Renter application fraud has become a growing nuisance for apartment owners like Camden Property Trust, as more and more tenants provide fake documents to sign a lease and never pay rent, banking on a lengthy eviction process and lax enforcement. But it became personal for Camden CEO Ric Campo when someone stole his identity to rent an apartment in Chicago, taking out a credit card in his name, maxing it out and defaulting on it. Campo said his credit score went down to 510 and he had to work for months to correct his credit report. Then it happened again this summer at a competitor's building in Charlotte. “The competitor happened to know my name because we’re pretty well-known and they sent the information to the regional vice president and said, ‘By the way, is Ric Campo really trying to lease an apartment in Charlotte?’ And the answer was, no, he isn’t,” Campo said on an earnings call in August. “Having been personally [affected], where my identity was stolen and trying to rent apartments with our competitors, has been a real eye-opener. And it’s something that unfortunately is happening in our industry.” Campo experienced just one of the ways that fraudsters are discovering to live rent-free. TikTok and other social media platforms are allowing document and identity fraud to boom across the country, multifamily leaders told Bisnow, spurring a new real estate crime wave. 
While the tactics vary, the results are almost always the same: Tenants get approved for luxury units, move in and never pay rent. Landlords start a lengthy eviction process, and with courts still bogged down from the pandemic-induced eviction moratoriums, cases can drag on for… Read the full story here. | 
