PRESS RELEASE — FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION
Automation Is Failing Background Screening: Legal Exposure Surges as Industry Turns Back to Human Investigation
Brisbane — Faust Legal Support Services (FLSS)
The global background screening industry is entering a period of structural instability as companies increasingly rely on automated screening apps to process high volume employment checks. What was marketed as “innovation” has rapidly become one of the most expensive operational failures in the sector’s history.
Regulators, courts, and corporate compliance teams are now confronting the consequences: inaccurate results, wrongful exclusions, missed red flags, and escalating litigation costs.
Industry analysts warn that the sector’s dependence on automation is not just unsustainable — it is dangerous.
Automation Is Breaking the Industry — The Numbers Are Undeniable
Recent audits, regulatory filings, and class action settlements reveal a pattern of systemic failure:
32% of automated criminal record hits are inaccurate, often misidentifying individuals.
27% of automated employment verifications contain errors, driven by unverified third party databases.
Automated international checks fail at rates exceeding 40%, especially in non digitised jurisdictions.
FCRA related class actions have surged 300% since automation became the industry’s default workflow.
More than USD $1.2 billion in legal payouts over the past decade are directly linked to automated or semi automated background checks.
Legal experts say the trend is accelerating, not stabilising.
Automation is not reducing risk. It is manufacturing it.
Why Automated Screening Apps Are Structurally Unsafe
Automated systems cannot perform the core functions that define legitimate background screening:
verifying source authenticity
interpreting jurisdictional differences
detecting forged or altered documents
reconciling conflicting data
understanding cultural naming conventions
assessing behavioural or executive level risk
conducting on the ground verification
Automation can collect data. It cannot investigate.
And in executive hiring, that distinction is catastrophic.
Executive Level Screening: The Industry’s Breaking Point
Automated systems were never designed for:
C suite appointments
politically exposed persons
cross border executives
high value financial roles
national security adjacent positions
Yet vendors continue to apply automated workflows to these categories, resulting in:
false clearances
missed red flags
regulatory breaches
catastrophic hiring decisions
The industry is now facing a credibility crisis of its own making.
The Counterweight: Faust Legal Support Services (FLSS)
While the industry has drifted into automation dependency, FLSS has remained anchored in investigative discipline — the only approach proven to withstand legal scrutiny.
FLSS is now in its 26th year of conducting executive level, cross border background investigations across more than 180 countries, with over 25,000 high profile cases completed.
FLSS operates on a model the industry abandoned too quickly:
boots on the ground verification
jurisdiction specific intelligence
human led analysis
evidence grade reporting
proprietary investigative systems
FLSS also maintains one of the only privately held investigative databases spanning more than 40 countries, used as a support tool — never a replacement for human verification.
The Investigator Behind the Firm: Christian P.W. Faust
At the centre of FLSS is a figure whose credentials the automated screening industry cannot replicate.
45 years in the investigative industry
Most likely Australia’s longest serving private investigator
Supreme Court cited work
Cross border casework spanning homicide, aerospace disputes, arms related intelligence, corporate fraud, and missing persons
Formal qualifications in investigations, criminology, intelligence analysis, counter terrorism protection, and paralegal studies
Developer of AIRP, AIRP XL, VBA, VBA CIM, and the FLSS Vendor Risk Scan
A global academic and operational profile in the top 0.001% of investigators worldwide
In an industry dominated by automated workflows and untrained operators, Faust represents a level of capability that is statistically rare — and operationally irreplaceable.
Why Corporations Are turning to FLSS
As litigation accelerates and regulatory scrutiny intensifies, corporations are reassessing their reliance on automated vendors.
The trend is clear:
Automation is fast.
FLSS is accurate.
And in executive hiring, accuracy is the only metric that matters.