Identity Theft: Will the real Jane Smith please stand up?

According to the US Department of Justice, over 11.5 million people fall victim to identity theft every year in the US. The type of frauds range from having stolen credit card information, misuse of an existing bank account, or misuse of personal information (i.e. social security number).

Sometimes, verifying a government-issued photo identification is not enough. Did you know someone with a common name, like “Jane Smith,” can still provides a fake social or credit history? Some thieves actually commit a type of identity theft called, “ghosting” – where they steal the identity of someone who is not widely known to be deceased!

Here are a few ways to make sure the Jane Smith you are leasing to is actually the person she says she is.

1. Previous address info is spotty. Jane Smith should not be afraid to have previous landlord referrals or provide a current proof of address – unless she is trying to hide from something (like an eviction history, or she is hiding from creditors)
2. Pick up the phone. Talk to Jane Smith’s former landlords, employer, and references. This is the only way to know the names and phone numbers she puts on her application are not fake, or misleading.
3. Verify she exists in the world. You can even take it a step further and ask Jane Smith to provide her work phone # and work email address and see if these are real. Also, every legitimately employed adult should have a paystub from his or her employer with a current address on it.
4. She uses a bank. If Jane Smith the tenant applicant doesn’t have a bank account and only wants to pays in cash, but she has a good credit report then something in the water isn’t clean. Responsible adults with nothing to hide use banks and write checks to pay their rent.

Have you ever rented to someone who lied about their identity? Tell us about it!

This blog post first appeared on http://www.alwaysscreen.com