How should you identify fraudster tenants- Stop and Avoid?

Hello Mr. Joy, here are all the documents that you had mentioned! Your future tenant exclaims with a very polite tone as he hands over his file of documents, at a first glance, you find it ideal. You look at each and every document carefully and all seems perfect. This is actually what you were looking for. The rental application is completely filled out, the person is earning well, works with a decent company, credit scores are great and references are top nautch.

Now you discuss the advance payment and security deposit and he provides you a cheque. Alright, everything is going fantastic after some time you get to know that the cheque has been bounced. You discuss it with the tenant, he apologizes and writes another, No issues. You go and deposited the cheque and again the same. The cheque has bounced.

Tenant is using your property without giving any penny and complaining that the property is wretched. You have no option left so you start the legal process to kick out them. But as you planned things aren’t going.

Completely Nightmare, have you ever faced these scammers and fraudsters? This is the story of honey screening. Most people out there are not as evil as them but that intensifies the significance of proper rental application and screening to decrease these odds. We have layered things that you should look out for avoid possible losses and take the proper screening.

Fake identity

This is one of the most unwashed ways to commence a fraud by using fake IDs- how do an unscrupulous tenant and professional fraudster manage? Simply, they present you a wholly fake document or by stealing others’ IDs and then renting a property using their Identity.

To avoid any devastating future instances, do cross reference passports and driving licences with other external sources to establish the legitimacy of the Id and the person by whom it is presenting.

Spoof references

For a tenant to obtain references from past landlords and their employers is crucial. To bypass these checks, fraudsters are not only creating spoof references but entirely faking the business. In order to fake the business, they purchase the domain names, create websites, and then use the professional email address to give references. This is not a complicated task for a fraudster, you can also do this by paying pennies to any freelancer and you will have a legitimate business website to do malicious acts.

To avoid any such scenarios, you should check the established date of business and from there you have an idea about the website. A simple google search will help you to analyse the date of establishment. If you find the website is newly created then it could be a red flag. There will be some newly created legitimate websites also so take into account all other factors too consciously.

Forged Bank Statements

This trick is played to present that the tenant will be able to pay the rent smoothly. The fraudster shows higher income so that you think they are the ideal person to pay the rent.

How can you deal with it? Here is a way, one should check if the PDF has been modified since it was created- if yes, then the chances of tempering data would be increased.

Altered payslips

The fraudster tenant can counterfeit payslips to exaggerate pay and create a spoof reference. Because most payslips are now digital, fraudsters can alter them online, just like bank statements, and generate a new version that appears precisely like the original but pays more. Others fabricate wholly fictitious pay slips from fictitious employers.

One of the easiest methods of cross checking is to write an email to the employer for verification or can give them a call. You can check the registration document of the company for legitimacy and check its financial viability.

Hesitance to go with Open banking

The best thing about open banking is, it offers a simple, safe secure way for tenants to share their banking data to the speedy flow of referencing process. If a tenant is refusing to connect to open banking as a step of the referencing checks, this is a red flag! You must investigate further about this, why are they avoiding such an easy process?

Believe me, one cannot stop these fraudsters and scammers to do malicious activities but if you become aware of their tricks then the chances of becoming the victim would decrease. You and the fraudster both have access to the technology and the one who will leverage it wisely will dominate so be Careful and stay updated.