, M.D.

2005-12-07T23:33:00.000-08:00

SPRINGFIELD -- Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed legislation Monday requiring medical schools to perform criminal background checks on prospective students.
The law, which takes effect immediately, requires new medical school students to undergo fingerprinting and have the Illinois State Police check their past for violent felonies like murder.

During floor debate in November, state Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Matteson, the measure's sponsor, argued potentially violent medical students could easily come into contact with the public.

"When going to medical school, you are in contact with the public. As an intern, you are in the hospital," said Kelly, who noted the investigations will be nationwide.

Committing crimes doesn't bar people from becoming doctors, but the new law protects schools from lawsuits if the background check leads to a candidate being turned down.

Medical schools can charge students for the investigation. The proposal has the support of the University of Illinois and Southern Illinois University medical schools.

While checking healthcare worker's backgrounds for felonies is important, Medical Schools and healthcare employers may also want to consider conducting additional background checks as part of a comprehensive pre-employment screening program. A Healthcare Sanctions Report searches US Dept. of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General's database for individuals and businesses excluded or sanctioned from participating in Medicare, Medicaid, or other Federally funded health care programs. This search is invaluable for healthcare industry candidates.

The J Date From Hell

2005-12-01T22:29:00.000-08:00

FROM THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS--

First he took her to a fancy French restaurant on the upper West Side, then he took her to the cleaners. A 65-year-old married man from Brooklyn turned out to be the Internet date from hell for a widow who was looking for love - but instead found a con man who scammed her out of $100,000, prosecutors charged. Investigators believe there are more victims of Alan Sarner, who allegedly used the computer in his Sheepshead Bay apartment to transform himself from a married retiree into a phony investment banker looking to fleece lonely women....

On their first date at the Cafe des Artistes restaurant on the upper West Side, Sarner pitched a get-rich-quick deal for a company on the verge of curing leukemia, according to prosecutors. Within a month, Lynn allegedly gave Sarner three checks totaling $100,000.

We at Corra Group are constantly warning people against the predators stalking the online dating sites and dating clubs. They are out there, feeding on the hopes and wishes of many, and the desperation of most. In fact, recently I was compelled to write an article, "Meet the New Mr. Goodbar," addressing this very issue. What disturbs us is that for a couple of bucks you can run a background check on someone's criminal and financial records and find out if they are for real. A few bucks of prevention is worth, in this case, losing $100,000, to say nothing of the humiliation and the embarrassment. And in the extreme cases you risk physical harm and and even death. So, as we say at Corra, "Check Them Out Before You Date Them."

Meet the New Mr. Goodbar

2005-11-03T20:35:00.000-08:00

He may not murder you, but he’ll take your money
and leave you feeling like a fool.

By
Gordon Basichis

In 1975, the recently deceased Judith Rossner published her best selling book, “Looking for Mr. Goodbar.” The book told the story of a young female schoolteacher’s search for the perfect man, Mr. Goodbar. Her relentless cruising of the singles bars and her increasing flirtation with danger ultimately leads to her descent into hell and her subsequent murder. The public in general found this cautionary tale shocking and disturbing. Critics praised both book and film as honest depictions of female sexuality in the freewheeling seventies.

Rossner’s novel was loosely based on the actual murder of Katherine Cleary, a schoolteacher. On New Year’s Eve in 1973 she picked up one Joe Willie Sampson in Mr. Goodbar, a singles watering hole in New York City, and took him back to her apartment. Sampson killed her there and later hanged himself in his jail cell, while awaiting trial. Since then, in the American vernacular, Mr. Goodbar has become synonymous with a sociopathic killer who preys on single women.

Today there is a new Mr. Goodbar. Chances are you will never find him in the modern singles bar. Unlike the Mr. Goodbar singles bars of the seventies and eighties that offered sex, romance and always a touch of danger, the modern watering holes have been sanitized, franchised and often transplanted to the eternal blandness of the shopping mall. It is unlikely the modern woman will be driven to the gates of hell by a khaki clad executive stopping by the local BJ’s after a hard day at the business park. Perhaps other than boredom and enduring the predictable mating habits of her office cronies, the modern woman faces a greater danger driving home in traffic than she does rejecting the guy hitting on her at the hors d’oeuvres stand.

