Public Records and Their Uses
5 minutes
5 Questions
Public records are documents and data maintained by government agencies that are available for inspection by the general public, either freely or for a nominal fee. For a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), they are among the most valuable and legally safe sources of information because they can be accessed without the subject's knowledge or consent and without raising privacy concerns. Key categories of public records include: (1) Court records – civil suits, criminal cases, bankruptcies, judgments, and divorce filings, which reveal litigation history, financial distress, and prior misconduct; (2) Real property records – deeds, mortgages, liens, and tax assessments held by county recorders, useful for identifying hidden assets or lifestyle inconsistencies; (3) Business filings – corporate registrations, fictitious business names, UCC filings, and Secretary of State records that expose ownership, officers, shell companies, and undisclosed conflicts of interest; (4) Vital records and licensing – birth, marriage, death records, professional and driver's licenses, which help verify identity and background; (5) Regulatory and government records – SEC filings, tax liens, voter registration, and campaign contributions. CFEs use public records to: verify a subject's identity and background; locate individuals and witnesses; identify assets for recovery or to detect concealment; uncover undisclosed business relationships suggesting kickbacks or bid rigging; corroborate or refute statements made in interviews; and establish patterns of behavior such as repeated bankruptcies or lawsuits. Limitations matter. Records vary by jurisdiction, may be incomplete, outdated, or contain errors, and some (e.g., sealed court files, certain tax records) are restricted. Online aggregators compile data but should be verified against original sources. CFEs must also comply with laws such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act when records are used for employment or financial decisions. Properly used, public records provide an efficient, defensible foundation for fraud investigations.
Public Records and Their Uses: A Complete CFE Exam Guide (Sources of Information)
1. Why This Topic Matters
Public records sit at the heart of the Investigation section of the CFE Exam and form the foundation of almost every real-world fraud examination. Before a Certified Fraud Examiner ever interviews a suspect, issues a subpoena, or traces a wire transfer, he or she should have built a picture of the subject using information that is legally and freely available to anyone. Public records help the examiner locate people and assets, identify undisclosed business interests, uncover conflicts of interest, verify or disprove statements made in interviews, and build the circumstantial case that justifies more intrusive (and more expensive) investigative steps. The ACFE stresses that fraud examiners must know what records exist, where they are kept, what each one reveals, and the legal limits on obtaining them. Exam questions in this area test exactly those four points, so mastering this concept pays off both on test day and in practice.
2. What Are Public Records?
A public record is information that a government body is required by law to collect, maintain, and make available for inspection by the general public. Access generally does not require the consent of the subject, a court order, or a showing of need. Public records are usually generated when a person or entity interacts with the government: buying property, forming a company, being sued, getting married, filing for bankruptcy, obtaining a license, and so on.
It is critical on the exam to distinguish three related categories:
Public records - government-held records open by law (e.g., deeds, court dockets, corporate filings, UCC filings).
Publicly available information (open sources) - information anyone can see but that is not an official government record (e.g., news articles, social media, company websites, trade directories). The ACFE often refers to these as open-source or public sources.
Nonpublic records - information protected by law or contract that requires consent, a subpoena, a court order, or a legally recognised permissible purpose (e.g., bank account records, tax returns, credit reports, medical records, telephone toll records, employment and personnel files).
A classic exam trap is to list a bank statement or a credit report as a public record. It is not. If a question asks which item is not a public record, look for the financial, medical, or communications record.
