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Technology has brought up a lot of options through the internet to people who have access to it.

The amount of choices makes people come up with the question of: Is this site safe?

Some websites may not be legit and are just trying to scam you.

How could someone know if the site they are in is a scam? You should do brief research before purchasing something from that website and giving them any personal details.

If you are looking for a website that does Background Check, you may have come across Instant Checkmate among others, the question you should answer once you find this option to decide whether or not to use it is: Is Instant Checkmate legit?

What is the Instant Checkmate website about?

Instant Checkmate is one of the many websites that offer background checks that include a person’s available public records in the United States.

From public records search, this website can extract data such as email addresses, phone numbers, criminal records, and social media accounts. Once it gives you all the social media information, you can verify the person you are searching for is the correct match with the pictures posted.

A single person may find the same information that Instant Checkmate gives you. Still, the difference is that while you may be days in front of the computer looking through the internet to get all the data, Instant Checkmate saves you time by providing certain details faster…

Instant Checkmates offers to give clients a Background Check Report with information such as:

• Personal Information
• Related Persons
• Contact Details
• Location History
• Criminal and arrest records
• Traffic violations
• Vehicle information
• Social media profiles
• FAA pilot licenses
• DEA controlled substances licenses
• Nearby sex offenders
• Civil judgments
• Corporate affiliations
• UCC filings
• Property ownership
• Tax liens
• Hunting and fishing permits
• Foreclosures
• Neighbors
• Business associates

The website offers basic plan information, but you can pay to have a premium membership and have access to more data.

This company is not a consumer reporting agency, and their reports are not defined by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).

This is an important detail to look at as a consumer. The information provided by Instant Checkmate can´t be used for any legal transactions such as: evaluate a person who is asking for a loan or educational help opportunities, hire employees or other purpose subjects for the FCRA.

The website is very clear with this fact and continuously reminds its customers of it.

Are there any free background checks?

Background search requires money and, if not time. People searching for a free background check service will find options, but they won’t receive an accurate report. Usually, this type of online service requires a monthly subscription, as Instant Checkmate does.

How much does Instant Checkmate cost?

The costs of their service are a bit unclear on the official site, but what is a certainty is that they offer an option of a single month or a three-month membership for their services and that every now and then they give out special offers such as a 5-day trial for only $1.

From what clients have commented on their reviews, we collected a few data related to the membership plans. According to the comments, the membership plan for only one month costs $34.78, and the three-month membership is $83.47.

Keep an eye on your bank account, after you sign up for a trial or create an account, the service automatically renews you. Make sure you cancel your membership after you no longer need their services if you don’t want your credit card charged each month without even noticing. The process of canceling your membership is through their website login, and it is very simple.

Charges on your credit card from Instant Checkmate may appear as:

• chkmate*instantcheckma
• chkmate*instant Checkmate
• chkmate*instantcheckmate
• chkmate*instantche
• checkmate*instant Checkmate
• chkmate*instant
• chkmate*instantcheckmat
• chkmate*phoneservices
• chkmate*instantcheck
• chkmate*instant Checkmate
• checkmate*instant

If Instant Checkmate has charged you for an extended time and you were not using the service or didn´t cancel your membership, the company will only make a refund of the last 12 months charged. Meaning that if you´ve been charged for more than 12 months, you will lose your money that exceeds the 12-month refund.

The customer support representatives of Instant Checkmate are based in the United States. This gives the customer wider access to them; they have customer service via phone as well as via the internet.

There are three ways to cancel your membership at Instant Checkmate. The best option is for you to access your account from the official website and go directly to settings and cancel your membership. Another way to cancel it is through phone number, calling the company’s phone number: (800) 222-8985. The third option of how you can unsubscribe from this website is to do it vía mail.

Is Instant Checkmate a scam?

Instant Checkmate is a legitimate business. Nonetheless, the website clarifies that they do not make any representation or warranty about the accuracy of the information given of the person looking for.

The information given by them of your search is compiled from official public records, court documents, government data, and social media. Then, this information is personalized into the report given to the customer.

What do people say about this website?

Apart from the positive reviews regarding the excellent customer support service, the reviews that this website has are mostly negative rather than positive.

Most of the negative comments are related to:

Inaccurate information

Some of the users´ reviews stated that they searched themselves and found outdated information and even false information such as having criminal charges.

Being charged after canceling the subscription

Another of the most important topics among the reviews is that customers are being billed even when they canceled their subscription, and the difficulty of the company to make refunds.

Costs of extra features

Not just criticizing the cost of every additional feature, but the pricing of this website in general for its use. Among the reviews, the other topic that has more presence is the fact that they charge you for every extra feature, and that most of the competitors don’t charge for them.

Some of the features the customers were complaining about being free in other websites were: phone number and email address lookup, the report in PDF format, dark web scans, and so many others. These features cost $2 or $5 on top of the standard price of the membership at Instant Checkmate.

What is the best background check service/website?

The same company owns Instant Checkmate and TruthFinder: Control Media Company. They both offer background reports. They are almost the same at first look, but the truth is that behind their websites hide a few things that make them stand out from one another. A huge differentiator is that TruthFinder has cheaper membership plans than Instant Checkmate.

Even though Instant Checkmate offers its clients a very detailed report, from the reviews, the recommendations are more in favor of getting Truthfinder rather than Instant Checkmate. From the information gathered of the reviews on the website of Highya and others, TruthFinder is rated around the 3.8 stars, and Instant Checkmate, on the other hand, is ranked around the 3.4 stars. We are talking that TruthFinder has 73% recommendations while Instant Checkmate has only 62%.

If you are doing your brief research because you are thinking of using Instant Checkmate, you will probably find a bunch of negative comments about them and significant recommendations of not using them for any serious background checks.

Alternative to Instant Checkmate

For more serious investigations, the best option is hiring a private investigator. At Lawrence Ryan investigations, we go beyond public records. Our investigators leverage private networks and use a manual process to verify the data collected in the report. In many cases, you can use the information for legal situations. Expect to receive a report with verified and accurate information, and will bring you so many benefits to your search.