Realistically, most women stopping off at happy hour and even later are there to do what their male counterparts are doing—let off a little steam. For the most part they have seen the repertoire of available men, dated some and avoided the rest. Now, for the most part, their time spent at the local watering hole is a mild distraction between work and a trip to the gym, or to go home and feed the cat, order in Chinese and log onto their favorite online dating site. They become one of millions of women, engaging strangers on the thousands of dating sites pervading the Internet. And here in this virtual world of romantic fantasies and wishful thinking, they are risking the fateful encounter with the new Mr. Goodbar.

The new Mr. Goodbar need not be a sociopath ready to erupt into a murderous rage to be considered dangerous. He is usually a lot smarter and a lot more calculating. The new Mr. Goodbar may have no interest in taking a woman’s life. Instead he may take her money and steal her identity, leaving her to spend the next year cleaning up the credit mess. There are thousands of male predators seeking out professional women and women of means. To a predator it’s no secret the glass ceiling has been cracked if not shattered. He has done his research. He likes successful women. The new Mr. Goodbar finds his happy hunting ground in many women graduating law school, medical school, and the high paid executives at major corporations. His potential prey own houses, have bank accounts, and own stock portfolios. They are women who have money he can steal if he plays his cards right and persuades even the smartest women that with him they are fated for the mythical land of “happily after ever.”

It begins usually with a predator writing wonderful emails, indicating how sensitive and caring he is. He lies about his job, his wealth, his present state of mind. He loves your cats, your dogs, your kids; he adores your personality. He knows you better than anyone has known you before. Before long he may have a woman convinced they are soul mates. He is, after all, very good at what he does.

The all new and reconstituted Mr. Goodbar will not just con a woman over the Internet. He will arrange to meet and to come to her house where he can avail himself of her financial records. If they sleep together, he may slip out of bed and check through her drawers, and through her wallet for driver’s license, credit cards and her social security number. He may persuade her he needs money to start a business, or he may order credit cards in her name, delivered to a blind post office address. The female victim may not discover she has financial difficulties until as much as a year later.

Before anyone scoffs at the notion and thinks that I am exaggerating, consider these facts. Women are five to eight times more likely to be victimized by an intimate partner. More than one-and-a-half-million women are raped or assaulted by an intimate partner every year. More than four in ten incidents of domestic violence involve singles. Michigan and other states have considered making it a blanket law that all applicants to online dating sites first undergo a personal background check, before being approved.

There are several reputable companies offering background checks for singles and members of online dating site. One service, Corra Group, caters to the professional woman with the kind of material assets that may very well attract the new Mr. Goodbar. Corra Group also specializes in personal service. For further information contact - - Online Dating Background Checks or Corra Group

Corra Opens Division For Dating Background Checks

2005-10-20T11:19:00.000-07:00

For Immediate Release

LOS ANGELES/EWORLDWIRE/Oct. 18, 2005 --- Corra, a company specializing in pre-employment background checks and corporate research, has opened a new division addressing singles and online dating background checks. The new division is designed to protect women who are often targeted by con artists and online predators.

"Millions of career women are using the Internet and dating clubs to meet a mate," said Nick Gustavson, co-founder of Corra. "More often than not, these women are really not sure who they are corresponding with. It could be the man of their dreams, or a nightmare waiting to happen."

"Women looking for Mr. Possible are subject to identity theft, money scams and, worse, physical violence," said Gustavson. "The bad guys are counting on women not to check them out. For the price of a couple of lattes, a woman can feel secure."

According to Gustavson, the Corra principals have more than 20 years of investigative experience and are on-site to answer any questions clients may have.

"Corra offers a personalized service to women in need. No one wants to discuss their love life with a phone bank in India," said Gustavson.

Read More:
http://newsroom.eworldwire.com/wr/101805/12918.htm

Internal Bank Fraud

2005-08-19T12:40:00.000-07:00

Marketing Sherpa gave this quote in a recent article regarding selling services to Commercial and Savings institutions:

We've all heard about banks who've lost critical customer data by shipping unencrypted files via UPS or who have had laptops stuffed with customer data stolen or gone missing. Those are the big stories that make the news. What doesn't make the news is that 50 - 70% of fraud happens on the inside, according to Jacob Jegher, a senior analyst with IT firm Celent LLC, in an interview with American Banker.

For major banks with tens of thousands (or more) employees, protecting against internal fraud is an almost incomprehensible undertaking. Employees can easily bring in storage devices such as MP3 players and PDAs to steal data or can download Instant Messaging programs, which are difficult for IT to monitor, let alone regulate for compliance reasons.