3. Major Categories of Public Records and What Each Reveals
a) Real Property Records (county recorder, registrar of deeds, land registry)
Deeds, mortgages, deeds of trust, liens, easements, and property tax assessments. Use: identify real estate owned by a subject, co-owners (often relatives or shell companies), purchase price and financing, and recent transfers that may indicate asset concealment. Property tax rolls can be searched by name to find holdings the subject never disclosed.
b) Court Records (civil, criminal, bankruptcy, probate, family, appellate)
Civil litigation reveals disputes, judgments, and often sworn financial information. Divorce files frequently contain detailed financial affidavits listing assets, income, and debts. Probate records reveal inheritances and estate assets. Bankruptcy filings (in the U.S., via PACER) contain schedules of assets, liabilities, creditors, and income, making them a goldmine for asset tracing. Criminal records reveal prior convictions and pending charges, important for background checks and credibility assessments.
c) Business and Corporate Filings (Secretary of State, Companies House, corporate registries)
Articles of incorporation, annual reports, lists of officers and directors, registered agents, fictitious business name (DBA) filings, limited partnership and LLC filings. Use: identify businesses owned or controlled by an employee or vendor, detect shell companies, uncover related-party relationships, and confirm whether a vendor actually exists. Comparing a corporate registered address with an employee home address is a frequent fraud indicator.
d) Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) Filings (Secretary of State)
Financing statements filed by secured lenders to perfect a security interest in personal property (equipment, inventory, receivables, vehicles, boats). Use: reveals loans, the lender, the collateral, and therefore assets the subject owns or has pledged. UCC searches are especially useful for finding business assets and the debtor's banking relationships.
e) Tax Liens and Judgment Liens
Federal, state, and local tax liens and recorded judgments show that the subject owed money and may indicate financial pressure, one of the three legs of the Fraud Triangle. Often indexed at the county level.
f) Professional and Occupational Licenses
Issued by state boards and regulators for doctors, lawyers, accountants, contractors, real estate agents, securities brokers (e.g., FINRA BrokerCheck), insurance agents, and many trades. Use: verify claimed credentials, check for disciplinary actions, and detect resume fraud.
g) Vital Records
Birth, death, marriage, and divorce records. Access varies: death and marriage indices are often public; full birth certificates are frequently restricted to the subject or relatives. Use: confirm identity and age, establish family relationships (useful when assets are transferred to relatives), and identify name changes.
h) Motor Vehicle and Driver Records
Vehicle titles, registrations, and driver's license information. In the United States the Driver's Privacy Protection Act (DPPA) restricts release of personal information from motor vehicle records to permissible uses; many other jurisdictions have similar limits. Treat these as restricted rather than fully public on the exam.
i) Voter Registration Records
Can confirm name, address, date of birth, and sometimes party affiliation; availability varies widely by jurisdiction.
j) Regulatory and Government Filings
Securities filings (e.g., SEC EDGAR 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K, proxy statements, insider trading forms), charitable organisation filings (e.g., IRS Form 990), campaign contribution records, government contract awards, environmental and building permits, and court-enforced regulatory sanctions. Use: understand a company's officers, related-party transactions, executive compensation, litigation disclosures, and financial condition.
k) Legislative and Agency Records
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) or equivalent access-to-information requests can unlock government-held documents that are not routinely published, such as inspection reports, procurement files, and correspondence.
4. How Public Records Work in an Investigation
Step 1 - Define the objective. Are you locating a person, identifying assets, verifying a background, or finding hidden business interests? The objective determines which records to pull first.
Step 2 - Start with identifiers. Collect full name, aliases, date of birth, addresses, business names, and known associates. Accurate identifiers prevent false matches, which are a major source of error with common names.
Step 3 - Search broad, then narrow. Commercial database aggregators (e.g., LexisNexis/Accurint, Thomson Reuters CLEAR, TLOxp, Dun and Bradstreet) compile public records from thousands of sources and provide a quick overview. However, the ACFE emphasises that aggregator results are leads, not evidence. Always obtain the original record from the official custodian (county recorder, court clerk, Secretary of State) to verify accuracy and to have an admissible document.
Step 4 - Link the pieces. The real power of public records is in the connections: an employee's spouse listed as registered agent of a vendor; a property purchased for cash shortly after a suspected embezzlement; a UCC filing showing a boat loan inconsistent with reported salary. Use link analysis to document relationships.
Step 5 - Build the financial profile. Public records feed the net worth method and lifestyle analysis. Real property, vehicles, boats, business interests, and liens establish assets and liabilities, allowing the examiner to compare known income with apparent wealth and to identify unexplained increases in net worth.
