Identity & SSN Trace

What an identity & SSN trace is

An SSN trace queries the databases of the major credit bureaus and other identity sources to confirm that a Social Security Number was validly issued and to reveal the names, dates of birth, and addresses that have been reported against it over time. It is not a credit check and it does not pull a credit score — it uses those files strictly to verify identity and to develop history.

The result is a picture of where a person has lived, the names and aliases they have used, and any addresses or identities that don't line up. That history is what makes the rest of a background investigation accurate: criminal and civil records are indexed by name and by county, so if we don't know every name and place a person is connected to, we can't know where to look.

What we develop

• Validation that the SSN was issued and, where available, the approximate issue period and state
• Name history — legal names, maiden names, and known aliases or spelling variations
• Reported date(s) of birth for identity matching
• A multi-year address history used to scope county-level record searches
• Identity red flags — an SSN linked to multiple unrelated identities, a number reported as deceased, or an issue date that pre-dates the person's birth

Why it matters

A criminal search is only as good as the identifiers behind it. Order a county criminal search under one name and one address and you miss anything filed under a prior name, a nickname, or a county the person lived in but never mentioned. The trace closes those gaps. It also catches the most basic — and most common — form of fraud: an applicant using a borrowed, stolen, or fabricated Social Security Number.

How we use it

The identity and SSN trace is the foundation layer of our Basic, Comprehensive, Professional, and Security Officer packages, and it drives the scope of the criminal searches we run. We review the output by hand — a licensed investigator reads the trace, resolves discrepancies, and expands the search where the history warrants it, rather than accepting a raw database dump.

Compliance

Identity verification is performed as part of a background report for a lawful, permissible purpose. Reports are subject to the Fair Credit Reporting Act and applicable state law. Source records can contain errors; the person screened retains the right to dispute inaccurate information.