Hi All,

I would appreciate your help with a verification mystery that has me worried about LE.  I recently had a chat session on TER with my first potential provider, who, according to her website, is not based in NYC, but she's visiting soon.  During this chat session, I explained that I was a newbie.  She began to ask questions about me, all in a polite manner, even apologizing for the "interrogation."  Because I am a full-time student, I do not have a place of work for her to call to verify me, so she asked me to send her an e-mail from my student e-mail address to prove I was a student at the school.  So I did this.  She also asked what State I was from originally.  I told her.  So the only information I gave her was my first/last name, my State of birth, and my student e-mail address (and therefore where I go to school).  That's it.  When we spoke on the phone the next day, she asked me "are you from ____?"  Somehow she managed to find out the city I was born in.  Here's why this was so impressive and why I'm now worried:

1) I am not on social networking sites, except for linkedin, and she doesn't have access to my profile there, and even if she did, the name of this city isn't anywhere on there.

2) The city is a tiny town in the state where I was born, so there's no way she could've just guessed.

3) When I look myself up on google or any background check sites (intellius, etc.), my name does come up, but it IS always associated with the town in my home State where I grew up, and NOT with the tiny town in which I was actually born.

My questions:
1) How did she get this info?
2) I'm all for verification, but is it really necessary for her to go digging for my birth records?
3) Did she have to let me know on the phone that she'd done that?
4) Was it a mistake to give her my school e-mail address?

This was so impressive that I'm beginning to think that only a governmental agency has the resources to do it.  This provider has 35+ reviews over the last 3 years, and my primary concern is LE.  I realize she has a lot of reviews, but how do I know she hasn't been flipped?  I welcome any thoughts/suggestions.

Respectfully,
Nervous Newbie

That seems a little excessive. I require references and/or datecheck info. I know a man is safe if he is on datecheck, because if he hurts or robs me, I have his damn dl number through the site. Maybe she is scared, but seems rather excessive. Looking up your birth city, huh. Weird. Hopefully my thoughts help.

1) How did she get this info?
I suspect she may have an online credit check service.  with your full name and place of birth, it would not be to hard to further ID you, especially if your name is somewhat unique.  When I was new, I gave a provider my full name, my name is unique,   and from that she had my wife's name, my DOB, my home address, place of employment, work history,  annual salary....all from one of those internet credit check agencies.  She did not tell me this right away, but after we got to know each other better she let me know she did a full credit check on me before meeting me the first time.    It is done quite frequently in commerce and it is why ID theft is so rampant...It is too easy to get all your personal details with just a few key pieces of information.


2) I'm all for verification, but is it really necessary for her to go digging for my birth records?
The provider needs to feel OK about meeting you and she probably just did enough research to ease her concerns.  The problem is there is so much detail readily available that she got it without digging.  Im just coming back to the hobby after a two year break, and all the ladies seem to be much more careful then in the past.  

3) Did she have to let me know on the phone that she'd done that?
No - but it was nice of her to do so.  at least now you know she has done some digging.   if she did  a credit check it will show up on your credit records and now you will know the reason for it.

4) Was it a mistake to give her my school e-mail address?
maybe, but I would not worry too much about it.   Im 57 years old and been at this a while and I was having trouble getting verified after my comeback.   I think an investment in P411 or date check is worth the money.  I did it and it makes the ladies feel more comfortable about meeting you.  you give up plenty of RL info to P411 or Datecheck, but they have been in business for a while and you will find plenty of satisfied users on these boards.