It’s accidental when it does show up as a “hard” check – those are the only checks other creditors can see. I had my most recent apartment rental credit check show up as one, I disputed it, and it was erased that month.

Unfortunately, the bureaus rely entirely on the information given them by whoever is checking the credit, which means if the doofus entering your information enters the wrong value in a field, the bureau treats it as gospel until you dispute it. One reason why virtually everyone who doesn’t monitor their credit reports have multiple errors on their reports.