The Top 10  Most Difficult Countries for Identity Verification

The Top 10  Most Difficult Countries for Identity Verification

Download Report

ID Verification Ensuring Safety Deals in Real Estate Sector

ID Verification

Buying and selling properties for people are major, thought-provoking decisions. It requires weeks, perhaps even months of search, planning and preparation. For people looking to make a solid and long term investment, it is even more important for a person to be more circumspect. The process of acquiring a property can be unbelievably long and tedious. More than anything, it is important to vet both the buyer and the seller in the process. Online ID verification is one process that makes this whole process easier and smoother for both the client as well as the agent.

Since the industry involves high-value transactions, there as an equally high chance of fraud, shady deals and other financial crimes involved. The signing of real estate deals requires signatures on different legal documents that clearly and properly ensure the transfer of ownership. One of the most legitimate concerns that surround real estate deals is money laundering. Financial regulators all around the world have doubled their efforts to curb terrorist financing and money laundering activities.

The Threat of Money Laundering

The real estate market has long been used to hide illicit money that has been gained through corruption, tax evasion, bribery or other similar means. Criminals end up hiding their money through shell corporations that are listed as owners of luxury properties, thereby effectively hiding money that is used further to fund terror cells. This ominous source of money laundering has prompted governments and regulators around the world to increase their scrutiny on the real estate sector as well.

In London alone, 36,342 properties were listed under offshore companies in 2015. World over, there are major luxury properties that are bought and managed by shell corporations. Other reports also indicate that more than £180 million of London’s properties were bought as a result of criminal proceedings. Other locations around the world including New York City, Florida, California and Canada are also attractive havens for money launderers to hide their money through high-value real estate deals. To combat the illicit bought up of high-value properties, certain regulatory authorities around the world are increasing regulations for real estate companies. These regulations around the world have prompted dealers and agents to verify and authenticate both parties in a real estate transaction before completing the sale.

However, it is not only the threat of money laundering that increases the risk of real estate transactions. Identity theft is another crime that is penetrating the real estate market. Fraudsters commit identity fraud by impersonating a property’s owner and by selling it to gain financial benefits for themselves. It, therefore, becomes the responsibility of a real estate agent or company to vet both the buyers as well as the seller before proceeding to sell a property.

Frauds and Scams in the Real Estate Sector

It is not just money laundering that has affected the real estate sector. An increasing number of scams and frauds are also becoming common in the industry. The victims of such frauds end up losing millions of dollars to such frauds and are often deprived of their life long savings. One of the ways to protect oneself from such scams is to be able to identify them effectively. Some useful ways to identify real estate scams involve;

  • Transactions that require money to be wired overseas and no possible way of contacting or meeting the person(s) receiving the money.
  • Sudden changes in address or other credentials, particularly contact details. Such details may not be received beforehand by the buyer.
  • Requests to transfer money to a different bank account(s) than the ones normally used by the client or selling party. One of the major giveaways may be that the account is offshore.
  • The buyer or seller suddenly starts using generic e-mail addresses instead of official ones.
  • The seller makes haste to sell the property giving reasons that cannot be corroborated.

All these and other simple yet obvious signs often point towards a shady deal, that should be investigated further. On suspicion of fraud, such deals must also be reported to the relevant authorities for them to take the appropriate action.

Scammers end up posing as owners of a property and selling it under the same pretence. The original owner of the property can remain oblivious for months as hardly many people check the status of their properties all too often.

Are Scams and Crimes Avoidable in the Real Estate Sector?

Frauds, scams and financial crimes that are associated with the real estate sector are entirely avoidable and preventable with certain precautions and preventive measures. Some of the few measures that can be taken to avoid scams include;

  1. Make sure when buying a property you are contacting the actual owner. Also, make sure to insist upon meeting the seller in person. If a meeting is unable to be arranged, at least try and speak to them via a video conference or a phone call. In certain cases, you may be dealing with a person who has a Power of Attorney to handle the property. In others, you may be dealing with an executor of the estate or a person who has a court order to execute a sale. In all cases, make sure you at least know who the buyer is.
  2. Real estate companies must make sure their employees and agents are well aware of common scams and frauds ( ID Verification ) that are prevalent in the real estate sector. They should take measures to educate employees of different techniques used by criminals and fraudsters to use properties to hide their money. Awareness lectures must be given to employees to make sure they know about typical phishing and social engineering scams.
  3. Another certain way to avoid real estate frauds is to verify both the parties in a real estate transaction. It is up to the real estate company to ensure that entities on both ends of a transaction are legitimate and have authentic credentials. People on either end of a transaction may be using forged or stolen details. It is therefore essential for real estate companies to use a reliable KYC (Know Your Customer) service that can effectively verify users’ identities.
  4. Real estate agents must also verify the authenticity of the property documents provided by the seller and make sure they are in order. All such documents must be checked to make sure there are no errors or misrepresentations. All documents must be in order and clearly legible.
  5. Special care must be taken if either of the two parties in the transaction is overseas. All deals that avoid face to face contact with the owner or other relevant parties must be avoided.
  6. Similar measures must be taken by mortgage providers to ensure the identities of property owners seeking loans. Tenants must also be verified before the leasing of properties.

