Our current CIP procedures provide the typical items to be used when there is an address discrepancy. Copy of utility bill, lease agreement, and mail. However, we are being flooded with fake utility bills resulting in fraudulent accounts and transactions. We've toyed with the idea of requesting the customer to log in as they are in our office(s) to the utility site and printing/emailing the doc as they are in the presence of staff. I feel as if this could be seen as discriminatory to someone that might not be technically savvy - besides the fact that the bill may have confidential info that we shouldn't encourage the customer to email. Is anyone else experiencing fraud as I've described, and if so, what are you doing to stop the bad guys? Thanks!

We've seen fake utility bills as well. One thing I would suggest to look at is the energy usage graph because the fraudsters often overlook it. Most applications claim a month at the new residence so you would not see values/bars for anything but a single month. It would be blank for the other months of usage. Also, the statements should state what property the service is being billed for and that can differ from the mailing address. We've seen the consumer name substituted in this spot. Obviously not every fraudsters will not make such mistakes, but at least it's something look at. For longer periods of time, I would know what your state laws on establishing residency and the requirements on obtaining a Driver License are.

Thank you so much for your thoughts. Great ideas for sure.

We once had a customer attempt to open a checking account; ID didn't match the address. Asked them to bring in a copy of their lease agreement; instead they brought in a citation from the apartment management for a noise violation, LOL.

missmarybrewster that's great! did you accept it?!

Many many years ago when I was a wee customer service rep a lad wanted to open a bank account.....he had no ID on him....but he had a number sketched on a walkman (yes it was that long ago!) he told me that was his inmate number and asked if I could use that? Um no....then he told me that the officer that just left could vouch for him. Can't make this stuff up!

Indeed, you can't make this stuff up!

I feel like we actually did accept it, since it did have the customers name and address on the citation, LOL.