# Detect tampered and deepfake Background Check Report > A forged background check report is what a candidate produces when they cannot survive a real one, and the structural giveaway is that they produced it at all: a genuine screening report is commissioned by the employer and delivered by the agency, never handed over by the person it describes. The edits inside one are small and surgical - a table cell moved from flagged to clear, a criminal record section removed, an old report reissued under a new name. **Canonical URL:** https://tampercheck.ai/documents-support/background_check **API document class:** `background_check` **Last updated:** 2026-10-07 --- ## What a genuine background check report contains A screening report is a structured document rather than a letter. It opens with the vendor's branding, licence or registration details, a report reference number, the client who commissioned it, the candidate's identifiers, and the dates the report was ordered and completed. The body is tabular, one section per component covering identity, address, education, employment, criminal record, credit and sanctions, and each row names the source checked, the date it was checked, the result, and a discrepancy flag. A summary status and a scope disclaimer close it. The sections have to roll up. An overall status of clear cannot sit above a table holding a flagged row, and a component marked verified has to name the source and date that verified it, because a row with a blank source is a row nobody checked. Every check date has to fall before the report date, the employment rows have to agree with the experience and relieving letters in the same file, and the reference number has to be one the vendor recognises as its own. ## How background check report forgeries are made ### A status cell flipped One table cell moves from discrepancy found to verified, or from pending to clear, with the rest of a genuine report untouched. Replacing text inside a cell disturbs its alignment and the run of rows around it, which is why table structure is analysed as a whole on this document class. ### The summary changed while the detail is not The overall verdict on page one is edited without the component tables behind it being brought into line, so the report contradicts itself several pages later. Reviewers who read only the summary never reach the contradiction, which is precisely what the edit is built for. ### A section removed and the pages renumbered The criminal record or employment component is deleted and the page numbering repaired afterwards. The surviving sections no longer match the component list on the summary page, and page-level analysis exposes a document whose pages come from two different production passes. ### An old report reissued A genuine report on one candidate has its name, identifiers, reference number and report date replaced, transplanting a clean history onto somebody else. Those substituted identifiers sit in fixed-width table fields and rarely reproduce the spacing of the values they replaced. ### A report the vendor never issued A screening firm's public sample report is rebuilt as a template, or a fictional agency is invented with a website and a phone line to match. Nothing was edited because nothing was authentic, so branding fidelity, reference number format and the production history of the file are what the analysis rests on. ## What TamperCheck checks on a background check report TamperCheck runs 200+ forensic checks across three layers and returns a risk score from 0 to 100 with plain-English findings tied to specific regions of the document. These three carry the most weight on this document class. ### Table structure integrity Inserted and deleted rows leave structural artifacts behind: inconsistent spacing, misaligned columns, and formatting the visible table no longer accounts for. ### Letterhead, logo, and issuer plausibility Issuer branding is checked for resolution and compression consistency against the body text it sits on. A logo lifted from a website carries the signature of its source, not of the document. ### Date and validity consistency Issue, expiry, and period dates are checked against one another and against the file's own creation metadata, which catches backdating and validity extension. ### And many more checks The three above are the layers that carry the most weight on a background check report. Every upload runs the full suite of 200+ checks regardless of document class, spanning file structure and metadata, pixel-level forensics, font and text rendering, optical and print characteristics, provenance signals, AI-generation signatures, and many more checks. ## Who verifies a background check report, and why Employers and compliance teams relying on third-party screening. In each case the document is being used to unlock money, access, or a legal status, which is exactly what makes it worth forging. ## How to verify a background check report in 4 steps 1. **Insist the report comes from the agency, not the candidate.** A screening report handed over by the person it describes has already lost its evidential value. Ask the vendor to send it to the client who commissioned it, and treat a candidate-supplied copy as a claim rather than as a result. 2. **Check the reference number with the vendor.** Every screening firm issues reports under its own reference format and can confirm whether a given number, candidate and report date belong to something it produced. This is the one check on this document with a real authority behind it, and it settles most cases outright. 3. **Read the detail tables against the summary.** Work through each component row, taking the source checked, date checked, result and discrepancy flag in turn, and confirm they support the overall status printed on the front page. A clear summary over a flagged or sourceless row is a contradiction the report cannot explain. 4. **Analyse the file for table-level editing.** Cell edits, removed sections and replaced identifiers leave traces in a document's structure and rendering. TamperCheck analyses table structure alongside 200+ forensic checks and returns a risk score from 0 to 100, naming the regions that changed. ## Frequently asked questions ### Can a background check report be faked? Yes, in two distinct ways: a real report with individual results edited, and a document built from scratch under the name of a screening firm that never produced it. The second is easier than it ought to be, because vendors publish sample reports and most employers have never seen more than a handful of genuine ones to compare a new arrival against. ### How do employers verify a background check is real? Employers verify it by going back to the screening vendor with the report reference number and asking whether that report, for that candidate, on that date, is theirs. That single step defeats most forgeries. The stronger control is procedural: commission the check yourself so the report reaches you from the vendor, and never accept one supplied by the candidate. ### What parts of a screening report get altered? Criminal record status and individual verification outcomes, overwhelmingly, with a flagged row changed to clear or the whole component cut out. Report dates and reference numbers come next, so a genuine older report can be reused for a new candidate. Agency letterhead is rebuilt only when a report is fabricated rather than altered. These are table cells, not prose, which is why structural analysis matters here. ### Is a background check report different from an employment letter? Yes, in the one respect that makes it checkable. An employment letter asserts a fact with no authority standing behind it to confirm the assertion, whereas a screening report was produced by an identifiable vendor who can be asked whether they produced it. That makes a forged report riskier to attempt and easier to disprove, provided the recipient actually goes back to the vendor. ## Related document types - Experience Letter: https://tampercheck.ai/documents-support/experience_letter - Relieving Letter: https://tampercheck.ai/documents-support/relieving_letter - Resignation Letter: https://tampercheck.ai/documents-support/resignation_letter - Termination Letter: https://tampercheck.ai/documents-support/termination_letter - Reference Letter: https://tampercheck.ai/documents-support/reference_letter - Cover Letter: https://tampercheck.ai/documents-support/cover_letter --- Try TamperCheck now: https://tampercheck.ai/dashboard · Docs: https://tampercheck.ai/docs · Pricing: https://tampercheck.ai/pricing