Landlords across the country are up against a booming, multi-million dollar business: the production of false identity cards. If you think fake I.D.s are used exclusively by minors, think again. Online businesses are using state-of-the-art computer technology to sell thousands of authentic-looking Social Security cards, driver’s licenses, state ID cards, passports and Permanent Resident Alien cards. Smart landlords will require a photo ID from each tenant in the household and keep record of the IDs on file. But the problem is that tenants with financial troubles, prior eviction notices and criminal records are doing their homework ahead of time and producing false identification with screening reports to match, often stealing the identity of a close relative or friend. Thousands of potential tenants looking to rent do not have a legal residential or work status and would list a false Social Security Number on a rental application. Assuming the background check will clear and jumping the gun on allowing a tenant to move in could prove costly if the tenant vacates shortly thereafter without proper notice or, even worse, carries out illegal behaviors in your rental unit. The benefit of using a credible screening service, like www.myscreeningreport.com is to ensure that the identification being presented to you is authentic. Tenant background checks may vary per landlord, but typically include the following verifications: –Identification: Full legal name, maiden name, nicknames/aliases, date of birth –Reference checks: Past addresses, relatives, employment –National and state criminal records –Eviction records –Financial records: Bankruptcies, law suits, tax records –Marriage, divorce and death records The more thorough the background search, the better. An applicant may fool you with a friend posing as a former landlord/rental reference, or issue a pre-scripted excuse as to why information is missing or inconsistent. A good screening service will carefully scan for inconsistent information in areas like credit reports or eviction records. It is important to note that a few applicants may not list a Social Security Number for fear of the information being compromised within your organization. An ITIN (Individual Taxpayer Identification Number) should never be used as a substitute as they have no value for pulling credit. You can almost always still perform a thorough background search with just the full legal name, applicant’s date of birth and recent address.