Step 6 - Document everything. Record the source, custodian, date searched, search parameters, and results, including negative results. Keep copies of official records. Proper documentation supports the chain of custody and allows another examiner to replicate the work.
Step 7 - Respect legal boundaries. Even when records are public, use of the information may be regulated. In the U.S., the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) governs consumer reports used for employment or credit decisions; the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) restricts financial institution data and prohibits pretexting; the DPPA restricts motor vehicle data. Internationally, the GDPR and similar data-protection laws limit processing of personal data. Never use deception (pretexting) to obtain nonpublic records.
5. Advantages and Limitations
Advantages: inexpensive or free, legally obtainable without the subject's knowledge, independent of the subject's cooperation, admissible as official records, and useful for corroborating interview statements.
Limitations: records may be incomplete, outdated, misindexed, or contain clerical errors; coverage varies by jurisdiction and some records are only available in paper at the local courthouse; information about sophisticated fraudsters may be hidden behind nominees, trusts, or offshore entities that do not appear in domestic registries; and aggregated databases can produce false positives. The examiner must verify before relying on any public record.
6. Exam Tips: Answering Questions on Public Records and Their Uses
Tip 1 - Know the public versus nonpublic line cold. If an answer choice involves bank records, credit reports, tax returns, medical records, telephone records, or personnel files, it is nonpublic. Court records, property records, corporate filings, UCC filings, liens, and professional licenses are public. Motor vehicle and full vital records are partially restricted.
Tip 2 - Match the record to the objective. Exam scenarios typically describe a goal and ask which source is best. Memorise these pairings: hidden business ownership - Secretary of State corporate and DBA filings; real estate - county recorder or land registry; personal property pledged as collateral or lender relationships - UCC filings; financial distress - bankruptcy, tax liens, judgments; family relationships and asset transfers to relatives - vital records and probate; detailed asset lists under oath - bankruptcy schedules and divorce financial affidavits; credential verification - professional licensing boards; public company insiders and related parties - SEC filings and proxy statements.
Tip 3 - Remember that aggregators are leads, not proof. If a question asks about the best practice after finding information in a commercial database, the answer will involve verifying with the original custodian or official record.
Tip 4 - Watch for legal-compliance answers. Questions may ask what law governs a particular record or whether pretexting is permitted. Pretexting to obtain financial information is prohibited under GLBA; obtaining a credit report requires a permissible purpose under FCRA; motor vehicle records are limited by DPPA. The CFE Code of Professional Ethics also requires lawful methods.
Tip 5 - Think about the Fraud Triangle. Public records showing liens, judgments, foreclosures, or divorce point to pressure. Records showing unexplained assets point to unexplained wealth used in net worth analysis. Questions may frame records in these terms.
Tip 6 - Read for the word 'best' or 'most likely'. Several answer choices may be plausible sources; choose the one most directly tied to the stated objective. For example, to find a vendor's registered agent, corporate filings beat a general internet search even though both are public.
Tip 7 - Know that public records are typically searched early. The ACFE investigative methodology moves from least intrusive to most intrusive: review documents and public records first, interview neutral third parties next, then corroborating witnesses, co-conspirators, and finally the target. If a sequencing question appears, public records come before interviews of the subject.
Tip 8 - Expect true/false style definitions. Statements such as 'Public records are always accurate' or 'Public records require the subject's consent' are false. Statements such as 'UCC filings reveal secured interests in personal property' or 'Bankruptcy filings contain schedules of assets and liabilities' are true.
Tip 9 - Document your reasoning as the exam expects documentation in practice. When eliminating answers, ask: Is it government-held? Is it open by law? Does it directly answer the investigative objective? Is the method of obtaining it legal? The correct answer will satisfy all four.