Inside jobs account for 50 to 70% of bank fraud? It's a frightening statistic. While it's important to note that today's hand held storage devices give employees an easy and anonymous method of stealing data, it doesn't account for their will to commit fraud. What makes them do it? Is the temptation overpowering? Are they disgruntled employees, upset by draconion corporate policies and uncompetitive compensation & benefits practices? Are they in debt themselves; mortgaged to death and desperate for some cash.

Financial advisors warn that past performance isn't a guarantee for future actions, but any saavy investor takes note of the past before investing. Likewise, banking institutions need to start taking a better look at their job applicant backgrounds. If their staff is commiting 50 to 70% of the fraud, then the institution will pay the price in reputation and lost revenue.

Banking institutions should be implementing a clear and consistent background check program for all prospective job candidates as well as periodic updates for current employees. Furthermore, banks should institute more comprehensive and up to date background examinations of employees who promote from within to positions of higher authority and fidicuary responsibility.

Protecting against internal fraud means periodically checking the credit reports of current employees. Employers may think their staff members are financially secure because they are earning a paycheck, but in reality, most people live paycheck to paycheck, especially now that mortgages payments account for approximately 50% of household expenses. Now imagine a family emergency, a poor investment, or even a gambling or drug addiction to create the conditions needed for desperation. If you have an employee like this, wouldn't you like to know if they have a previous criminal record?

When implementing a pre-employment screening policy, it is important to secure a signed authorization from the applicant to periodically review records in the event they are hired. A periodic screening policy shows clients and investors that you are making a commitment to protecting their assets.

To read more about setting up or improving your background check program, please visit Corra Group's website Corra's customized background check programs will meet your needs, no matter the size of your firm.

Corra can be reached at (310) 966-1556.
www.CorraGroup.com

Fred's Storied Career

2005-08-17T16:45:00.000-07:00

A five-time felon has spent his life elaborately lying his way into jobs at churches, nonprofits and UCLA. Now he's ready to go straight. Maybe.

By Tonya Alanez, Times Staff Writer

Each morning as he backed down the driveway of his Glassell Park home, Federiqkoe DiBritto III couldn't be sure if that day was going to be his last on the job.

For months — much longer than he had any right to expect — his luck held.

Then on April 21, DiBritto, a fundraiser for the UCLA medical school, was summoned to his supervisor's office, handcuffed and taken to jail.

DiBritto, who had been hired for the $100,000-a-year UCLA job with what seemed to be excellent credentials, was really Fred Brito, a con man and five-time felon. UCLA detectives arrested Brito after a tip from the Los Angeles Police Department.

Brito, 49, has spent his adult life using aliases and phony credentials to pull off one elaborate deception after another. He has lied his way into jobs as a Catholic priest, a youth counselor for a foster care agency and executive director of the National Kidney Foundation of Southern California, among many others. He once convinced a judge he was a psychiatrist in order to testify in a friend's criminal trial.

Sometimes his poses have landed him in jail. Other times, he's been allowed to leave jobs quietly. His latest unmasking put him behind bars for a couple of weeks while authorities decided what to do.

Read More

Before you make the headlines, start background checks with Corra

Officials seek tougher background checks

2005-08-15T10:59:00.000-07:00

The Charlevoix-Emmet Intermediate School District is calling on the Michigan State Police to revise its name-based background check system, but the police say there are no flaws in it.

"If the state's system would utilize driver's license or Social Security numbers as a primary identifier, we would have significantly more confidence in it than we do," said Richard Diebold, deputy superintendent for Charlevoix-Emmet Intermediate School District.

This mistrust of the system comes after an official with the intermediate school district's AmeriCorps organization, Arthur Kirk, was found to have a lengthy criminal record. When Kirk was first brought into the program, the Charlevoix-Emmet Intermediate School District performed a criminal background check on him using the state police's online system.

The district did not have to do a fingerprint check because Kirk's position was not required to have one under state law. State law requires all certified employees, such as teachers, and administrators to have a fingerprint-based background check in schools.

The check on Kirk did not indicate he had a criminal history. However, Kirk used to use the last name Kirkeby, which was the name he was arrested and jailed under in the 1980s. The state system did not take this name into account, therefore it showed Kirk had a clean record.

