Background checks

No Trace Project > Threat Library > Mitigations > Background checks

Background checks are used to verify that a person is who they claim to be. They can help ensure that someone in your network isn't an infiltrator, informant, or otherwise lying about their identity for malicious reasons.

Performing a background check on someone may involve:

• Contacting or meeting their friends or family to ask questions about them.
• Visiting their home or place of employment.
• Reviewing their identity or administrative documents (employment or rental history, criminal record, etc.)

We recommend two different approaches to background checks:

• The consensual, mutual approach: If you already trust someone to some degree but would like to trust them more, you can do a mutual background check, where each of you checks the other.
• The non-consensual approach: If you already have strong suspicions that someone is lying about their identity, you can do a background check on them without their consent to confirm your suspicions.

See also:

• Confidence, Courage, Connection, Trust on the use of ID checks to verify that someone is who they say they are.
• Handbook for Exposing an Undercover Cop on a method for identifying, investigating and exposing undercover cops, including through using background checks.

Techniques addressed by this mitigation