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Background Checks and Dating Sites

As a background screening service, we are occasionally approached by dating sites, asking if we will offer to their members criminal records background checks.   The idea is, of course, that those looking for romance will feel more secure in their choices, having conducting at least a cursory background check on the romantic interest.

What I have seen for dating services that the concept of background checks for their members poses a bit of a contradiction.  On one hand you are promising that through your dating site you can meet the lover of your dreams.  You can find a spouse, a significant other.  In some cases, dating site allude to scientific methods in the way they hook you up.  Matching of similar interests and all that.

But not everything goes as promised or planned.  In fact, sometimes things go very much awry.  On the lighter side of a bad experience, date night did not turn out as expected.  On the darker site, the bad match up can lead to anything from thievery, chicanery, or violent abuse.

Given that a woman is suing one of the dating sites for failing to inform her that her recent match up was a sexual offender, maybe give new perspective on dating services and the need for background services.  I don’t know, really, and if the shadowy suitor lays out a story good enough, his or her romantic interest may overlook past transgression in quest of the perfect soul mate.

According to the article on CNET, the man followed the woman home after a date and assaulted her.  How this will play out in court will be interesting to see as it may well set new standards for not only online dating services but matchmaking services in general.

By Gordon Basichis

Gordon Basichis is the Co-Founder of Corra Group, specializing in pre-employment background checks and corporate research. He has been a marketing and media executive and has worked in the entertainment industry, the financial, health care and technology sectors. He is the author of the best selling Beautiful Bad Girl, The Vicki Morgan Story, a non-fiction novel that helped define exotic sexuality in the late twentieth century. He is the author of the Constant Travellers and has recently completed a new book, The Guys Who Spied for China, dealing with Chinese Espionage in the United States. He has been a journalist for several newspapers and is a screenwriter and producer.

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