The Difference in Background Checks, Identity Verification & Reputation

Background Checks and Identity Verification on members of dating sites have been getting a lot of attention in the media over the last year or so. This attention came to the forefront due mainly to New Jersey passing legislation called the Internet Dating Safety Act, which requires dating sites to notify visitors who live in New Jersey if they conduct criminal background checks or not on members.

Criminal Background Checks and Identity Verification both require the user to submit additional information so a search can be done. One of the many problems with most Criminal Background Checks is they don't verify the identity of the member they are dealing with. I am sure most criminals, especially when the dating site promotes the fact that they do criminal background checks, do not give out their real information. They will either give fake information or just find a name and address on the internet and pass that off for their own. Scanning criminal databases for a fake user will just return zero results, which to them means the member passed the check. The other problem with criminal background checks is (at least in the United States and Canada), there are hundreds of law enforcement databases out there and most are not communicating with each other. So, if the crime is not Federal then the chances it will be found remains small by most Background Check services.

Identity Verification relies on public record databases to do the job. Usually users are required to give their name, address and birthday. From there the verification service will search government databases for your information. When found, the service will ask you additional information on file to ensure the identity is yours. These additional questions are not always the same for every person. Questions can include, if you are married, your occupation and where you work, to the name of a relative. If this is all completed successfully then the user will have a verified status. The problem of Identity Verification services is websites like Intelius (US only) offer the same information to the general public from the same government databases for as low as a couple of bucks. A scammer could just perform one of these searches before he has to do an Identity Verification on a website.

The third type of related product is a Trust or Reputation service like the one from Iovation called ReputationManager. Here it is not necessarily the user who is trusted but the computer or electronic device they use. A unique ID is generated for each device (how this ID is generated is kept secret), and from their they can track if any previous fraudulent or suspicious activities have happen before on the computer. This can range from knowing if a previous transaction made from the computer was successful, too spamming activities like someone creating multiple accounts on a website within a certain time period.

All of these services have their problems and workaround but the best solution for a dating site would be using a combination of all these services to stop scammers. When you combine a Identity Check, with a Criminal Background Check, with a Reputation Service you can ensure maximum protection for your members. A website that offers a paid service or products can offer even further protection since they will have the additional knowledge of knowing if your bank or credit card information was verified by a financial institution.