Nationally and even internationally, landlords are increasingly becoming the targets of scammers and rip-off artists. Most landlords are individuals and small companies who don’t have the many resources of large companies. These predators assume that their greatest chance of success lies with an individual whose rental business is not their primary source on income or they assume that property managers are overworked and don’t have the attention to detail and many levels oversight that larger companies have.

One of the most common ways that scammers reveal their intention to defraud a landlord is through the rental application. For landlords, application fraud is false and deceptive statement of fact intended for landlords to rely upon in order to give up their legal right to their property in return for rent. Landlords should remember that when a potential renter applies to rent a unit, the landlord is in essence granting credit to the renter. Renter scams are different and change frequently. Landlords who fall victim to application fraud lose thousand of dollars in lost rent and damages as well experience great inconvenience and anxiety.

Many of the fraudulent applications share common characteristics which can alert landlords to take further investigation. These characteristics or traits may signal a pattern of irregularities that indicate the possibility of fraud but not necessarily as proof of fraud. It is very hard to prove fraud in the courts with only traits of fraud. The following are characteristics of fraudulent behavior which have been used on landlords in the past and are not intended to be proof of fraud. They should simply be viewed as warning signs and a reminder to look carefully at your applications.

"The Social Security number is often omitted or copied"

Name -Unusual name arrangement such as two first names used as given and surnames -Unusual sounding names which are not recognizable and impossible to pronounce coupled with common names. -Names of known personalities such as Magic Johnson, Tiger Woods or Brett Farvre.

For landlords, application fraud is false and deceptive statement of fact intended for landlords to rely upon in order to give up their legal right to their property in return for rent. Landlords should remember that when a potential renter applies to rent a unit, the landlord is in essence granting credit to the renter. Renter scams are different and change frequently. Landlords who fall victim to application fraud lose thousand of dollars in lost rent and damages as well experience great inconvenience and anxiety.