Skyrocketing apartment costs are pushing would-be renters to resort to document forgery and identity theft, turning multifamily leasing into a high-stakes game of cat and mouse. The latest State of Multifamily Fraud Report from Snappt highlights a surge in sophisticated scams, with fraudsters leveraging AI-driven tools to churn out fake documents that slip past property managers undetected.
Fraudsters use a range of schemes to deceive property managers. Some applicants engage in first-party fraud, directly altering pay stubs and bank statements to inflate their income, while others impersonate a third party by using stolen identities or forged documents. A newer and more sophisticated threat is synthetic fraud, where fraudsters create entirely fictitious identities with fake supporting documents generated by AI tools like FraudGPT.
FraudGPT, in particular, has emerged as a powerful enabler of leasing fraud. The AI tool can produce high-quality fake pay stubs, synthetic identities, and other supporting documents at scale. Fraudsters can also tap into online templates that replicate authentic payroll provider formats, allowing them to fill in false information and present it as legitimate. These tactics, combined with the availability of done-for-you document services—where third parties create falsified financial documents on behalf of applicants—are giving rise to a more complex fraud landscape.
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Snappt also found that social engineering is a key element in these schemes. Fraudsters share tips and tricks on how to bypass document verification systems, while some resort to outright identity theft by using stolen personal information or AI-generated fake IDs to impersonate others.
The evolving nature of fraud is creating an urgent challenge for multifamily property managers. Traditional detection measures, such as document verification and optical character recognition technology, are being outpaced by the rapidly changing tactics of bad actors. As leasing teams struggle to keep up, fraudsters exploit the blind spots of static security systems, raising the stakes for property owners and operators.
Snappt’s report is based on data from two nationwide surveys of property managers and decision-makers. The findings highlight the scale and impact of fraud on the multifamily industry, emphasizing the need for more advanced fraud detection tools and proactive risk management strategies. With over 10 million documents analyzed and a dedicated fraud forensics team, Snappt’s insights underscore the importance of staying ahead of rapidly shifting fraud tactics.
The landscape for multifamily landlords is growing more complex as fraudsters engage sophisticated tools like AI and social engineering tactics to outpace traditional defenses. Property managers are being forced to rethink their approach, with sharper tech, faster responses, and more proactive detection measures now essential to stay ahead. Falling behind could mean mounting financial losses and operational headaches that only get worse over time.
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