Call came in at 2:15 A.M.  Recording left was barely legible.  Absolutely NO reason for this call to be coming in.  Will let it go at that!

Left voicemail. Called to get background info about someone that listed me as a reference while she was job hunting. She already has the job (for a few weeks), so not sure why I am now getting this call.

Matthew Gay (an American) from Sterling InfoSystems wished to talk to a particular manager.  At first, he didn't want to say who he was or why he was phoning; he claimed not to understand my question, "What is this in reference to?"  I explained that company policy dictated that all managers' and executives' calls be screened.  He finally alleged to be a former vendor who just wanted to say hello.  I put him on hold for 30 seconds, then said she wasn't available and took a message.  I thought from the corporate name that his inquiry was IT-related; now my research shows that it's actually HR.  Since Mr. Gay's intended target has moved from that department, I'll advise him to reintroduce himself via Purchasing.

This company may look good on paper, but they're sending personal information and social security numbers to India. Not the smartest choice. I was employed there as a telecommuter, and was fired because it was cheaper to use Indian workers versus paying Americans minimum wage. Be very careful what information you provide them - it's going overseas into a database.

If you are an employee of STERLING info  why are you employing foreigners investigating AMERICAN employees for AMERICAN EMPLOYERS?
Keep the profits; just don't send our personal information overseas!!!

646-485-8311 is a NYC number. The woman was calling from Manila asking me to fax her personal documents!!!

Sure any one with a business registration, Tax ID or a trade name can go into business.  The problem is clearly these firms who hire "Third world" nations for investigating Americans or Westerners' to do the so called background checks! Sterling, and other firms as such including the THREE -3- credit reporting companies pay these foreigners a few  cents per hour. People in Manila or Mumbai could not give  two hoots about any Americans' or Westerners' privacy, personal information, SS numbers, or even correct spelling of the individual's name.  One wrong key stoke will and has caused such havoc on many unblemished lives.  It is "the Globalization," the man from Mumbai told me when he called me.  The FTC, FCC, and FCRA, all need to get together and put a STOP to this.  I do not feel secure about people employed by these US companies in the Philippines or India having access to my personal information. I have been a victim of identity theft!   We, the people of USA must form an alliance against these UN-orthodox businesses' practices while they are making profit, our personal information is hanging out on someone's desk in Mumbai, Manila, Malaysia?  Please.  Where is the transparency? Who has any legitimate responsibility?  Just because we sign an authorization to the employer about our past and present they get to do whatever or where ever?  This is outrageous! Violation of personal information privacy Act.  It is thievery.  It will become a very big problem.  Most of us who use digital and social media for business or networking do not share our SS #s or Personal tax returns on any of these medium.  I am appalled that any employer would not investigate the company that is hired by them to investigate their new hires or employees.  HR people need to inform the employee of the tactics they use for background investigations!

You have the right to a lawsuit

Does anyone happen to know how far back they check for a criminal background check?

Your name is HeadHunter and you have horrible punctuation.  Makes sense you would stick up for Sterling and use them.  You are hurting them more than helping.

Sterling Infosystems is the worst company. This company needs to not do any background checks for anybody. As result of them reporting dimissed case against me i lost and job. There to stupid to realize false information reported you can lose employment. I have resported Sterling Infosystems to the NJ Attorney General Offfice.

This number is legit. I also received a call from them asking to verify employment for one of my old employees.
I also had a heads up but didn't know what number or name they would be calling from.

Upon further review, I do see Sterling InfoSystems and Sterling Testing Systems as two possible names...perhaps Sterling is the magic word.

For what it's worth, I got a call from them also.   Did not ask me to give out anything private but standard verification of employment stuff I get all the time.  Did NOT try to sell me anything, although I wanted to sell them a course on how to speak English; I could barely understand them.

" The customer relatons department (of this big corpporation) was asked if they use InfoSystems and they said "ABSOLUTELY NOT". "


that makes sense to me, seeing as the name of this company purportedly is not InfoSystems, but Sterling Testing Systems.

they did the same to me   reported a dismissal  as a conviction    lost the job

Sterling Info Systems. They are a background check company hired by many businesses to check info on applicants. I work in a payroll office and get many calls from them every day. They are legit and typically will be fine if you do not want to give info on certain things, for example, I cannot give out salary info over the phone and they are always fine with it.

A company used them for my son and they came up with 1 felony actually he was charged with a felony but it was pleaded down to a misdemeanor so they gave out the wrong info and he lost the job.