7. Quick Review Summary
Public records are government-maintained, legally open sources that let a fraud examiner locate subjects, identify assets, reveal business interests and relationships, verify backgrounds, and detect financial pressure, all without alerting the subject. Key categories include real property, court (civil, criminal, bankruptcy, probate, divorce), corporate and DBA filings, UCC filings, liens and judgments, professional licenses, vital records, limited motor vehicle and voter records, and regulatory filings. They are cheap, powerful, and admissible, but must be verified against original sources and obtained within legal limits such as FCRA, GLBA, DPPA, and data-protection laws. On the exam, succeed by distinguishing public from nonpublic records, matching each record type to its investigative purpose, remembering that database results are only leads, and always choosing the lawful, least-intrusive, best-fit source.
Public records sit at the heart of the Investigation section of the CFE Exam and form the foundation of almost every real-world fraud examination. Before a Certified Fraud Examiner ever interviews a suspect, issues a subpoena, or traces a wire transfer, he or she should have built a picture of the subject using information that is legally and freely available to anyone. Public records help the examiner locate people and assets, identify undisclosed business interests, uncover conflicts of interest, verify or disprove statements made in interviews, and build the circumstantial case that justifies more intrusive (and more expensive) investigative steps. The ACFE stresses that fraud examiners must know what records exist, where they are kept, what each one reveals, and the legal limits on obtaining them. Exam questions in this area test exactly those four points, so mastering this concept pays off both on test day and in practice.
2. What Are Public Records?
A public record is information that a government body is required by law to collect, maintain, and make available for inspection by the general public. Access generally does not require the consent of the subject, a court order, or a showing of need. Public records are usually generated when a person or entity interacts with the government: buying property, forming a company, being sued, getting married, filing for bankruptcy, obtaining a license, and so on.
It is critical on the exam to distinguish three related categories:
Public records - government-held records open by law (e.g., deeds, court dockets, corporate filings, UCC filings).
Publicly available information (open sources) - information anyone can see but that is not an official government record (e.g., news articles, social media, company websites, trade directories). The ACFE often refers to these as open-source or public sources.
Nonpublic records - information protected by law or contract that requires consent, a subpoena, a court order, or a legally recognised permissible purpose (e.g., bank account records, tax returns, credit reports, medical records, telephone toll records, employment and personnel files).
A classic exam trap is to list a bank statement or a credit report as a public record. It is not. If a question asks which item is not a public record, look for the financial, medical, or communications record.
3. Major Categories of Public Records and What Each Reveals
a) Real Property Records (county recorder, registrar of deeds, land registry)
Deeds, mortgages, deeds of trust, liens, easements, and property tax assessments. Use: identify real estate owned by a subject, co-owners (often relatives or shell companies), purchase price and financing, and recent transfers that may indicate asset concealment. Property tax rolls can be searched by name to find holdings the subject never disclosed.
b) Court Records (civil, criminal, bankruptcy, probate, family, appellate)
Civil litigation reveals disputes, judgments, and often sworn financial information. Divorce files frequently contain detailed financial affidavits listing assets, income, and debts. Probate records reveal inheritances and estate assets. Bankruptcy filings (in the U.S., via PACER) contain schedules of assets, liabilities, creditors, and income, making them a goldmine for asset tracing. Criminal records reveal prior convictions and pending charges, important for background checks and credibility assessments.
c) Business and Corporate Filings (Secretary of State, Companies House, corporate registries)
Articles of incorporation, annual reports, lists of officers and directors, registered agents, fictitious business name (DBA) filings, limited partnership and LLC filings. Use: identify businesses owned or controlled by an employee or vendor, detect shell companies, uncover related-party relationships, and confirm whether a vendor actually exists. Comparing a corporate registered address with an employee home address is a frequent fraud indicator.
d) Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) Filings (Secretary of State)
Financing statements filed by secured lenders to perfect a security interest in personal property (equipment, inventory, receivables, vehicles, boats). Use: reveals loans, the lender, the collateral, and therefore assets the subject owns or has pledged. UCC searches are especially useful for finding business assets and the debtor's banking relationships.