The Need for Frictionless ID Verification Solutions in Real Estate

Real estate deals are drawn out and tedious as it is. In order to reduce friction in the entire process, businesses must make sure to make the procedure as simpler and faster as they can. Individually collecting and verifying all documents can be tiresome and unnecessarily lengthy. With the help of digitised user verification procedure, as provided by Shufti, real estate companies can authenticate buyers and sellers instantly. The procedure involves ID verification of both parties through ID document verification. This enables them to ensure that they are using authentic credentials to make the sale or purchase.

A number of different documents can be used to verify the identity of a person including ID cards, driver’s licenses, passports or any other form of government-issued IDs. The real estate provider can choose to verify the buyer and seller with the document(s) they prefer and proceed to authenticate the sale accordingly.

Parties to a real estate deal can be further authenticated using biometric facial verification. Facial recognition online can be performed through a facial recognition software that has features like liveness detection and 3D mapping that makes it harder for scammers to spoof the system.

To counter fraud in the real estate sector the online identity verification service presents itself as the perfect solution. Shufti’s ID verification software uses a hybrid technology of AI and Human Intelligence to verify users within 30-60 seconds. It uses OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology to extract user data and processes it accurately. This decreases the chances of human error that comes with manual verification methods. The system can obtain client details from their documents to save them the trouble of entering them every time for a process.

ID verification services from Shufti can be used by real estate providers in a number of ways including the processing of transactions, locating properties, detecting and preventing identity fraud, performing in-depth due diligence of customers and complying with regulatory measures. Shufti is focused on providing top of the line online ID verification services to its clients. It caters to a wide clientele base including the real estate sector. Through its AI enabled ID verification service, it can verify users from over 230 countries. Its face recognition ID verification services allows businesses to authenticate their users beyond a doubt. Through its AML background screening, businesses can screen their customers through global AML sanction lists, that allows them to eliminate the risk of money laundering and other financial crimes.

Recommended For You:

Related Posts

Blog

Crypto Regulations 2021 – What Digital Currency Providers Need to do

Cryptocurrency has been a hot topic ever since its advent in 2009. The ability to draw investor a...

Crypto Regulations 2021 – What Digital Currency Providers Need to do Explore More

Blog

Know Your Investor (KYI)- Ensuring Seamless Investor Onboarding for the Investment Industry

With global stock markets skyrocketing, the wealth, asset and investment sector is under growing ...

Know Your Investor (KYI)- Ensuring Seamless Investor Onboarding for the Investment Industry Explore More

Blog

Biometric Facial Recognition – Combating Identity Fraud with Shufti’s IDV Solution

Since knowledge-based authentication and passwords were first introduced, security systems in ban...

Biometric Facial Recognition – Combating Identity Fraud with Shufti’s IDV Solution Explore More

Blog

Video KYC – Ultimate Solution for Financial Institutions

With social distancing becoming the necessity during the pandemic, more and more companies began ...

Video KYC – Ultimate Solution for Financial Institutions Explore More

Blog

Know Your Investor (KYI) – Identifying and Eliminating Russian Sanctions Evaders

For quite some time, wealthy Russian businessmen and oligarchs have been investing their money in...

Know Your Investor (KYI) – Identifying and Eliminating Russian Sanctions Evaders Explore More

Blog, Financial Crime / AML, Online Marketplace

Smaller Banks are in dire need of AML Compliance to avoid fines

Smaller banks are being considered an easy target for money laundering activities because of thei...

Smaller Banks are in dire need of AML Compliance to avoid fines Explore More

Blog

Pension Fund Fraud and the Role of Employee Identity Verification

Old age is the scariest phase of life for everyone and organisations find it a big challenge to c...

Pension Fund Fraud and the Role of Employee Identity Verification Explore More

Blog

Revolutionizing the Finance Sector | VKYC’s Impact on Identity Verification in 2024

Identity verification is crucial in today’s ever-evolving digital landscape as it helps prevent i...

Revolutionizing the Finance Sector | VKYC’s Impact on Identity Verification in 2024 Explore More

Blog

KYC Trends To Watch Out For In 2024

Within the last year, there has been significant transformation in the global identity verificati...

KYC Trends To Watch Out For In 2024 Explore More

Blog

Crypto Regulations 2021 – What Digital Currency Providers Need to do

Cryptocurrency has been a hot topic ever since its advent in 2009. The ability to draw investor a...

