Jared Decker was on his way to lunch when a phone call suddenly disrupted his day and the next several months of his work life. It was the fall of 2023, and a local Tampa businessman was on the line, claiming nearly $10,000 had mysteriously disappeared from his bank account, with rent charges linked to a property he had never occupied. The caller had traced the payments to the property management company where Decker works, which manages over 600 rental units. After investigating, Decker and the firm's owners discovered the disturbing truth. A scammer had rented one of their homes using a stolen identity, combining the Tampa businessman’s bank details with a different individual's name from Pennsylvania. Since the fraudster moved in before Decker’s firm assumed control of the property, he had slipped past their usual screening process. What followed was a legal and logistical mess, from eviction procedures to court proceedings to recover the lost funds. The owner of the property an independent landlord with just a few units ultimately bore most of the financial burden.
Landlords and property managers across the country are now raising urgent concerns about the rise of leasing fraud, as applicants increasingly submit fake documents or stolen identities to secure rentals. A senior executive at Greystar, the nation’s largest property management company, reported that in certain areas of Atlanta, about half of all rental applications are flagged for “provable” fraud. During a 2023 earnings call, the CEO of Camden Property Trust shared a personal encounter with identity theft, explaining how someone had attempted to rent an apartment in Charlotte using his own name. While hard statistics are limited and much of the available data comes from industry-insider sources with a vested interest, interviews with property managers nationwide suggest this isn’t hype. Fraud is escalating and fast.
Some may dismiss the issue as a problem for landlords only. But ignoring the implications of leasing fraud for regular renters misses the bigger picture. As landlords invest in fraud detection tools, the application process becomes more complex, automated, and opaque. Honest renters may face tougher approval hurdles, rising application fees, and slower processing times. Worse, they might end up living near someone who isn’t who they claim to be. For tenants, the housing hunt is increasingly feeling like a background-check arms race.
Leasing fraud generally falls into two categories. The first, known as first-party fraud, involves applicants who use their real names but forge income documents, bank statements, or credit reports to qualify for units they wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford. The second, more dangerous type is third-party fraud, which includes identity theft or crafting completely fabricated personas using real personal data. Once a fraudster has secured a lease, they might live in the apartment, illegally sublet it to unsuspecting tenants, or worse use it as a front for illegal activities like drug or human trafficking, according to reports from landlord software company RealPage.
The shift toward digital leasing during the pandemic made it easier for bad actors to exploit gaps in the system. Now, the rise of AI-generated forgeries has made detection even harder, especially for smaller landlords who may lack the tools or expertise to spot high-quality fake documents. At the same time, new apartment buildings offering move-in promotions have created a target-rich environment for scammers. A 2023 survey by the National Multifamily Housing Council revealed that 70% of apartment operators saw an increase in fraudulent applications and payment issues over the prior year. RealPage’s data supports this, with 75% of 400 surveyed property managers in five major metro areas reporting similar trends. The NMHC also found that nearly one-quarter of recent evictions were linked to fraudulent applications and nonpayment, with months-long eviction processes costing landlords time and income.
Chase Harrington, president of Entrata, a major property management software firm, noted that five to seven years ago, most leasing fraud revolved around applicants inflating their income or smoothing over credit blemishes. But now, fraud is more serious, more widespread, and more technical. Harrington says today’s scammers raise much more fundamental questions: are they even who they say they are?
Leasing fraud appears to be affecting all kinds of rental markets, regardless of state policies or local laws. Atlanta was repeatedly cited by property managers as a hotspot, even though Georgia has relatively fast eviction procedures and landlord-friendly laws. Greystar says it flags as many as half of all rental applications as fraudulent in areas like Midtown, Downtown, and Buckhead. Other high-fraud metros include Durham-Chapel Hill, Salt Lake City, Portland, Charleston, and Boston, where fraudulent applications hover between 14% and 18.5%. These figures exclude applicants who quietly drop out when asked for additional ID or documentation likely an early sign of fraud being filtered out.
As leasing fraud spikes, companies offering fraud detection and identity verification services are thriving. Snappt, a firm that verifies applicant income and identity documents, raised $100 million in Series A funding in 2022 and now works with landlords overseeing more than 2.2 million apartments across all 50 states. According to Snappt’s VP of strategy, Kyle Nelson, business is booming, and while their data shows lower fraud rates than Greystar reports, they still found concerning levels. Of 770,000 applications reviewed in the first half of 2025, Snappt found a 6.5% average fraud rate, with Houston, Atlanta, and Los Angeles showing the highest numbers. Their analysis flagged over 25,000 fake documents from “template farms” and over 21,000 manipulated files tied to advanced fraud rings that modify document code to evade human review.
Though most of the pain lands on landlords, renters can suffer too. Apartments caught in eviction limbo are pulled from the market, tightening availability for real tenants. Additional fraud-prevention measures can result in more paperwork, more delays, and higher application fees. It’s easy to imagine landlords raising prices to offset fraud losses, and there’s evidence this happens. A 2022 Urban Institute study found that landlords who missed rental income during the early COVID era were more likely to raise rent later to make up the difference.
As screening processes become more complex, many renters are left in the dark about what’s actually being evaluated. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found that background checks and risk-scoring algorithms are often riddled with errors or too rigid, leading to unfair rejections. Marie Claire Tran-Leung, a housing attorney, argues that this system leaves renters vulnerable to being excluded without explanation and charged fees for the privilege of applying.
Snappt insists its tools are meant to reduce bias by offering a consistent, tech-driven verification process. The company claims it doesn’t decide who gets approved or denied and emphasizes flexible submission methods like bank links or secure uploads. But critics say this still doesn’t address the broader concern: that landlords are using fraud as a smokescreen to deflect from rising affordability issues. Rents are up over 25% since 2020, and Moody’s Analytics reports that more than half of American renters are “rent-burdened,” meaning they spend more than 30% of income on housing.
This is where perspectives clash. Tenant advocates argue that fraud concerns are exaggerated distractions, while landlords say ignoring the problem only makes housing access harder for everyone. The rise of AI and digital forgeries means the issue is unlikely to go away soon. Jared Decker, the Florida manager who fielded that disturbing phone call last year, says his team is now dealing with another eerily similar case. Though most scams are caught early, every new fraudster adds another layer of complexity to an already stressful process. As Decker puts it, trying to rent an apartment today has simply become a longer, more frustrating experience for the average, honest person all thanks to the actions of a few determined scammers.