e) Tax Liens and Judgment Liens
Federal, state, and local tax liens and recorded judgments show that the subject owed money and may indicate financial pressure, one of the three legs of the Fraud Triangle. Often indexed at the county level.
f) Professional and Occupational Licenses
Issued by state boards and regulators for doctors, lawyers, accountants, contractors, real estate agents, securities brokers (e.g., FINRA BrokerCheck), insurance agents, and many trades. Use: verify claimed credentials, check for disciplinary actions, and detect resume fraud.
g) Vital Records
Birth, death, marriage, and divorce records. Access varies: death and marriage indices are often public; full birth certificates are frequently restricted to the subject or relatives. Use: confirm identity and age, establish family relationships (useful when assets are transferred to relatives), and identify name changes.
h) Motor Vehicle and Driver Records
Vehicle titles, registrations, and driver's license information. In the United States the Driver's Privacy Protection Act (DPPA) restricts release of personal information from motor vehicle records to permissible uses; many other jurisdictions have similar limits. Treat these as restricted rather than fully public on the exam.
i) Voter Registration Records
Can confirm name, address, date of birth, and sometimes party affiliation; availability varies widely by jurisdiction.
j) Regulatory and Government Filings
Securities filings (e.g., SEC EDGAR 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K, proxy statements, insider trading forms), charitable organisation filings (e.g., IRS Form 990), campaign contribution records, government contract awards, environmental and building permits, and court-enforced regulatory sanctions. Use: understand a company's officers, related-party transactions, executive compensation, litigation disclosures, and financial condition.
k) Legislative and Agency Records
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) or equivalent access-to-information requests can unlock government-held documents that are not routinely published, such as inspection reports, procurement files, and correspondence.
4. How Public Records Work in an Investigation
Step 1 - Define the objective. Are you locating a person, identifying assets, verifying a background, or finding hidden business interests? The objective determines which records to pull first.
Step 2 - Start with identifiers. Collect full name, aliases, date of birth, addresses, business names, and known associates. Accurate identifiers prevent false matches, which are a major source of error with common names.
Step 3 - Search broad, then narrow. Commercial database aggregators (e.g., LexisNexis/Accurint, Thomson Reuters CLEAR, TLOxp, Dun and Bradstreet) compile public records from thousands of sources and provide a quick overview. However, the ACFE emphasises that aggregator results are leads, not evidence. Always obtain the original record from the official custodian (county recorder, court clerk, Secretary of State) to verify accuracy and to have an admissible document.
Step 4 - Link the pieces. The real power of public records is in the connections: an employee's spouse listed as registered agent of a vendor; a property purchased for cash shortly after a suspected embezzlement; a UCC filing showing a boat loan inconsistent with reported salary. Use link analysis to document relationships.
Step 5 - Build the financial profile. Public records feed the net worth method and lifestyle analysis. Real property, vehicles, boats, business interests, and liens establish assets and liabilities, allowing the examiner to compare known income with apparent wealth and to identify unexplained increases in net worth.
Step 6 - Document everything. Record the source, custodian, date searched, search parameters, and results, including negative results. Keep copies of official records. Proper documentation supports the chain of custody and allows another examiner to replicate the work.
Step 7 - Respect legal boundaries. Even when records are public, use of the information may be regulated. In the U.S., the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) governs consumer reports used for employment or credit decisions; the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) restricts financial institution data and prohibits pretexting; the DPPA restricts motor vehicle data. Internationally, the GDPR and similar data-protection laws limit processing of personal data. Never use deception (pretexting) to obtain nonpublic records.
5. Advantages and Limitations
Advantages: inexpensive or free, legally obtainable without the subject's knowledge, independent of the subject's cooperation, admissible as official records, and useful for corroborating interview statements.
Limitations: records may be incomplete, outdated, misindexed, or contain clerical errors; coverage varies by jurisdiction and some records are only available in paper at the local courthouse; information about sophisticated fraudsters may be hidden behind nominees, trusts, or offshore entities that do not appear in domestic registries; and aggregated databases can produce false positives. The examiner must verify before relying on any public record.
