PI Background Investigation Techniques 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: When accessing court records for a background investigation, which type of case requires the most caution due to potential expungement or sealing statutes?
- Civil lawsuit records
- Juvenile criminal records (Correct answer)
- Bankruptcy filings
- Probate records
Correct answer: Juvenile criminal records
Juvenile criminal records are frequently sealed or expunged by law to protect minors, and accessing or reporting them may violate state statutes even if they appear in a database.
Question 2: The Driver's Privacy Protection Act (DPPA) primarily affects private investigators by doing which of the following?
- Requiring PIs to obtain a commercial driver's license to conduct mobile surveillance
- Mandating registration of PI vehicles with the DMV in each state
- Prohibiting PIs from following subjects in motor vehicles on public roads
- Restricting access to DMV records to specific permissible purposes (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Restricting access to DMV records to specific permissible purposes
The DPPA limits access to motor vehicle records held by state DMVs, requiring that requestors have a permissible purpose such as use in connection with a civil or criminal proceeding.
Question 3: A Social Security Number (SSN) trace is particularly valuable in background investigations primarily because it helps investigators do which of the following?
- Reveal a person's complete credit and financial history
- Flag criminal records linked to that number in law enforcement databases
- Establish a subject's address history and verify identity across multiple records (Correct answer)
- Provide direct access to IRS and Social Security Administration databases
Correct answer: Establish a subject's address history and verify identity across multiple records
An SSN trace links the number to associated names and addresses found in credit header data, making it one of the most effective tools for building a subject's address history and confirming identity.
Question 4: When a client intends to take adverse action against an employee based on a consumer report obtained through a PI, which step is legally required by the FCRA before that action can be taken?
- The subject must be notified of a pending arrest before adverse action can proceed
- The PI must personally notify law enforcement about the findings in the report
- The consumer report must be permanently destroyed immediately after the employment decision
- The employer must provide the subject a copy of the report and a summary of their FCRA rights before taking action (Correct answer)
Correct answer: The employer must provide the subject a copy of the report and a summary of their FCRA rights before taking action
The FCRA mandates a pre-adverse action process requiring the employer to provide the consumer with a copy of the report and a written summary of their rights before finalizing any adverse decision.
Question 5: Which of the following best describes the 'permissible purpose' requirement under the Fair Credit Reporting Act as it applies to private investigators?
- PIs may access consumer reports for any reason as long as they pay the required subscription fee
- Consumer reports may only be obtained for legally specified purposes such as employment screening with written consent (Correct answer)
- The FCRA only applies to credit bureaus directly and does not regulate private investigators
- Consumer reports are freely accessible to investigators under the Freedom of Information Act
Correct answer: Consumer reports may only be obtained for legally specified purposes such as employment screening with written consent
The FCRA strictly limits who may obtain consumer reports and for what purposes; unauthorized access or use outside permissible purposes exposes the PI and client to civil and criminal liability.
Question 6: When tasked with verifying a subject's educational credentials, a private investigator should primarily do which of the following?
- Accept certified copies of diplomas provided by the subject as conclusive proof
- Search commercial education verification databases as the sole method
- Contact the institution's registrar office directly to confirm enrollment and degree conferral (Correct answer)
- Request verification from the state department of education for all institutions attended
Correct answer: Contact the institution's registrar office directly to confirm enrollment and degree conferral
Contacting the registrar directly is the most authoritative method since registrars are the official custodians of enrollment and degree records at educational institutions.
Question 7: What does the term 'adverse media screening' refer to in background investigation practice?
- Preventing negative news coverage of a client's business from appearing in search results
- Verifying that a subject has not been positively mentioned in competitor news stories
- Checking government sanctions lists and regulatory watchdog databases exclusively
- Searching publicly available news and media sources for negative information about a subject (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Searching publicly available news and media sources for negative information about a subject
Adverse media screening involves systematically searching news archives, press releases, and public media for negative coverage of a subject, including fraud allegations, regulatory actions, or criminal involvement.
PI Background Investigation Techniques 2
When accessing court records for a background investigation, which type of case requires the most caution due to potential expungement or sealing statutes?