The most common lies and misrepresentations by fraudulent applicants include:
1. Listing friends and relatives as rental references 2. Fabricating credit reports, previous addresses, paystubs or bank statements 3. Providing false income or uploading an altered photo 4. Pairing a fake Social Security number with a real address to create a fake identity to gain access to a rental property 5. Using another person’s identity or information to qualify for a rental property by misrepresenting who they are with someone else’s Social Security number, nam, and date of birth 6. Lying about having a pet 7. Justifying the withholding of rent by claiming the home is uninhabitable 8. Illegally subletting the unit, pocketing several month’s rent payment in advance and then disappearing
People are also using stolen identities to access apartments for more unacceptable reasons like a criminal enterprise or financial fraud.
How can a landlord avoid application fraud? Landlords should watch for the following red flags to protect themselves from application fraud: Applicant can’t or won’t meet in person, only via Zoom All documents forwarded are new or created recently, i.e., passport, driver’s license Applicant has no proof of employment and refuses to provide any The applicant asks to move in right away without explanation They have no social media visibility or presence on publicly accessible websites
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