Premarital and Infidelity Investigations
It's no longer only the wealthy who are concerned with the background of future mates. Premarital investigations have become popular in recent years as con artists increasingly prey on those with comfortable resources and generous or lonely hearts. Many an unscrupulous man or woman has latched onto someone with a steady income, good credit, and a need for companionship — then cleaned out their victim en route to the next mark.
It's easy for someone to hide her true history and identity today. Our mobile society, where even neighbors are strangers, lends the con artist anonymity. Anonymity can lead to ease of deception. If the client has any doubt, the person she suspects should be checked out.
A simple background check will usually reveal the proverbial skeletons in the closets of these leeches. Some of the better database services check newspaper articles during specified periods of time, turning up information on those who've been suspected of crimes but never charged or imprisoned. Bad press about someone doesn't prove anything, but it's a clue that may lead you to new information. When doing background checks, don't neglect searching arrest records as well as convictions; although not proof of wrongdoing, arrests for crimes certainly suggests that things may not be as they seem and that further investigation is warranted.
Many women suspect that the man they're dating may be married or may not actually be the person he represents himself to be, especially if he lives at a distance or travels. This has traditionally been a woman's concern, but the number of men checking out their girlfriends or fiancés has increased in recent years. See Chapter 16 for background check resources.
While there may be many reasons to commission a background check on someone close to you, this list details the most often reported reasons:
Provides little information about himself
Is not available on most weekends and holidays
Provides only a cell phone number, usually doesn't answer, and returns calls much later
Receives a number of phone calls that he prefers to keep private
Won't frequent certain sections of town or specific businesses or restaurants with her
Runs into people to whom he “forgets” to introduce her
Never asks her to his home or lives in a bare apartment even though he possesses a good job
If several of these reasons are present, a background check may be in order. It's alarming how many times a check will reveal either a home and a wife or husband of which the client is totally unaware, or the harsh reality that the client's loved one has left his genuine, often tarnished, identity behind and presented a false one to her. See Appendix A for information on the paper trail and its significance in determining someone's background and identity.
