Managing a small portfolio of lower class C properties, I've experienced applicants lying about just about everything to try to slide their way into an apartment. From putting family/friends phone #'s as landlord/job references, to leaving out rental history, to inaccurate income; but nothing takes the cake like my experience this weekend.

An applicant tours the property on Friday. Pretty typical lady as far as clothing/linguistics/car/etc for the area. She applies online that night, and quickly approves the credit/background pull. Current address matches public records, as does occupation. Now to put things in perspective, this is a $1k/mo 2 bedroom apartment in a class C neighborhood in Chicago.

So I take a look at the application, and supposedly she works for an area hospital in a management role making roughly $6k/mo, which is confirmed by an uploaded pay stub. Current address is a sfh in a suburb about 45 minutes away from her work as confirmed by an uploaded ID scan. Reason for moving is "separating". Ok, so maybe that's plausible - trying to restart life and live closer to work. But it still leaves me questioning why someone making $6k/mo wants to move to what's essentially the hood when there are plenty of nicer and closer options available for not much more. But nonetheless who am I to say how folks spend their money on housing.

I check tax records to see who owns the current residence, and surprise, it doesn't match the "landlord" name on the application. Out of curiosity I run the name on FB and find a woman who lives in that suburb with that exact name, and lists a healthcare position as her occupation. Problem is, she's not the same race as Ms. Applicant. After running her name through google, I find out there is a wedding website setup for her and her fiance - the guy who owns the property, and both have their FB pages full of recent loving hugging photos, so clearly they aren't separated. Hard decline at this point in my mind, and Ms. Applicant starts blowing up my phone the next day about the status of her application, but I'm like lets play along and see where this goes...

Me: Well, it looks like your application was flagged because your landlord reference name doesn't match the legal owner of the property.

Her: What! Its my aunt's house, I can have her call you to verify that

Me: No, I don't need that, can you just tell me who [Man's First Name on title] is?

Her: Oh, that's my uncle.

Me: Perfect, can you just verify his last name?

Her: [Her supposed last name]

Me: Cool, let me put you on hold for just a minute to verify his phone number and reach out.

Her: Click! Hangs up

Clearly identity theft in action. After calling about 10 wrong numbers I got a hold of the real person and let her know her identity was compromised. With all that's going on in society right now, be extra careful to screen screen screen your rental applicants, and do so beyond the standard credit/background checks, especially since here in Chicago eviction courts are shutdown. Scammers like this feed off of landlords' desperation in hard times so don't start to compromise your process just to put a warm body in your units.

Matthew Olszak

[email protected]

847-447-6824

5 Votes