What to Do If a Background Check Shows a Criminal Record That Belongs to Someone Else

Dispute it immediately with the background check company, in writing, and tell the employer at the same time. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), a screening company must follow reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy, and attaching a stranger’s criminal record to your name is one of the clearest violations there is. You also have a specific window to act: before an employer can finalize a rejection based on the report, it must send you a pre-adverse action notice with a copy of the report, and that is your chance to correct the record before the job is gone.

Move fast, because that window is short and the job usually will not wait.

Why Do Background Checks Show Other People’s Criminal Records?

Because of how the data is assembled. Screening companies buy bulk records from courts, state repositories, and private aggregators, then match those records to applicants using name and date of birth, sometimes with a partial Social Security number or an old address. When identifiers are thin, the match is a guess.

The result is a mixed file, and it happens most often when:

• You have a common name
• You share a name with a relative, especially a junior or senior
• You share a name and birth year with someone else in the same region
• Your name has multiple accepted spellings or transliterations
• Someone used your identity when they were arrested, which is criminal identity theft

Courts have made clear that a screening company cannot simply assume a court record is correct and stop there. Correctly copying a real record still violates the FCRA if it is attached to the wrong person.

What Are Your Rights Before an Employer Rejects You?

This is the part that gives you leverage, and most applicants do not know it exists.

Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681b, before an employer takes adverse action based on a background check, it must give you:

• A pre-adverse action notice, including a copy of the report and a summary of your FCRA rights, before the decision becomes final
• A reasonable opportunity to respond and dispute what is in it
• A separate adverse action notice after the decision, identifying the screening company and telling you that the company did not make the decision

The pre-adverse action notice exists precisely so errors can be caught before you lose the job. If you receive one, do not treat it as a rejection letter. Treat it as a deadline.

Separately, if a screening company reports public record criminal information for employment purposes that is likely to hurt your chances, 15 U.S.C. § 1681k requires it either to notify you at the time it reports the information, or to maintain strict procedures to ensure the information is complete and up to date.

What Criminal Records Can Legally Appear at All?

Worth checking, because sometimes the record is yours but should not be there:

• Convictions can generally be reported indefinitely under federal law. The FCRA’s seven-year limit specifically excludes conviction records.
• Arrests, charges, civil suits, and judgments generally cannot be reported after seven years from the date of entry, or until the governing statute of limitations expires if that is longer.
• The seven-year limits do not apply when the job pays an annual salary of $75,000 or more.
• Expunged or sealed records should not be reported. Courts order expungement, but private databases do not always update, and the CFPB has issued guidance that screening companies should not be reporting expunged or sealed records. If a Mississippi expungement was granted and the record is still being sold, that is an accuracy problem worth pursuing.
• State law can be stricter than federal law in some states.

What Should You Do Right Now?

1. Get the full report. If you received a pre-adverse action notice, a copy came with it. If not, request your file directly from the screening company, which must provide it.
2. Identify exactly what is wrong. Note the case number, county, court, name, and date of birth attached to the record, and compare each against your own.
3. Gather proof of who you are. Your driver’s license, Social Security card, proof of address history, and where possible a court disposition or a certified record showing the case belongs to someone else.
4. Dispute in writing with the screening company, stating plainly that the record is not yours and attaching your documentation. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681i, it generally must reinvestigate within 30 days and delete what it cannot verify.
5. Tell the employer in writing at the same time. Say the report contains a record belonging to a different person, that you have disputed it, and ask them to hold the decision. Many employers will wait if you respond quickly.
6. Go to the source if you can. A certified letter from the court clerk stating the case does not match your identifiers is powerful evidence.
7. Keep everything, including the notices, your dispute, the responses, and dates.

If the record came from someone using your identity during an arrest, report it at IdentityTheft.gov and ask local law enforcement about the process for correcting a misused identity in criminal records.

What If You Already Lost the Job?

You may have a claim, and losing the job actually strengthens it, because FCRA damages generally require a real consequence rather than just an error on paper.

A screening company that failed to use reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy under 15 U.S.C. § 1681e(b), or that refused to correct a wrong-person record after you disputed it, can be liable. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681n, a willful violation allows actual damages or statutory damages of $100 to $1,000, plus possible punitive damages. Section 1681o covers negligent violations and actual damages. Recoverable losses can include lost wages, the cost of a job you had to take instead, and emotional distress tied to the denial.

An employer that skipped the pre-adverse action notice may also have violated the law. Both routes allow recovery of attorney’s fees from the company that broke the law, so these cases are typically handled at no upfront cost.

There is a deadline. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681p, an FCRA claim generally must be filed within two years of discovering the violation, and no more than five years after it occurred. Our Mississippi background check lawyer handle background check errors, including wrong-person records and expunged cases that keep resurfacing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I sue a background check company for a record that is not mine?

Yes, potentially. Reporting another person’s criminal record can violate the FCRA’s requirement of reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy, especially if the company refused to fix it after you disputed.

How long does a dispute take?

Generally up to 30 days for the reinvestigation. Because that can be longer than an employer will wait, dispute with the screening company and notify the employer on the same day.

Can an employer reject me before I get to respond?

The employer must send a pre-adverse action notice with a copy of the report before finalizing the decision, giving you a chance to dispute. Skipping that step can itself be a violation.

Why does my expunged Mississippi case still show up?

Court expungement does not automatically update private databases that screening companies buy from. A record that has been expunged and is still being reported is an accuracy problem you can dispute and pursue.

How far back can a criminal record be reported?

Convictions can generally be reported indefinitely under federal law. Arrests and non-conviction records generally stop at seven years, and those limits do not apply to jobs paying $75,000 or more.

Correct the Record Before the Offer Disappears

A wrong-person criminal record is one of the most damaging errors a consumer report can contain, and it is also one of the most fixable if you catch it during the pre-adverse action window. Get the report, document who you actually are, dispute in writing, and tell the employer the same day.

If a screening company will not remove a record that belongs to someone else, or the error already cost you a job, contact Ware Law Firm to review the report and your rights under the FCRA.