BeenVerified Checks Your New Online Buds' Background

A little creeped out by that Facebook stalker? Was she really in your Harvard class or just a community college drop-out? BeenVerified, a New York-based company, can help you out. They call themselves the "evolution of background screening" by offering updated background checks in the Web 2.0 world. The company has just ditched the beta status and gone mainstream with their services. Their client base is mostly comprised of businesses and employers who want to check on the accuracy of applicants' resumes. But they can also help you figure out what employers can find out about you online with their StandOut service. For $30, they'll do a little background check for your criminal records, employment history and education. Might come in handy for recruiters and job seekers as Wall Street and Main Street both purge employees during the economic crisis.

CEO Joshua Levy explains where they get their information:

From a lot of places but always direct from the source. For example, if we are verifying that someone has graduated from Harvard University, we go right to Harvard's Registrar office to do so. Almost all verifications we perform, also come along with details about where we got the information. The main benefit of using BeenVerified, especially for partners, is that we take care of the heavy lifting of accessing the thousands of databases containing personal information.