6. Exam Tips: Answering Questions on Public Records and Their Uses
Tip 1 - Know the public versus nonpublic line cold. If an answer choice involves bank records, credit reports, tax returns, medical records, telephone records, or personnel files, it is nonpublic. Court records, property records, corporate filings, UCC filings, liens, and professional licenses are public. Motor vehicle and full vital records are partially restricted.
Tip 2 - Match the record to the objective. Exam scenarios typically describe a goal and ask which source is best. Memorise these pairings: hidden business ownership - Secretary of State corporate and DBA filings; real estate - county recorder or land registry; personal property pledged as collateral or lender relationships - UCC filings; financial distress - bankruptcy, tax liens, judgments; family relationships and asset transfers to relatives - vital records and probate; detailed asset lists under oath - bankruptcy schedules and divorce financial affidavits; credential verification - professional licensing boards; public company insiders and related parties - SEC filings and proxy statements.
Tip 3 - Remember that aggregators are leads, not proof. If a question asks about the best practice after finding information in a commercial database, the answer will involve verifying with the original custodian or official record.
Tip 4 - Watch for legal-compliance answers. Questions may ask what law governs a particular record or whether pretexting is permitted. Pretexting to obtain financial information is prohibited under GLBA; obtaining a credit report requires a permissible purpose under FCRA; motor vehicle records are limited by DPPA. The CFE Code of Professional Ethics also requires lawful methods.
Tip 5 - Think about the Fraud Triangle. Public records showing liens, judgments, foreclosures, or divorce point to pressure. Records showing unexplained assets point to unexplained wealth used in net worth analysis. Questions may frame records in these terms.
Tip 6 - Read for the word 'best' or 'most likely'. Several answer choices may be plausible sources; choose the one most directly tied to the stated objective. For example, to find a vendor's registered agent, corporate filings beat a general internet search even though both are public.
Tip 7 - Know that public records are typically searched early. The ACFE investigative methodology moves from least intrusive to most intrusive: review documents and public records first, interview neutral third parties next, then corroborating witnesses, co-conspirators, and finally the target. If a sequencing question appears, public records come before interviews of the subject.
Tip 8 - Expect true/false style definitions. Statements such as 'Public records are always accurate' or 'Public records require the subject's consent' are false. Statements such as 'UCC filings reveal secured interests in personal property' or 'Bankruptcy filings contain schedules of assets and liabilities' are true.
Tip 9 - Document your reasoning as the exam expects documentation in practice. When eliminating answers, ask: Is it government-held? Is it open by law? Does it directly answer the investigative objective? Is the method of obtaining it legal? The correct answer will satisfy all four.
7. Quick Review Summary
Public records are government-maintained, legally open sources that let a fraud examiner locate subjects, identify assets, reveal business interests and relationships, verify backgrounds, and detect financial pressure, all without alerting the subject. Key categories include real property, court (civil, criminal, bankruptcy, probate, divorce), corporate and DBA filings, UCC filings, liens and judgments, professional licenses, vital records, limited motor vehicle and voter records, and regulatory filings. They are cheap, powerful, and admissible, but must be verified against original sources and obtained within legal limits such as FCRA, GLBA, DPPA, and data-protection laws. On the exam, succeed by distinguishing public from nonpublic records, matching each record type to its investigative purpose, remembering that database results are only leads, and always choosing the lawful, least-intrusive, best-fit source.
Test mode:
CFE - Public Records and Their Uses Example Questions
Test your knowledge of Public Records and Their Uses
Question 1
Which of the following BEST describes the information a fraud examiner can typically obtain from Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) filings?
Question 2
Uniform Commercial Code filings help a fraud examiner identify a subject's real estate holdings because they record the mortgages lenders place on land and buildings.
Question 3
A fraud examiner searches the county real property records under a purchasing manager's name and finds no property. An informant, however, reports that the manager spends weekends at a newly built lakefront home and treats it as his own. Which explanation for the empty search result is MOST consistent with how real property records work?
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