Fact Sheet: Federal Watch Lists
Fact Sheet: Federal Watch Lists
FACT SHEETDepartment of Homeland Security Inspector General Agrees
The U.S. government has long developed and maintained various watch listsas part of national security and law enforcement efforts. However, in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the scope and relevance of these lists has increased exponentially and with it, serious implications for law-abiding citizens.
MULTIPLE LISTS, THOUSANDS OF NAMES BUT NO COORDINATION OR UNIFORMITY
The Washington Post reported on October 9, 2004 that the federal governments no-fly list had 16 names on it on Sept. 11, 2001. Today, it has more than 20,000. The numbers alone cause concern. But the way the lists are maintained and used presents grave challenges to civil liberties of all Americans.
According to a recently issued General Accounting Office report, the government maintains more than a dozen watch lists, including:
How Does A Person Get Put On A Watch List
The inner workings of a watchlist nomination are of course unknown the government has been extremely secretive about the names on the various watch lists. However, there are a few well-known ways to get your name put on the federal governments watchlist.
A report may also include the names of government watchlists that a person is listed on. TruthFinder background checks pull from federal and international databases to see if someone is listed. Can TruthFinder Show Every Government Watchlist?
The FBI Terrorist Screening Center maintains the U.S. governments watch list. Just like Santa Claus, the U.S. government has its own version of the naughty list.. But this one doesnt record boys and girls who fibbed or acted mean to schoolmates on the playground.
The inner workings of a watchlist nomination are of course unknown the government has been extremely secretive about the names on the various watch lists. However, there are a few well-known ways to get your name put on the federal governments watchlist.
Stay As Far Away From This Website As
Stay as far away from this website as you can! Too bad there are not negative numbers for the review. I just read the reply from truthfinder.com to my review. I had trouble reading the reply because their solicitation is STILL installed on my computer to where I cannot see or use that part of my screen. The only part of my complaint that they addressed was the fact that they lie about their service being free. I really don’t care about that now I only want them OFF MY COMPUTER!! They have been actively and maliciously harassing me and making my computer partly unusable for over a month now. How are they allowed to install this garbage on someone’s computer without their permission? I know that they are illegally accessing my personal information. Why else would they install this on my computer? Do yourself a favor and NEVER go to this website!!!!!! I have also filed a complaint with the FBI cybercrime division. I pray someone can help me get rid of this parasite.
Reply from TruthFinder
Hello Jama, This sounds like you may have your push notifications turned on. Please turn those off and let us know if the problems persists. Thank you
Their AUTOMATIC charges normally result in the customer having to pay more than initially realized. They don’t offer a ONE TIME charge!!! Very opportunistic, and sad.
Reply from TruthFinder
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I Reached Out To Ask To Have My
I reached out to ask to have my personal info removed from the site and its been over a month and they haven’t responded. If you are concerned for your privacy or have a safety concern this company doesn’t take you seriously nor does it respond to your emails asking for help in removing data on you. I think its a horrible way for a company to act and I will be reaching out to BBB to resolve this and finally get my info removed. This is poor practices for a company to do this and disregard peoples requests and it needs to be addressed.
Reply from TruthFinder
Hello,We are sorry to see that this happened. If this issue has not been resolved, please call our dedicated Customer Care Team at 699 – 8081 and we will get it figured out.Thank you,
Asks for too much info including email address. Possibly to spam you to pester for payment.
Reply from TruthFinder
I Recently Subscribed To Truthfindercom Let Me Tell You Not Impressive
Reply from TruthFinder
My name is Nicole, and I manage the member care team at TruthFinder. I wanted to personally reach out to you regarding your recent experience with our site. Im sorry to hear that the records you retrieved were inaccurate. Our reports are usually quite thorough, but occasionally state and local laws prevent us from getting as much information as wed like to provide to our members. Additionally, upon further research into your account, I can confirm that your account has been refunded in full and no further charges will be incurred.Is there anything I can do to improve your experience with TruthFinder? If so please let me know, as providing exceptional customer service is our #1 priority. Sincerely,
Capital A holes. They snuck in a membership when I made my order. Ive been charged the fee several months before I discovered it again. Ill never use them again.
