Application Fraud is Growing, Fast
Property managers across the country are reporting a sharp increase in fraudulent rental applications.
Snappt’s 2024 report found that nearly 6.4% of applications contained some form of income-related fraud in the form of falsified pay stubs, fake employment records, or manipulated bank statements.
What's causing the increase?
Three forces have converged at once:
- Cost of living crisis putting financial pressure on renters
- Widely available AI tools that make document forgery accessible to anyone
- Social platforms like TikTok and Instagram where step-by-step guides on creating fake documents spread freely
The result is a surge in convincing fraudulent documents that are harder than ever to spot.
Types of Fraud Landlords are Seeing
property managers and landlords surveyed, these are the most commonly reported fraud types and how frequently each has been encountere
What’s concerning is these are crude and lazy forgeries.
Many of these documents can include realistic metadata, correct formating from major payroll platforms, and even fake company websites.
What you can do about it
A mindset shift needs to happen.
Documents alone can no longer be treated as a source of truth.
Protecting yourself and reducing your risk means a combination of fighting technology with technology, and leaning in to the human review.
Start by adding an employment verification disclosure to your lease This is an explicit authorization from the tenant for you to confirm wages and employment directly with the employer.
- Still require pay stubs, but treat them as one signal — not proof. Verify the employer independently by looking them up yourself and calling directly, not using contact info from the applicant.
- Use bank account verification tools like Plaid or Payscore These require applicants to log into their actual bank account, producing a read-only report you can review. Many screening providers like RentPrep have this built in.
- Train your staff on what legitimate documents look like. Familiarity with major payroll provider formats and local bank statement layouts makes inconsistencies easier to catch.
- Inspect PDF metadata. A legitimate bank statement typically has a “Created” date matching the statement period. If the Author or Producer field shows software like Photoshop or Canva, that’s a serious red flag.
- Use document scanning tools like Snappt or Docuverus, which detect invisible pixel alterations and editing layers in uploaded files.
- Cross-reference documents. Do pay dates and deposit amounts in the bank statement actually line up with what’s on the pay stub? Discrepancies are often a giveaway.
Final Thoughts
Tenant application fraud isn’t going away.
If anything, it will continue to increase as AI tools become more sophisticated and accessible.
Reducing risk is one of the most important parts about being a landlord, so staying ahead of these trends is critical.
If all this seems to daunting, and you’re looking to rent out your single family home or multi-family residential property in the Minneapolis & Saint Paul metro area, consider reaching out.
We offer tenant placement services only, and on-going property management solutions and our team & technology are equipped to identify application fraud.