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8 Ways to Identify Fraud in Rental Applications
A record 20.5 million jobs were lost in April 2020, and the unemployment rate soared to 14.7% due to the coronavirus. According to CNN, Goldman Sachs now predicts that this rate is expected to peak at 25%, rivaling the Great Depression’s worst period. What does this mean for the residential rental industry? It means that fraud is increasing and tenant screening is getting harder every day.
Where to look for fraud in financial documents:
Documents with Text Alteration have been edited either by adding new information, typically numbers, names or addresses, or removing information such as expenses, liens, etc. This type of fraud is easy to produce with home office equipment and easily overlooked in the screening process.
1) Does the name on the document match the applicant’s ID?
It’s easier to alter a financial document than it is a government-issued ID. Check for discrepancies as the document may be stolen.
2) Is the income statement accurate?
Inflation or deflation of income is also common practice these days. Adjusted incomes can fraudulently grant the applicant approval to a unit they wouldn’t qualify for otherwise.
3) Is the income source correct?
Check out the listed business entity. Is the source a legal and real business entity? Do they have a phone number you can call or a location you could visit? An altered source of income can be a sign of criminal activity or be an entity created by the applicant to falsify income.
4) Is the document real?
Template Farms produce and distribute fake documents. This type of fraud is increasingly popular because of
its accessibility.
Other application documents (References, background checks, criminal records) 
5) Are the references listed legitimate?
References can be faked by friends, family, and hired companies. If your applicant rented from an apartment or property management company, Google the company or call them directly. If your applicant has a private landlord as their rental reference, it’s harder to verify. Typically, you can tell if a reference is fake by looking up whether the given name on the application matches the property ownership or business registration.
6) Is your applicant who they claim to be?
Millions of people have fallen victim to identity theft, and the number is growing each day. If you can’t meet your applicant in person, schedule a video chat to review the application. Does the person on the chat match the ID? Do they answer questions they should know with ease?
7) Is your applicant a real person?
Synthetic fraud is a fake identity created from multiple sources, so check for inconsistencies. If multiple things don’t match up, it’s an indicator that the applicant is using a synthetic identity.
8) Perform your own background and credit checks.
Be sure to do your own criminal and credit checks with reputable providers and cross-check the rental application. They can be the one source that the applicant cannot digitally modify before you receive the data.
Daniel Cooper is a Regional Sales Director at Snappt Inc. He has competed against the best athletes in the world, helped people look and feel their best, found families their dream homes, combated financial documentation fraud, and saved companies thousands of dollars and countless work hours.