It is admirable that you want to help people....however I would not mix your investing with your desire for social justice.  

Accusing someone of theft is a fairly serious accusation which could result in the termination of ones employment and/or criminal charges. 

@Romaldo Cruz I have been lenient on student and medical credit issues before as long as their criminal, income/employment, and rental history checks out OK.

The last ones had fico scores over 765, no criminal, and no eviction history, etc.I have been licensed and full time in Arizona since 1998.

You're like a mortgage social justice warrior that wants to make sure we aren't being too hard on banks.

We are talking criminal here, most likely.

As for the Absentee Owners, you can look for motivation in the same ways as mentioned above, but you would also want to include,Forcible Detainer's - Justice of the Peace (in my county)Keep an eye on the owners who's names keep popping up on the foreclosure list, etc...

Well, there is that, plus the credit and criminal background checks.  

Our current tenant screening company can only search criminal records by SS#. 

Some landlords have a strict no-criminal-record policy, and will refuse to consider anyone convicted of a crime.