Tech Talk with 20for20

Document fraud is now one of the fastest-growing sources of bad debt in multifamily—and the tactics are getting more sophisticated. In this episode of Tech Talk with 20for20, Dom Beveridge is joined by Bonnie Smetzer (Asset Living), James Stilwell (Snappt) and Jamie Borodin (Docuverus) to examine how document fraud works, why it has accelerated, and what operators need from modern verification tools.

The panel explores:

• How document fraud has evolved: AI-assisted forgeries now mimic both the visual layout and metadata of pay stubs and bank statements, replacing the crude edits of earlier years.

• The dual lenses of detection: Effective systems combine deep metadata analysis with visual and contextual checks—plus secondary sources such as bank deposits—to identify tampering or fabricated income.

• Market dynamics: Fraud clusters in hotspots like Atlanta, Texas, and Florida before spreading outward, with serial applicants testing defences across regions and property types.

• A new challenge in affordable housing: Applicants are now lowering stated income to qualify for restricted-rent units, adding compliance and revenue risk alongside traditional inflated-income fraud.

• The operational burden on site teams: Writable PDFs and online applications outpace what leasing staff can reliably evaluate, creating fairness risks and driving adoption of automated screening.

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.

To get access to the latest 20for20 articles, papers and news about forthcoming events, subscribe to our blog at 20for20.com.

Connect with Dom Beveridge (Principal, 20for20) via LinkedIn, or email to [email protected].

Our theme, “Beautiful Geometry” by Phish Funk is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License.

Income verification sits at the heart of fraud prevention—and it’s getting harder. In this episode of Tech Talk with 20for20, Dom Beveridge is joined by Sarah-Jane Milliren (Aldon Management), Mark Fiebig (Payscore) and Tim Ray (Verifast), to unpack what income verification really involves, why it’s so technically complex, and how it’s changing with the rise of gig work, open banking, and automation.

The panel explores:

• The five income types: Payroll, government benefits, gig work, side-hustle deposits, and assets—all with different levels of reliability and verification methods.

• Bank linking vs. documents: Direct bank access provides faster, cleaner data, while documents remain necessary for certain edge cases. The best systems use a waterfall approach that blends both.

• Fraud prevention through transparency: Fraudsters often self-select out of processes that require real bank connections—making direct access itself a deterrent.

• User experience and adoption: Renters are increasingly comfortable linking bank or payroll accounts, and companies find the process improves speed, accuracy, and trust.

• Algorithmic judgment: Modern tools don’t just verify deposits—they interpret patterns, distinguish recurring from one-off income, and adjust for market and property-specific policies.

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.

To get access to the latest 20for20 articles, papers and news about forthcoming events, subscribe to our blog at 20for20.com.

Connect with Dom Beveridge (Principal, 20for20) via LinkedIn, or email to [email protected].

Our theme, “Beautiful Geometry” by Phish Funk is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License.

Fraud and bad debt are connected, but not identical. In this episode of Tech Talk with 20for20, Dom Beveridge speaks with Steve Carroll (Findigs), Kyle Nelson (Snappt), and Nate Thompson (Morgan Properties) about how fraud drives bad debt, and how smarter policies, metrics, and market awareness can keep both under control.The panel explores:

• Where they overlap: Many evictions stem from fraud, but some bad debt comes from life events or overly rigid screening policies.
• Better policies: One-size-fits-all rules like “three times rent” don’t work everywhere. Operators are using local data to fine-tune risk and approval criteria.
• Evolving fraud patterns: Organized fraud targets fast-growing lease-ups in Sunbelt markets—but is spreading into new regions through “fraud-as-a-service.”
• Friction vs. experience: Post-pandemic systems block more fraud but can frustrate honest renters. Smarter “fast-lane” screening helps balance both goals.
• Measuring success: Early payment behavior—especially in the first 90 days—is the best leading indicator of fraud and future bad debt.

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.

To get access to the latest 20for20 articles, papers and news about forthcoming events, subscribe to our blog at 20for20.com.

Connect with Dom Beveridge (Principal, 20for20) via LinkedIn, or email to [email protected].

The takeaway: analyze evictions, act on your data, and never lose sight of the renter experience. “You can eliminate delinquency,” says Nate Thompson, “but you’ll eliminate occupancy too if you’re not careful.”

Our theme, “Beautiful Geometry” by Phish Funk is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License.

This season of Tech Talk with 20for20 begins with a fundamental question: why is fraud such a difficult problem for multifamily operators to solve? Dom Beveridge is joined by three experts, Jamie Borodin  (Docuverus), Mark Fiebig (Payscore) and Tim Ray (Verifast), to break down what makes this problem uniquely complex, and why so many operators underestimate it.Fraud prevention, they explain, is not a single task but a constantly moving target shaped by technology, incentives, and human behavior. The discussion explores:

• The fundamentals of fraud - understanding the difference between first-party, third-party, and synthetic fraud, and why most issues stem from falsified or edited documents rather than stolen identities.
• Managing acceptable risk - the balance between minimizing bad debt and maintaining occupancy, and why different asset classes require different levels of strictness.
• Technology philosophies - the divide between document-first and bank-linking-first approaches, and why most effective solutions use both to separate the “fast lane” for good applicants from slower lanes for those who need deeper scrutiny.
• The growing challenge of organized fraud - how social media, AI tools, and “fraudpreneurs” have industrialized deception.
• Why we need specialist providers - what are operators getting from their best-of-breed providers that they can’t get from their PMS or platform suppliers?

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.

To get access to the latest 20for20 articles, papers and news about forthcoming events, subscribe to our blog at 20for20.com.

Connect with Dom Beveridge (Principal, 20for20) via LinkedIn, or email to [email protected].

Our theme, “Beautiful Geometry” by Phish Funk is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License.