- Questions and Answers
What should I do if First Advantage is reporting someone else’s criminal record under my name?
- Questions and Answers
What should I do if First Advantage is reporting someone else’s criminal record under my name?
What should I do if First Advantage is reporting someone else’s criminal record under my name?
I applied for a job and everything looked fine, then the background check came back and I’m told there’s a “criminal record” under my name. I pulled the report and it’s clearly not me. Wrong middle name, wrong county, wrong age, but it’s sitting there like it belongs to me anyway. The screening company is First Advantage, and now I’m watching a real opportunity slip away because their system matched me to someone else’s case.
If First Advantage matched someone else’s criminal record to you, that’s a serious FCRA accuracy issue, and you have the right to dispute it and demand a real reinvestigation. This is called a mixed file, and it’s a serious violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). First Advantage must only report information that actually belongs to you. If they attached another person’s criminal record to your report, this is what you should do:
- Save the report and any emails/notices from the employer.
- Send us the report pages showing the record, plus any proof it’s not you (DOB, address history, court disposition, ID).
- We’ll escalate the dispute, demand the source record and matching basis, and push for a corrected report to be sent to the employer fast.
Mixed files often happen when screening companies match records using only a name and birthdate. If the offer is delayed, rescinded, or you’ve already been denied because of this, you may also have a claim for damages under the FCRA.
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ONGS™You pay nothing. The law makes them pay.