Reply from TruthFinder
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Is Truthfinder A Scam
No, TruthFinder is not a scam. As long as you seeTruthFinder.comin your URL, you can trust that youre using a 128-bit encrypted connection that securely protects your personal information.
While there are other online background checking services, we pride ourselves in our ability to deliverbackground reportswith the most recent, publicly available information about almost anyone in the United States.
Can Someone Run A Background Check Without My Permission
Technically, if you have someones full name, you could run a background check on them without their knowledge. However, that doesnt mean you should. Ethicallyand often legallyyou should always obtain permission before screening anyone. So the short answer is no, you cant run a background check without permission.
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How To Get On A Government Watchlist
The inner workings of a watchlist nomination are of course unknown the government has been extremely secretive about the names on the various watch lists. However, there are a few well-known ways to get your name put on the federal governments watchlist. It basically just takes any action that a machine-learning algorithm calculates is outside the norm.
Heres how you can get your name on a government watchlist:
What Trustpilot Has To Say About Truthfinder
TruthFinder customers posted reviews of the companys background check service on TrustPilot. According to TrustPilot, over 800 people posted comments about the TruthFinder service, and they gave the service an average rating of 4.2 stars out of 5 stars for its usability and accuracy.
Satisfied customers said that TruthFinders reports were very accurate. One woman mentioned that she only found inaccuracies that were related to people frequently moving. Shes been a regular user of the service for three years, and she documented that the service experiences a two-month lag in updates. If a person moves, his or her new address will show up in a TruthFinders public records search in approximately 60 days.
To some reviewers, TruthFinder offers a value-added service that saves them time and money. Many have been reunited with relatives and friends. One man was in the U.S. Navy decades ago and lost touch with his best friend who served with him. The man was able to locate his buddy in time to attend the friends birthday celebration.
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Free Background Checks Vs Paid Background Check Services
If you want to skip personally checking over 3,000 counties of the US and going through various free databases and records, you could opt for paid background screening.
I know
It sounds like just the thought of it could somehow extract the money out of your pocket!
But lets assure you, it only sounds like that.
How much does a background check cost?
Believe it or not, it doesnt have to cost an arm and a leg to get an accurate and thorough background check.
There are various professional background screening software solutions like Verispy that offer a free trial and transparent pricing. Others, like USSearch and BeenVerified, operate at very affordable prices and even accept valid refund requests.
Meanwhile, the average cost of a single background check typically ranges from $5 to $100, depending on the nature of the screening and the service providers price lists.
As anticipated, with the piling up of different services, the costs will pile up too. And so, a well-rounded and exhaustive background check cost could exceed $500.
Another thing worth mentioning is that different search agencies offer tailored plans to better fit the users needs. Usually, you can either opt for a cheap one-time service, after which your next search will cost more. Or you could make a monthly or yearly subscription, suitable for large companies with a significant turnover rate.
Ultimately, the cheapest background check is a thoughtful background check!
Pros and cons of free background checks
How Much Does Truthfinder Cost
Membership costs just under $20 a month, and for that, users can obtain a detailed report about their search target.
TruthFinder wont allow you to access the search reports till you fill in your credit card information. In this regard, you will be able to choose from any of the subscription plans so that you can have access to unlimited reports.
- 1 month: $26.7 per month
- 3 months: $15.70 per month
- 6 months: $13.70 per month
While these subscriptions give you access to an unlimited number of people search reports during this period, the reports are Standard. And you will have to pay an additional $14.95 per report in order to access the more detailed, premium version. The premium reports contain:
- Corporate affiliations
- Criminal records
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How Can I Remove My Personal Information
This might seem intrusive, and it is. Its not illegal, though, because people search sites give you the option to remove your name and information from them. And if you do this, you will boost your online privacy.
The challenge? Removing information from people search sites isnt always easy. The sites require different steps to remove your records. And there are so many search sites, that removing your name from all of them could take a long time.
Here, then, is a guide to removing your name from the most common people search sites on the internet. Removing your information from these lists could help protect you against scammers, spammers, and telemarketers.*
How Do Background Check Sites Get Their Data
So, weve covered where you can get background check reports.
But are you wondering how legit the information in these sites is?
Or maybe youre unsure whether a quick internet search will do?
A quick Google search wont give you much.
It might bring up a few social media profiles, but there are limitations, especially if the user has put a privacy setting on their profiles.