Read More

Start your background check program now

School contractors to undergo checks

2005-08-10T23:01:00.000-07:00

Districts scramble to fingerprint, do backgrounds on vendors

By JENNY LEE ALLEN

The state wants to make sure everyone who works in Florida schools, even those who just stop by to make repairs or deliveries, are not dangerous sex criminals.

A new law hustled through the Legislature in May requires contractors who work in schools while students are present to pass criminal background checks.

The requirement is part of the Jessica Lunsford Act, named for the 9-year-old Citrus County girl who was kidnapped, raped and murdered in February.

The law could affect everyone from construction workers to referees to the people who deliver frozen pizzas to school cafeterias. The act also establishes a mandatory sentence of 25 years to life behind bars for people convicted of certain sex crimes against children 11 and younger, with lifetime tracking by the Global Positioning System after they are freed.

The man charged in Lunsford's murder, John Couey, was a convicted sex offender who did construction work at the girl's elementary school. Couey lived near Lunsford; the two did not meet at school.

School districts across Florida have been scrambling to interpret the small part of the 82-page act that affects them starting Sept. 1. There are few guidelines for implementation, so districts face a host of questions.Who undergoes background checks? Who pays? What about vendors who work in multiple districts? And how can schools tell who has been checked out and who hasn't?

read more

Run background checks with Corra Background Screening

Youth Orgs Stepping Up Background Checks

2005-08-09T17:34:00.000-07:00

By Steve Jordahl

With increasing reports of inappropriate activity between adults and children, youth organizations are looking for better ways of checking the background of potential employees and volunteers. Scout master Russ Dewey is already subject to a background check because of his position with the Boy Scouts. The Scouts are considering a system that would monitor his record and notify the organization should he commit a crime in the future. Is he OK with that?
“Absolutely, I think they have to do everything that is within their power and given fiscal constraints that they can do to protect the boys.”

read more

set-up your background check program with Corra's Services

Felon's Hiring raises queries

2005-08-08T15:38:00.000-07:00

School custodian booked with battery

By MARK F. BONNER

Advocate staff writer East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff's deputies arrested a felon working as a custodian at Central High School on Wednesday on simple battery and resisting an officer after a girl who attends the school said the custodian grabbed her buttocks, officials said.
The girl was on campus Wednesday to help register younger students into the school's ROTC program, said Fred Raiford, a spokesman for the Sheriff's Office.
Regular classes do not begin until Aug. 11.

The custodian, Andrea Reed, 39, 533 East St., Denham Springs, was issued a misdemeanor summons for each charge, then released from custody, Raiford said.

Called to the school about 2 p.m. Wednesday, a deputy was told by the high school senior that Reed made inappropriate comments to her and, when she turned to walk away, Reed grabbed her buttocks, a Sheriff's Office news release says.

Read more

Improve your recruite-to-hire program with Corra's backround checks

Interviewer's 'Bare Facts' Technique Sees Him On Probation

2005-08-07T11:43:00.000-07:00

A WOMAN applying for a job at a company in Glasgow went into near shock when the interviewer entered the room naked except for a clipboard. Saeed Akbar requested the woman take off her clothes also and the interview be conducted in the nude. But she refused. Akbar then put his clothes back on and attempted to carry on the job interview as if nothing had happened, but the 25 year-old woman fled.

Akbar told the Sheriff's Court in Glasgow he wanted a bit of excitement and the nudity was a consensual role-playing part of his interviewing technique.

But the 35 yearold man from Fife, who lost his £25,000 manager's job as a result of the incident, was put on probation for three years and added to the sex offender's register.

Make sure your empoyee background checks include a registered sex offender search

State gaming board picks 3 firms to do background checks

2005-08-05T19:50:00.000-07:00

Friday, August 05, 2005

By Tom Barnes, Post-Gazette Harrisburg Bureau

HARRISBURG -- To speed the process of licensing casino operators and slot machine manufacturers, state regulators will hire up to three outside financial consulting firms, including one based in Pittsburgh.

The seven-member Gaming Control Board authorized Chairman Thomas "Tad'' Decker yesterday to contact Corporate Investigations Inc. of Pittsburgh and two firms from northern Virginia.

They could be hired, at least for a few months, to complete financial background investigations of gaming operators, slots makers and suppliers, and non-gaming firms like food vendors, housekeeping and security firms.

