California woman reveals how routine background check led to a shocking discovery

A California woman told how a routine background check led to a shocking discovery on her criminal record.

TikTok user Samantha posted a video warning others about the alarming information she learned when her employer screened her before joining a new company.

To her surprise, the San Diego woman learned that the inspector had determined that three charges had been filed against her.

‘This is a warning to you. If you’re going to apply for a job, especially at a damn financial company, know what’s on your damn background check,” Samantha said in the video.

“Don’t be as advertising-minded as I am and walk around with three misdemeanor charges.”

“So I have three felonies on my background check. That is amazing. That’s great for me, right,” she said.

Samantha said the data check was conducted because her company was going through a merger, which meant she was keeping her job but working for a new employer.

The results showed that a woman with the same name and date of birth had filed charges of burglary, identity theft and aggravated possession of a controlled substance dating back to 2014.

“I don’t know how I got hired for the job I’m working at now, a financial firm, and no one noticed,” Samantha said.

“Luckily the company I’m merging with does a super thorough check, they even like a full FBI fingerprint check.”

The results showed that a woman with the same name and date of birth had filed charges of burglary, identity theft and aggravated possession of a controlled substance

“They were able to clear me based on my fingerprints, knowing that my fingerprints are not in the system, but for some reason someone used my name and my date of birth and committed a number of crimes in 2014,” she said.

Jordie Black, content lead for Zinc – a global background check company that did not specifically run Samantha’s – said Newsweek It is possible for people to be misidentified.

“It is possible for individuals to be misidentified as having a misdemeanor charge even if they have not committed any crime,” Black said.

‘This ‘false positive’ can occur when two people share the same name or other identifying details, leading to incorrect matches.

‘A good background check should alert users to possible matches where information may be ambiguous or incorrect. The HR team or organization should then conduct thorough due diligence, verifying details directly with the individual and cross-referencing with other sources to ensure accuracy,” Black said.

Commenters commiserated with Samantha and shared their similar experiences when they discovered surprising information about their background check.

‘I had a similar problem. What saved me if the recorded height was 6 feet and I’m only 6 feet. I was finally able to clean it all up,” wrote a user named Aileen.

User Jenette said: ‘Had a similar situation. I was engaged and we were buying a house and discovered that a relative used my identity to get a car. It was a terrible experience.’

Another commenter named Brianna said, “I have two accidents under my belt for a long time – at a time and in places I’ve never been.”