I recently re-watched a webinar originally run by Veda in early July and believe an interesting statistic needs to be brought to your attention.
Veda claimed that its research showed that on commercial loan applications, the inclusion of a single incorrect telephone phone number led to a 25% chance the application was fraudulent. If the application also contained an error in an address (note – ‘an’ address, not necessarily that of the applicant business), the fraudulent rate increased to well over 50%.
What can you do to reduce fraud?
I would argue the rate would be similar for any consumer application, so whilst anyone can make a mistake, regardless of the type of contract you provide, we suggest you check the phone number(s) and address details are correct. Ideally, call the numbers and do a Google street search to make sure the address is correct. I have seen a number of applications where the address given for a residential property is actually a commercial building or simply doesn’t exist.