The Virginia companies are Manuel, Daniels, Burke International and Omnisec International, a minority-owned firm.

The financial background checks will be under the direction of David Kwait, director of the Bureau of Investigations and Enforcement for the gaming board.

He said the board will eventually hire about 50 accountants and other financial experts to scrutinize audits, Internal Revenue Service reports and Securities and Exchange Commission filings of the casino operators and other gaming-related companies that want to be licensed for business in Pennsylvania.

To wait for a full staff to be hired for the financial background checks could take six months or more, Kwait said, which will delay the process of licensing slots makers and casinos. Hiring the outside companies will speed the licensing process.

The gaming board is hoping by spring to license seven racetrack/casinos, including The Meadows, with licenses being issued later in 2006 to five free-standing casinos and two resort hotel casinos.

In a related matter, the gaming board said yesterday it had received a formal application from the first slots manufacturer that wants to be licensed for business in Pennsylvania -- International Game Technology, a major maker of slot machines.

Applications from other slots manufacturers, as well as from slots suppliers, which will act as middlemen between the manufacturers and casinos, are expected soon.

In other business, the board approved draft regulations for licensing the free-standing and resort hotel casinos. They can be found at www.pgcb.state.pa.us. Comments from the public will be accepted, only in writing, until Sept. 6.

The board also said it will conduct "diversity forums" for minority- and women-owned businesses, to help them learn how to do business with casinos. One will be at Temple University in Philadelphia on Sept. 29 and one at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh on Oct. 27.

Read more

Check out how Corra Group can help you create a background screening policy

Some blame city manager for hiring of sex offender

2005-08-01T23:53:00.000-07:00

BY TRENTON DANIEL

Opa-locka's hiring of a registered sex offender sparked an outcry in recent weeks among local residents and former city officials who blame City Manager Jannie Beverly for failing to conduct background checks on new employees.

The employee, Godfrey Alexander, 46, pleaded guilty in 2000 to sexual activity with a child by a family member, public records show. His adjudication was withheld, erasing the conviction, and he was placed on probation, which ended in April, records show.

Alexander had sexually abused a 15-year-old for almost three years, according to his arrest affidavit. He also is listed for the same offense on a website of registered sex offenders maintained by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Alexander disclosed the information on his city employment application, revealing he was on probation for the felony, according to personnel records reviewed by The Herald.

The city opened an investigation into Alexander's hiring last week and placed him on administrative leave.

Alexander declined comment. ''I've been advised by the city not to make any statements to the media,'' he said.

Beverly has repeatedly declined to answer questions, saying only that the city is investigating the matter.

Ian Sachs, a city spokesman, said background checks are part of the screening process for new hires, but that details related to Alexander's background had not been forwarded to the city manager's office prior to his interview.

''Everybody that is hired from the city of Opa-locka goes through a background check and is asked to disclose any criminal background information before an interview is granted,'' Sachs said. ``In this particular case, obviously, there was a breakdown in the system.''

Alexander's record came to light last week when the head of a local homeowners group and former city commissioner, Steven Barrett, said he found Alexander listed on the FDLE Web site of registered sex offenders. He then distributed the FDLE fliers around town.

''[The city manager] shouldn't hire a sex offender in our city,'' Barrett said.

Alexander started work as Opa-locka's information and technology manager in January, bringing almost 20 years of experience as a self-employed computer technician, his personnel file shows.

Prior to coming to Opa-locka, Alexander worked 18 months as a systems administrator for the Fort Lauderdale-based yacht builder, the Ferretti Group USA, before he was laid off.

On his application, Alexander wrote he learned of the job through Vice Mayor Terence Pinder. ''Terence Pinder brought the man to the city,'' homeowner and activist Alvin Burke said. ``Jannie Beverly is being told to hire these people by the commission, and no background check is being done. You're going to have incidents like this come out of the closet later.''

Pinder denied Burke's accusation, saying he publicly announced the job vacancy at a meeting with the Miami-Dade Transit Authority.

Patricia Ellis, 51, a former city attorney, was so angry with Alexander's hiring she demanded to meet with the city manager at City Hall last Friday, prompting officials to call police. She was immediately arrested for disorderly conduct and trespassing, and was released the same day after posting a $1,000 bond.

''Who else has she hired without a background check?'' Ellis said before police handcuffed her. ``I have every reason to be upset, because I pay taxes. She works for us.''

