ACFE-Heartland Chapter
Luncheon
Meeting
"Anatomy of a Background Investigation"
Tuesday, March
8th, 2005
Park Inn
Regency Lodge
Our speaker this month was our chapter training director,
Mr. Lynn Ford. He gave a general
overview of how to go about conducting a background investigation. He stated that there is no silver bullet
when it comes to background investigations.
Comprehensive background investigations, when done properly, can be very
time consuming.
The background investigator must utilize every tool at
their disposal to conduct a thorough investigation. This includes extensive utilization of various databases, public
records, telephone calls, and interviews.
Too much information is preferable to not enough information. Bankruptcy records are a particularly
valuable resource. Old neighbors can
often be very valuable sources of information.
Mr. Ford stated that in some respects, information was
easier to come by 25 years ago than it is today. The information age is both
good and bad, depending on how it is used.
9/11 has also had a significant impact in creating greater concern for
the protection of personal and business information. Mr. Ford stated that many individuals and entities, when
contacted for information on an individual, will reflexively state that
"privacy laws" forbid them to release particular information when that is often
not the case. This underscores the fact
that the single most important tool available to an investigator is personal
contacts for informal communication.
Mr. Ford advised that it is also important to carefully
review in detail all information obtained, and to use caution in interpreting
data. The use of spreadsheets and link
analysis is very helpful in culling through what can sometimes be an extremely
large volume of information.
