Fraud in multifamily has evolved from individual and opportunistic to a more coordinated and sophisticated enterprise. In this episode, Dom Beveridge speaks with Jess Tierney, chief integration officer at Verifast, James Stilwell, head of fraud forensics at Snappt and Maitri Johnson, senior vice president at TransUnion, about the mechanics of organized fraud, how it spreads, and what operators need to understand about the threat.
The conversation covers:
Fraud rings, testers, and influencers: How organized groups test properties share techniques, and sell full “rental packages.” Some even create shell management companies to probe fraud systems. Social channels accelerate the spread.
Inception fraud and synthetic identities: How fraudsters build real credit profiles from fabricated identities, using child, deceased, inmate and CPN-based SSNs.
Insider risk and incentives: Overrides driven by occupancy pressure or commissions remain a material vulnerability. Centralized workflows reduce the surface area for insider manipulation.
Signals in the data: Including cross-market patterns, late-night applications, single-document submissions, mismatched device data, repeated use of lightweight payroll tools, or multiple applicants linked to the same fraud ring.
Sponsors for this episode:
Western Reporting, resident screening and income verification by Inhabit
EliseAI, AI-driven automation that helps streamline communications and improve operational efficiency.
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Connect with Dom Beveridge (Principal, 20for20) via LinkedIn, or email to dom@20for20.com.
Our theme, “Beautiful Geometry” by Phish Funk is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License.
