Property management fraud has been on the rise since the Great Recession. Repair and maintenance billing is at the center of the fraudulent activity, with property managers mischarging for work or billing for work that has not been completed or that was not needed. Jason Hartman, president of Platinum Properties, has been the victim or fraudulent activity and has worked to educate other investors on the risk of potential fraud from property managers. We sat down with Hartman for an exclusive interview to talk about the increase in fraudulent activity from property managers and what owners can do to prevent it.

GlobeSt.com: Describe some of the fraudulent property management activity that you have seen.

Jason Hartman: Some of the fraudulent activity that we have seen includes property managers charging for work that wasn't done, over charging for work or billing owners for unnecessary repair and maintenance issues. Those are really the three major categories of the fraud that we see most often, but another fraud that we have seen is property management companies claiming a unit is vacant when it is actually occupied, and they will pocket the rent. There are ways to monitor and prevent all of these.