The revelation about Alexander comes two months after the commission, like so many other South Florida cities, passed an ordinance restricting where sex offenders could reside. Alexander does not live in the city.

Mayor Joseph Kelley, who sponsored the sex offender law, said he was disappointed with city officials for not being aware of Alexander's past.

''To have someone in the city like that, I'm obviously disturbed by it,'' he said.

read more

Order Background searches from Corra

Many area employers use professional screeners to check backgrounds

2005-07-27T21:05:00.000-07:00

Finding the right person for the right job used to be an art. The boss looked you over, eyed your application, maybe called a reference or two, made his decision.
Now, it's a science that has fostered a $1 billion-a-year global industry with many businesses, hospitals and governments "outsourcing" pre-employment background checks to professional screeners.

There are a myriad of reasons why employers use a screening service, but most say it's a cost-effective way to confirm applicants' information and protect themselves from being victimized by workplace crime.

Several incidents illustrate why many local employers use screeners: A Charlotte County Sheriff's deputy has been charged with allegedly shooting her husband to death; a Punta Gorda nightclub manager has been accused of using a stolen credit card to finance a binge; a school district bus driver was captured on video fighting with students; a former Charlotte County Airport custodian will stand trial for allegedly molesting girls -- while on the job.

"Just simply checking identity has been eye-opening," Charlotte Regional Medical Center Human Resources Director Jean Juchnowicz said. "Someone presenting herself to be Mary Jones may not be Mary Jones."

Read more

Check out Corra Group's background checks

Employers now have the option of collecting employment verification electronically

2005-07-26T08:03:00.000-07:00

The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently published guidelines for employers that wish to use electronic employment-eligibility verification forms (form I-9). All employers in the US, including those who recruit or refer people for employment, are required to verify the identity of every employee and that they are eligible under the immigration laws to work in the US. The law also requires that such I-9 forms are retained for up to three years.

Now such verifications can be performed with an electronic signature, and employers also have the option of storing the forms in paper form, on microfilm or microfiche or through electronic means. The new electronic options can save employers money and space (previously used to store records) and have also been shown to increase accuracy. Although there is no government-wide standard for electronic signatures or record keeping, some agencies, such as the IRS, have established electronic standards that may be used as guidance by employers wishing to implement their own policy.

The most important thing for employers to remember is to draft a policy that maintains the integrity, accuracy and reliability of the electronic forms and signatures. The ICE Web site explains that an electronic signature may be "captured" by such methods as an electronic signature pad, a personal identification number (PIN) or a "click to accept" dialog box on the computer. Electronic storage programs should include regular evaluations of the systems. An experienced labor and employment attorney can help your company develop a policy for collecting and storing electronic employment verifications.

-- Marty Marta, Labor and Employment attorney, Seyfarth Shaw LLP, with assistance from Melanie H. Berkowitz, Esq., Seyfarth Shaw LLP.

Read More

phony diploma mills

2005-07-25T10:03:00.000-07:00

phony diplomas easily bought

USA - There's one thing wrong with the diploma from Cal State Fullerton, accompanied by transcripts showing its owner got straight A's:It's a lie.

The records, which look impressive and show the owner earned a master's degree in engineering, were bought by The Orange County Register last month for $295 off the Internet, to show how easily they can be obtained.

The selling company, which hides behind an anonymous offshore Web address, is one of a growing number of Internet sites where people can buy phony credentials from real schools, including Harvard University, the University of Southern California and some in Orange County. You can even hire a service that claims it will verify a fake degree.

"It's a national phenomenon," said Christine Helwick, general counsel for the California State University system. "Whenever we found someone out there purporting to offer our degrees, we demand they cease and desist."

Experts in the field say resumé fraud is on the rise, along with other ethical breaches in the workplace. As college degrees become mandatory for more jobs, more people go shopping for phony ones.

"I have run into scenarios where companies hired chief engineers that have problems with design issues, where they find out they don't have a diploma," said Philip Barquer, president of HR Alternatives in Newport Beach.

For decades, people have been able to buy fake diplomas from ads in the back of magazines. But the Internet has made the process easier, both for companies that print the fakes to hide their identities, and for buyers to find and order them.

Universities worried about their reputations have hired lawyers to halt the practice. Employers are hiring private-investigation firms to do background checks.

(read more)

Let Corra Group verify your job applicant's education