A San Diego woman has shared how she had a startling surprise when a routine background check by her employer revealed three felony counts on her record.
Samantha shared the story on her TikTok page @notsamanthafox, where it has been viewed more than 520,000 times.
"So I have three felony counts on my background check. That's great. That's great for me, right?" she said sarcastically in the video.
Her employer was doing a routine background check as the company was merging with another.
To her shock, the check came back revealing charges on her record, including burglary, identity theft and possession of a controlled substance, all dating from 2014.
"I was slightly shocked but more so embarrassed that my future employer found this information before I did and was asking me about it," Samantha told Newsweek. She mentioned that her previous employer never flagged these charges during their previous background checks.
The charges didn't belong to Samantha at all, and she suspects some sort of mix up has left her with charges on her record. "I have no real idea how it happened, but I am assuming there is someone with my exact same name and birthdate in my home city. I do not want to believe that someone purposely stole my identity," she explained.
Detective Meghan Aguilar at the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) told Newsweek: "It is possible for criminal records to appear on the wrong person's record. It is very unusual, though, because whoever is using the false identity at the time of the arrest needs to have several identifying facts, such as the correct birth date, place of birth, driver's license number, and social security number."
The LAPD could not confirm that the case on Samantha's record was an LAPD case, and clarified that it is very unusual for this to happen.
"This is not a common problem, and people shouldn't be overly concerned about this happening to them; that being said, people should be cautious about sharing personal information with people who have no need for it," added Aguilar.
Zinc is a company that provides global background and reference-checking software for companies. While they didn't perform Samantha's background check, Zinc content lead Jordie Black told Newsweek: "It is possible for individuals to be mistakenly flagged as having felony charges on their record, even if they haven't committed any crimes. This 'false positive' can occur when two people share the same name or other identifying details, leading to incorrect matches."
A commenter on her TikTok suggested she look up the arrest records to see if there is a mugshot, something she said she hasn't done yet.
Though the thorough background check by her employer even included an FBI fingerprint check, thankfully the company who did the background check were able to clarify that the charges did not relate to Samantha. "Luckily for me, they were able to clear me because otherwise, I think I would be unemployed right about now," she said.
"A good background check system should alert users to potential matches where information might be ambiguous or incorrect," said Black. "The HR team or organization must then carry out thorough due diligence, verifying details directly with the individual and cross-referencing with other sources to ensure accuracy."
In her video, Samantha said that she wanted her story to serve as a warning to others to check their own records for inaccuracies.
"This is a warning to you guys. If you're going to go apply for a job, especially at a freaking financial firm, know what's on your freaking background check," she said in the video. "Don't be a dumb*** like me and be walking around with three counts of felony charges."
The viral video sparked debate in the comments about background checks, and their potential pitfalls, with others inspired to check their own records for issues.
"I was inspired to share on TikTok simply because I am always sharing daily tidbits of my days with my small following—it didn't seem out of the ordinary to share this insane story. I didn't think it'd gain as much traction as it did," Samantha said.
"While these incidents can cause concern, people should not lose trust in background checking. They are essential for ensuring workplace safety and integrity," Black said. "In this unfortunate case, the candidate didn't have the felony attributed to them, but someone out there does. It's crucial for organizations to have thorough verification processes to minimize errors and resolve any potential issues accurately and fairly."
Update 05/27/24, 02:45 a.m.: This story was updated with additional comment from the LAPD.
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