BeenVerified is a background check company that provides consumer initiated criminal background and people search services through its website for profit as well as its

mobile app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on d ...

lication ''"Background Check App."'' The company also launched additional mobile applications including a reverse number look up called ''

NumberGuru NumberGuru is a website and smartphone application that allows users to look up the owner of an entered telephone number. Developed by BeenVerified, it can be accessed through its website and smartphone applications for iPhone, Windows Mobile, a ...

'' and a

registered sex offender A sex offender registry is a system in various countries designed to allow government authorities to keep track of the activities of sex offenders, including those who have completed their criminal sentences. In some jurisdictions, registration i ...

tracking app that uses

augmented reality Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience that combines the real world and computer-generated content. The content can span multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory and olfactory. AR can be de ...

to locate sex offenders.

History

Founded in 2007, Josh Levy and Ross Cohen launched BeenVerified in 2009 and began advertising on national

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

, as well as on the back of garbage trucks. Initially, the company included a service called ''StandOut'' that allowed people to check and verify their own background information to use as a marketing tool online in the form of an embeddable seal as well as see what information employers could potentially find out about them. Levy and Cohen have discussed the company's pivot from originally focusing on the small business market to becoming a consumer-focused background check service in ''Inc.'' and '' CIO Magazine''. In 2009, BeenVerified launched an

iPhone application The App Store is an app marketplace developed and maintained by Apple Inc., for mobile apps on its iOS and iPadOS operating systems. The store allows users to browse and download approved apps developed within Apple's iOS SDK. Apps can be dow ...

called the ''Background Check App'', allowing users to use the service on their iPhones. It was the second background check app for the iOS platform behind the DateCheck app launched by

Intelius Intelius, Inc. is a public records business headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It provides information services, including people and property search, background checks and reverse phone lookup. Users also have the ability to pe ...

a year earlier. In 2010, BeenVerified released a sex offender tracking app for both

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

and

Android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...

platforms. The app uses public records such as sex offender registries, geolocation services, and

to show users the location of sex offenders. The company released another app in 2011 called ''"Number Guru"'', a free reverse phone number look up service. BeenVerified ranked #26 on the Inc. 5000 list for 2013, including being named the fastest growing company in New York. The company reported revenues of $13.7 million in 2012. In 2015, BeenVerified launched a caller ID and

reverse phone lookup A reverse telephone directory (also known as a gray pages directory, criss-cross directory or reverse phone lookup) is a collection of telephone numbers and associated customer details. However, unlike a standard telephone directory, where the user ...

app for the Apple Watch.

Services

BeenVerified uses traditional background methods in addition to Web 2.0 and

social network A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for an ...

ing to return results to a requesting user. Users enter the name and/or email address of the person they are requesting information on and are given information from public records and other privately licensed databases of public record information. The Background Check App released allows users to run background checks with a smartphone. The app uses names and email addresses to run background checks through its website, with the capability of checking anyone in a user's contact list. The services at BeenVerified are not free, and users must pay for access through either a one- or three-month billing plan. BeenVerified has an opt-out process for anyone wanting to remove their own information from the site. The company has also come under scrutiny in the past for its opt-out process and works with companies to remove their information upon request.

References

External links

* {{Official website Online person databases Internet properties established in 2007 Companies based in New York City 2007 establishments in New York City