[carstenhag]

Germany: I don't know of anything a normal company could do as a "background check". Some sectors can ask for a criminal record which the future employee has to provide. Of 3 companies I was at, 0 required (or were allowed to require) this.

Military/government jobs with secret data have their own, through clearance checks of course, but a random IT company would never have this.

On the other hand, you have to submit so many tax, social security, insurance-related IDs which are cross-checked, I don't think it's feasible to impersonate someone here. It's also a reason why over-employment is not possible.