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All the transactions, forms, and financial documents look realistic and accurate. These fraudsters don’t make alterations that are obvious to the naked eye. The next level of document fraud is more sophisticated. Here are some examples of this level of document tampering: Fraudster #2: The Expert Humans and machines alike can identify this form of fraud, although when dealing with thousands of pages, automating the task greatly improves time efficiency. These alterations are usually botched PhotoShop jobs, made for a transaction or two, in order to inflate the fraudster’s income. They, or the services that they use, make image alterations that are obvious to the naked eye and take little effort to detect. On one side of the spectrum, you have fraudsters who are relatively unskilled. By examining the level with which a fraudulent loan document was created, you can determine the best way to prevent future fraud. On one side of the spectrum, you have fraudsters and the errors within their fake documents. The best way to identify loan application fraud is to break things down by the skillset of the fraudsters. Identifying Different Degrees of Document Fraud (with Examples) Most of these services also generate fake pay stubs, utility bills, and other documents that help bad actors secure loans illegitimately. A quick Google search will yield many of these semi-illicit services. Fraudsters can easily outsource their counterfeiting to third parties.įor instance, there are online services that specialize in “Novelty Bank Statements.” The documents these services produce are actually just doctored bank statements that need to be verified for fraud.
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The best fraudsters are experts with these applications, but many bad actors do not need design skills to engage in loan application fraud. Alterations are made primarily with PhotoShop and other design software. Document Fraud: Anyone Can With the Right Software or Serviceĭocument fraud can run the gamut from the alteration of individual transactions to creating entire counterfeit paper trails. Read on to learn what document fraud is in online lending, and how lenders can detect loan application fraud with innovative technology. As digital imaging software and specialized counterfeiting services continue to evolve, fraudulent documents are becoming harder to detect and starting to cost lenders millions. While the broad majority of borrowers who submit financials are legitimate applicants, some do submit documents that are altered or fabricated to enhance their ability to secure a loan.ĭocument fraud, like most forms of online lending fraud, is becoming easier to execute. Many online lenders ask borrowers to upload bank statements, pay stubs, tax forms, and other financial documents to assess creditworthiness.
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