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There are real pitfalls to this technique of back-door references.
First, you may simply be contacting a network that is larger than you even think, and defeats your intent. There may be people in the network that are playing you in the process. I've seen this happen several times, and the loser is the one engaging in this type of scenario.
Second, by ignoring the references given, a unique opportunity is lost. Sometimes it's not the content that matters in the references, it may be the type of reference, or a pattern.
Third, by ignoring references supplied, the seed of distrust is already budding. You're going to offer this person compensation, trust them with your projects and livelihood, but you don't trust a reference? Wow, that seems like an incongruous dichotomy.
In any case, nothing beats doing your own groundwork. Evidently, there is no panacea.
One way is to take what they say at face value, and to put them to the test. The law provides for a training period in most jurisdictions that is precisely for this purpose. If there are tasks that are critical, have managers go through a ramp-up where they are tested based on background and expected performance. At the end of the trial period, schedule a performance review that forces managers to do their job(!) and decide whether this candidate is a fit. If the candidate made a big deal about some experience that was relevant to the job, that should be really easy to work with (Duh).
Personally, I think the other stuff, such a back-door references is an open invitation for all kinds of other-worldly adventures.
Even in regard to trials, I have seen managers ignore obvious warning flags. As with most things, the back doors were all green, yet reality was crying out for action. Also, I've seen instances where a candidate was a great fit, but some back door was flagging red, again disaster struck.
The shrewd individual will always rely on his own judgement over another's.