Collecting SSN? & Cozy.co?

[Austin Youmans]

https://www.landlordology.com/do-landlords-need-social-security-numbers/

Per the article in the link and looking into Cozy.co they don't collect SSN of applicants.

 I am all for not collecting them to reduce liability and making the credit check a soft inquiry so it doesn't hurt the applicant but if you collect the SSN when signing the lease how do you verify that it is their actually SSN and not just a made up number?