Admin Prospective borrowers, bank account openers, and other bad actors can use fake bank statements to perform a number of illegal activities. Although fraudsters are getting smarter, they use technology to create near-perfect bank statements. Manual verification procedures cannot run with standards set up by bad actors Identifying fake bank statements is the need of the hour to reduce fraud as much as possible. There are some simple methods that can be used to detect fake bank statements.
How to combat fraudulent applications?
Unfortunately, the problem of fake bank statement is still prevalent and has been exacerbated by the pandemic putting millions of people out of work. In fact, the problem of fake banks has become a major nuisance for banks, financial institutions, building owners, and many others. The percentage of use of fake bank statements increased from 15% to 29% in September 2020.
What makes this situation worse is that one out of every 4 applications goes unnoticed. The increase in the number of undetected fraudulent applications can be attributed to the lack of proper verification solutions. Also, manual methods of verification cannot detect highly sophisticated fake bank statements. Automation and data usage can use to combat fraudulent applications.
Detection of fake bank statements
1. Make sure all figures match
Common mistake fraudsters make is that they don’t put a lot of effort into making sure all the numbers add to the bank statement. If there’s no point in having an automated verification process, you’ll need to take your time to figure out if the numbers add up.
When identifying bank statements, it’s always good to remember one thing: fake bank statements often use round figures. Accurately rounded figures are usually a red flag when identifying whether a bank statement is genuine.
2. Take it to a bank representative
If as a business you are unsure whether you have received a fake bank statement, one way to be sure is to contact a banking representative. Call the bank yourself, don’t rely on any information listed on the bank statement. Once you get to a banking representative, confirm all the details you want to confirm.
In most cases, a banking representative will ask for a mailed copy of the document. You may not get much support from the bank. Many banks will try to prevent document tampering by adding some form of digital signature to PDF files, although this feature is usually meant to protect investment accounts.
3. Search for inconsistencies and errors in documents
The first potential red flag regarding bank statements is major and minor discrepancies in the document. Are the font sizes and font styles compatible with other document types of the same bank? Is the bank logo correct and standard? People who create fake bank documents are often lazy, and these discrepancies can help prevent online fraud. Do the numbers in the document add up and do the ending balances make sense? Are there any recalls that are questionable? If the bank statement contains this discrepancy, you may need to do more research.
4. Online Document Verification
Although you can rely on manual methods of verification for many things, they still have some limitations. Using technology, you can easily distinguish between fake and genuine documents. Bank document verification software instantly verifies documents and provides strong proof of verification backed by verifiable credentials. The online document verification tool can verify more than 7000 documents from around the world by cross-referencing document data from an original web source.
The technology can remove the bottleneck of manual verification and improve the overall document verification process and eliminate document-related fraud.
Read more: How to get a fake driver’s license