This company is being used by a potential employer for me...BUT none of my references can understand a word they say. It is like some crazy call center too and when you do call back you have select why you are calling them....when they called you in the first place. I told all of my references that a company would be calling them for a background verification - no one can understand a word they say and if they call and do not get the person they call back repeatedly within the course of an hour. My references do not want to talk to these people. I have forwarded my references to the companies HR manager. Hopefully she can take the reference. This is not the kind of headache you need when you are trying to get a job in this economy.

Recibi la llamada, no la pude contestar, llame de vuelta y no me supieron decir porque me habian llamado, di mi numero de seguro social, que mal.

I received a call verifying past employment.  I tried my best to communicate with the woman, but felt bad because I know this is her job.  But I was very frustrated because I couldn't understand 2 of her questions and the result could be a negative report for the person they are verifying for.  She didn't ask for anymore than the dates of employment and position.

Just received two calls from Sterling - a voicemail was left after the second call asking me to call back to verify that someone had worked for me.  Because I'd read the blogs indicating that the company probably was legit, and because I was curious, I called them back.  It wasn't the smoothest conversation (i.e. they asked for the reference number they had left and since I hadn't written that down they struggled to find the case but eventually found it).  They asked employment verification and some textbook questions about performance and etc.  All in all it took a few minutes.  It's not that I liked the call because sometimes I struggled to understand what was being asked (due to language accents); yet I understand why these calls are needed.

So, thanks to all for their comments about this company and taking the time to verify that it is a legit company but also to state some of the "non-positive" experiences as watchouts.

Received, did not answer.  Msg. left from Sterling Testing, a background investigation company that got my name from an H.R. tradeshow that I attended in 2007.  I returned the call and asked to be taken off their call list.  After their attempt at not letting me go w/o a sales pitch, they said they'd take me off their lists.

no joke, this number just called eight times in a row in the last three minutes. I answered the first three calls but every single time was hung up on, let the rest go to vm and no msg's were left.

Received a call from this company regarding employment verification for me; however, stated that they did not know for whom they were attempting to verify my employment. I stated several times that I would not provide any more information unless they could tell me for whom they need to verify my employment. The caller continued to push for information, asked to be transferred to HR (it was a cell phone), even after I had indicated there is no HR to be transfered to. The class was very suspicious. Even if this is a legit company, which I would not believe at this point, they should know better than to call requesting personal information without having a reason or any ability to state why they need this information.

Receive call at 11:30am. Did not leave a message.
Number and name showed on called ID.

By the looks of previous posts, they must have been doing a background check on a former co-worker.

This company called me saying they needed information to verify my employment with my future employer. When I called my future employer they said they already had all the information they needed and that they did not use any off shore verification site. This company also hung up on me when I refused to tell them my social security number or maiden name. The police officer that I had investigate this said that no employer should ever ask for personal information over the phone. DO NOT GIVE OUT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION OVER THE PHONE TO ANYONE.

yep, i ttly agree. even i got a call for one of my co-worker....after 09/11 attcks, i believe it's compulsory to get background checks done before hiring people.. & no one knows who's who these days..LOL..

WELL JUST FOR STARTERS I AM POSTING THIS THROUGH ONE OF THE COMPANIES THAT HAVE ENGAGED STERLING FOR BACKGROUND VERIFICATIONS, ITS AN BACKGROUND SCREENING COMPANY AND IS COMPLETEDLY A LEGIT FIRM. IT DOES NOT SELL ANYTHING UNLESS YOU ARE REFERRED AND MOST CALLS ARE FOR VERIFICATION ONLY AFTER ANY OF YOUR SUBORDINATE OR A CO WORKER HAS GIVEN YOUR NUMBER, THE COMPANY ALSO CERTAIN TIMES DOES NOT LEAVE VOICE MESSAGES AS SOME OF THEIR CLIENTS HAVE POLICIES NOT ALLOWING THEM TO DO SO, THUS SOME PEOPLE GET VM'S AND OTHERS DONT.

ALSO IT IS ONE OF THE LEADING INSTITUTIONS FOR BACKGROUND SCREENING.

someone called, repeatedly, 1st was blocked ID, then with this 212-736-5100 ID showing, but voice mail reviews nothing but silence for over 30 seconds, then a little cough (clearing of his throat) then hung up.  

Well, if you have the time and effort to call, make sure you get your message across.

If you have something to hide, that's how you should behave, by keeping silent... but then, why you show your caller ID when it's widely published that you are an annoying spammer?  

Go figure......

I received a call from 411-212-736-5100 (on caller ID) at my work.  Elwood Staffing.  The caller was asked if there was a message and they said no...when could they call back.  Our company uses Sterling Testing Systems for background checks.  I would think that they would have left a message to why they were calling if it pertained to Elwood Staffing.

Please advise.