Bankruptcy due to Identity Theft

[Terry P.]

I have a prospective tenant that has a bankruptcy on her record from about a eight months ago. She claims that it was due to identity theft issues. I am not that familiar with such a situation. Do people really file bankruptcy due to identity theft? When I ran the credit check, it did show a large number of inquiries followed by a number of accounts closed due to bankruptcy a little over a year ago.

She also said that a company handles all her bills so she would need a letter stating the amount of the deposit and rent and they would send us a check. 

Other than that, her background check did not raise much concern. She seemed like a nice person and begged me to look past the bankruptcy because of the identity theft. 

Does this seem legit? How should I approach the situation?

[JD Martin]

It sounds like a total scam. What company does she work for that takes care of all of her bills? I don't buy it for a second. It's a good way to get in the house, then have you work on getting her out when the "company that pays all her bills" magically forgets for a couple of months, then turns out to never have existed in the first place. 

I would move on to another candidate. If you really need this candidate, I would verify everything with my own research. IE, that the bill payment company really exists, then contact them with the number I find, not the one she gives me, find out if she's a customer, see the police reports on the identity theft, etc.