您需要多少信息才能进行有效的犯罪背景调查？从雇主到寻求更多了解邻居的个人，每个人都会问这个问题。最简单的答案是，您掌握的有关某个人的信息越多，找到有关其背景的准确信息的可能性就越大。

至少，您需要一个人的名字和姓氏来进行背景调查。即使您只是打算进行非正式的网络搜索或社交媒体检查，除非您有名字和姓氏，否则您不会取得任何进展。仅使用此信息的检查的问题在于大多数名称组合相对常见。如果您正在寻找“Brian Murphy”，那么您要审查的人远不是世界上唯一的 Brian Murphy。其他信息将减少您在背景调查或 Google 搜索中的不相关结果页面中获得误报的机会。

在 gooho.cn上，当我们对雇主进行背景调查时，我们会要求他们向我们提供有关他们正在审查的申请人的某些信息。例如，如果您想通过我们的美国 OneSEARCH 服务了解有关求职者的更多信息 ，我们会要求您填写此人的名字、中间名、姓氏、后缀（如果适用）、出生日期和年份、社会保障号码、电子邮件地址以及候选人被聘用后将在哪个州工作。

这些额外的详细信息帮助我们缩小搜索范围，以确保我们为合适的人找到犯罪记录。例如，如果您的候选人是 32 岁的布赖恩·威廉·墨菲三世（Brian William Murphy III），如果被聘用，他将在阿肯色州工作，那么 54 岁的布赖恩·麦卡德尔·墨菲（Brian McCardle Murphy）在纽约因持有毒品而被定罪的可能性很小与您的筛选过程相关。

社会安全号码对于准备准确的背景调查报告非常有帮助。虽然犯罪记录是由名称，而不是社会安全号码，姓名历史和地址申请的历史 被 绑定到SSN。重罪犯只需采用别名或搬到新的城市或州，就可以通过基于姓名的犯罪背景调查，依靠仅进行县犯罪调查的雇主。SSN 检查提供 与个人相关联的姓名和地址列表，这可以使雇主对其背景调查进行更彻底和更准确的检查。

归根结底，如果您至少不知道某人的全名，就没有理由进行犯罪背景调查。在就业环境中，您会要求提供该信息 并 获得同意，以便在继续之前进行背景调查。在更个人化的情况下——比如当你对邻居或同事进行背景调查以了解他们的更多信息时——法律义务的定义有点少。 这篇博文 提供了有关如何导航这些类型检查的更多信息。

At minimum, you need a person’s first name and last name to run a background check. Even if you are just planning to do an informal web search or social media check, you won’t make any progress unless you have a first and last name. The problem with checks that use only this information is that most name combinations are relatively common. If you are searching for a “Brian Murphy,” the one person you are trying to vet is far from the only Brian Murphy in the world. Additional information will reduce your chances of getting false positives on a background check or pages of irrelevant results from a Google search.

At backgroundchecks.com, when we run background checks for employers, we ask that they provide us with certain information about the applicants that they are vetting. For instance, if you seek to learn more about a job candidate using our US OneSEARCH service, we will ask you to complete the individual’s first name, middle name, last name, suffix (if applicable), date and year of birth, Social Security Number, and email address as well as the state in which the candidate will work if he or she is hired.

These extra details help us to narrow down our search to make sure that we are finding criminal records for the right person. For instance, if your candidate is 32-year-old Brian William Murphy III, who will be working in Arkansas if hired, it is highly unlikely that a New York conviction for drug possession attributed to a 54-year-old Brian McCardle Murphy is relevant to your screening process.

Social Security Numbers are extremely helpful in preparing accurate background check reports. While criminal records are filed by name and not Social Security Number, name history and address history are tied to an SSN. A felon can beat a name-based criminal background check just by adopting an alias or moving to a new city or state, banking on an employer only running county criminal checks. SSN checks provide a list of names and addresses associated with a person, which can enable employers to be more thorough and more accurate with their background checks.

Ultimately, there is little reason to run a criminal background check if you don’t at least know a person’s full name. In an employment environment, you would ask for that information and obtain consent to run a background check before proceeding. In more personal situations—such as when you’re running a background check on a neighbor or coworker to learn more about them—the legal obligations are a little less defined. This blog post provides a bit more information about how to navigate these types of checks.