Besides, that wont give you sensitive data such as criminal records, DMV, or education history.
If you want the most accurate and recent data, whether its for your security, verifying a candidate, or buying property, then its only right to use a reputable company.
The top background check sites comb through thousands of public record databases to get the data for you. This process is time-consuming and could take several searches to get one complete report.
What are public records?
The government and related agencies maintain a repository of sensitive data. Examples include marriages and divorces, births, real estate, classifieds, newspapers, court records, motor vehicle data, and so much more.
Some courthouses sell the data to background check sites, hence the fees. Therefore, you can rest easy, knowing that the data you seek comes from reputable sources. Besides, its good to let the experts do all the leg work for you, while you wait on the other end of your screen for the data.
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Not Free As Advertised
If you advertise your website as being free, have me input information, wait 2-3 hours for it to process to complete then hit me with a $25 fee to get the information is false advertising and a waste of time. On top of that, your accuracy scoring is less than 80% so thank you for wasting my time.
Reply from TruthFinder
Hello, Although we are sad to see you were unhappy with your experience, we appreciate you taking the time to offer us feedback. While we wish we could provide all of the information to our customers for free, we do pay to access our data sources and it costs money to maintain our website. Please reach out if there’s anything we can do to improve your experience.Thank you
This service is rubbish it doesn’t have the information is says it does as I did a search on myself.
Reply from TruthFinder
Hello Chris, We are constantly working on and updating our records and we appreciate you taking the time to give us constructive feedback. We apologize you were unhappy with some of the information in our reports. Since we rely on third-party data sources, we can only display the information that we were provided, which could potentially include incomplete or inaccurate data. We hope to continue to improve our services to make them better for you and future customers.Thank you
Over 700000 People On Us Watch List: Once You Get On Theres No Way Off
A report by the New York Times Susan Stellin published over the weekend attempted to shine much-deserved light on an otherwise largely unexposed program of federal watch lists, but details about these directories including the names of individuals on them and what they did to get there remain as elusive as ever.
More than 12 years after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, federal agencies continue to keep lists on hand containing names of individuals of interest: people who often end up un-cleared to enter or exit the US due to an array of activity that could be considered suspicious or terrorist-related to government officials.
In 2008, the American Civil Liberties Union claimed that an Inspector General of the Department of Justice report found at least 700,000 individual names on the database maintained by the Terrorist Screening Center, the Federal Bureau of Investigation sub-office tasked with overseeing the single database of identifying information about those known or reasonably suspected of being involved in terrorist activity. Five years later, that number of suspicious persons is reportedly close to what it was at the time. Half-a-decade down the road, however, Americans and foreign nationals who end up on the governments radar are offered little chance to find out how they ended there, or even file an appeal.
According to some, thats just the start of whats wrong with these lists.
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Is There A Free Trial
No, a free trial of TruthFinder isnt available. TruthFinder compiles billions of records from dozens of sources. The cost of doing this both human and technical is staggering. It requires a lot of effort to scan millions of public records and then compile that data into a report about one person. We always strive to deliver tons of high-quality information.
I Initiated This Service On April
I initiated this service on April 19th, 2021, for the sole purpose of getting information on a deceased relative. I did not authorize TruthFinder to subscribe me to a monthly autopay collection of $27.78. On April 19th, 2021, I received all the information I needed and did not attempt to use TruthFinder for anything else. Needless to say, I was shocked and appalled when a payment to TruthFinder appeared on my bank statement on May 16th, 2021. I immediately went to the site and found that I had been subscribed to their monthly service. I have no need for a monthly service. I tried to stop payment with my bank to no avail. THIS IS A SCAM TO FORCE AUTO PAYMENTS FOR SERVICES NOT INITIATED OR NEEDED. PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS SERVICE!!!
Reply from TruthFinder
Hello,We are sorry to see that this happened. If this issue has not been resolved, please call our dedicated Customer Care Team at 699 – 8081 and we will get it figured out.Thank you,
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Do They Have A Refund Policy
They say that you can contact their customer service by phone to explain the situation if you if the service doesnt live up to your expectations. The customer service team evaluates each request on an individual basis and any customers who make refund request should expect to wait for a few days before the refund can be processed.
Note: Please read their refund policy for the fine details.
