en
Innocent homeowners and buyers are under attack from thieves looking to steal equity from Canadian homes, or even the homes themselves. For Daniela DeTommaso, President of FCT, protecting consumers means detecting title fraud, and preventing it before it ever happens. That’s no small task: in an increasingly digital real estate market, fraud prevention takes expertise as well as innovation.
Fraud still relies on the human factor
“We don’t live at a time where we know everybody we deal with,” said Daniela. “We now have a broader network and oftentimes, the first time we meet with people that we’re dealing with […] is in the course of transactions.”
In general, fraudsters usually prefer to keep the professionals involved in the deal at arm’s length when they can. The problem is, many honest buyers and sellers want to keep interaction to a minimum, too.
Daniela urged legal professionals to trust their instincts when dealing with customers. “It’s really important that you follow your gut. If you don’t know your customer, make sure that [you’re] asking for additional information, asking more questions.”
Fraudsters don’t want you to ask questions
Asking clients follow-up questions about themselves and the property is a fraud prevention best practice. Even friendly questions can expose inconsistencies in a fraudster’s story, if their answers don’t match the information you have, or details they provided.
Fraudsters are counting on you not wanting to seem suspicious of a client, or not feeling comfortable asking personal questions. But the truth is that most honest homebuyers will be willing to talk about their new property, often in detail. Whether they’re an investor or looking to call it home, something drew them to that property, and they’ll have just made a significant financial investment to secure it.
Let your clients share what excites them about the place, and take note of where they may be evasive or defensive. But don’t assume that just because someone isn’t comfortable discussing it that they’re a fraudster—the most important part of fraud prevention is verification.
Trust, but always verify
“COVID accelerated the rate and the opportunity for identity theft and fraud generally,” said Daniela. “Given that we were operating in a virtual world, it made it easier for frauds to happen.”
“We’re also finding out that people live out loud. We’re all on social media, we’re posting every moment of our day, and this again provides fraudsters access to information.”
That information can be invaluable to fraudsters: they can use it to learn when their target is away from their property, as well as help make their story and fake ID more credible.
New technology has transformed fake ID
“We’ve never seen the sophistication in the duplication of these documents that we’re seeing as of late,” Daniela said. Fraudsters are able to produce ID documents that appear legitimate, even to a close visual inspection, but use their target’s details, or even create a synthetic ID out of stolen personal information.
Take away fraudsters’ advantage by using Client ID Verification. It’s an innovative solution from FCT that checks the validity of ID documents and verifies their details, through an easy-to-use mobile app. All your clients need to do is take a selfie in the app for liveness, plus photos of their ID documents. The solution takes care of the rest and provides you with a report on if the client passed inspection, backed by a confidence score.
But an ID verification solution can only help prevent fraud if it’s used on every transaction, because any transaction could be the one you need to catch. Even if your client is sitting in the room with you and handing you a physical ID, that document can be fake.
How can we protect consumers?
“We all have a role to play in [fraud] prevention,” said Daniela. The underwriting team at FCT is always on the lookout for fraud, staying up to date on the latest technologies and techniques fraudsters use. For consumers, Daniela’s advised “I would say the biggest thing is: keep your private information private.”
Client ID Verification helps with this more than other verification solutions by keeping each user’s verified ID token on that user’s own device, rather than a centralized server. This keeps valuable personal data decentralized and much harder to compromise en masse, while keeping your clients in control of how those data are used.
Learn more about how Client ID Verification can assist in preventing fraud, even on in-person transactions, and how you can get started protecting your clients on every transaction today.
Insurance by FCT Insurance Company Ltd. Services by First Canadian Title Company Limited. The services company does not provide insurance products. This material is intended to provide general information only. For specific coverage and exclusions, refer to the applicable policy. Copies are available upon request. Some products/services may vary by province. Prices and products/services offered are subject to change without notice.
®Registered Trademark of First American Financial Corporation.