Crypto Regulations 2021 – What Digital Currency Providers Need to do Explore More

Blog

Healthcare is Under Attack: Strengthening Security with Biometric Verification

Healthcare scams cost our economy tens of billions of dollars every year and the lowest value of ...

Healthcare is Under Attack: Strengthening Security with Biometric Verification Explore More

Blog

Is NFC Really the Future? The Mystery Solved!

We arguably live in a world that is now dependent on technology. From online payments to online e...

Is NFC Really the Future? The Mystery Solved! Explore More

Blog

Address Verification: Types, Benefits, and Best Practices

Improving customer service and combating fraud frequently requires swiftly gathering and confirmi...

Address Verification: Types, Benefits, and Best Practices Explore More

Blog, Financial Crime / AML, Identity & KYC

5AMLD: Implications for Cryptocurrency

What is 5AMLD? As part of the Action Plan against terrorism, the 5th Anti-Money Laundering Direct...

5AMLD: Implications for Cryptocurrency Explore More

Blog

COVID-19 Pandemic – What it holds for businesses?

The year of the Rat, 2020, didn’t get a propitious start because of the deadly coronavirus outbre...

COVID-19 Pandemic – What it holds for businesses? Explore More

Blog

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) – Powering Shufti’s Document Verification

Trust is a key factor when it comes to doing business or getting financial services from banks. A...

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) – Powering Shufti’s Document Verification Explore More

Blog, Business Technology

What Due Diligence Means for Your Business

Due diligence is a process that helps banks and individuals to get to know in detail who they are...

What Due Diligence Means for Your Business Explore More

Blog

Cryptocurrency Market and Financial Crimes: How to Handle Transaction Monitoring

The adoption of cryptocurrencies by both individuals and businesses has exploded in the last 12 m...

Cryptocurrency Market and Financial Crimes: How to Handle Transaction Monitoring Explore More

Blog, Reg Tech

EU’s 4th AML Directive Aims to make the Payment Ecosystem Crime Free

On June 26, 2018, the European Union landed the fourth AML directive that is targeted at combatin...

EU’s 4th AML Directive Aims to make the Payment Ecosystem Crime Free Explore More

Blog

Top 5 Most Common Identity Fraud Attempts in 2021

Fraudsters in the post-pandemic world took complete advantage of rapid digitization. Bad actors b...

Top 5 Most Common Identity Fraud Attempts in 2021 Explore More

Blog

Mobile Banking Adoption and the Rising Fraud Concerns Worldwide

People have been repeatedly talking about the COVID-driven digital “transformation” in the bankin...

Mobile Banking Adoption and the Rising Fraud Concerns Worldwide Explore More

Blog

Impact of Beneficial Ownership Transparency on Real Estate Crimes

The high price tags of real estate in the US open doors for corrupt politicians, kleptocrats, and...

Impact of Beneficial Ownership Transparency on Real Estate Crimes Explore More

Blog

Ensuring Compliance and Preventing Losses Due to Fraud in the Banking Sector

Banks are thought to be the most important part of the financial system, playing a vital role in ...

Ensuring Compliance and Preventing Losses Due to Fraud in the Banking Sector Explore More

Blog, Identity & KYC

KYC Compliance – Strengthening Fraud Prevention Across the Globe

Know Your Customer (KYC)  The widespread availability of the internet has made our world more con...

KYC Compliance – Strengthening Fraud Prevention Across the Globe Explore More

Blog

Blockchain and Identity Theft: Potential Challenges and how to Tackle Them

Blockchain has become increasingly popular because of its potential to provide secure transaction...

Blockchain and Identity Theft: Potential Challenges and how to Tackle Them Explore More

Blog

Address Verification: The Cornerstone of Elevating Customer Experience

Today’s highly emerging technology is changing the way consumers shop online products. Given the ...

Address Verification: The Cornerstone of Elevating Customer Experience Explore More

Blog

AML Compliance – Global Watchlists that Businesses Need to Consider

Coordinated sanctions after the Russian invasion of Ukraine have made the headlines due to their ...

AML Compliance – Global Watchlists that Businesses Need to Consider Explore More

Blog

AI face recognition for total automation

Face recognition is everywhere but still we’re unable to say goodbye to document, maybe because w...

AI face recognition for total automation Explore More

Blog

AI-based IDV Can Effectively Curb Unemployment Insurance Fraud

Throughout the United States, an emerging scam has taken the nation by storm. Unemployment Insura...

AI-based IDV Can Effectively Curb Unemployment Insurance Fraud Explore More

Blog

Ensure Digital Security with e-KYC Solutions

In today’s world where the distances have been reduced considerably with the advancement of techn...

Ensure Digital Security with e-KYC Solutions Explore More

Blog

Art Market in the Frame of Money Laundering

The highly volatile finance and crypto sector is not appealing for many investors, so they turn t...

Art Market in the Frame of Money Laundering Explore More

Blog

Secure Ride-Hailing Services – Building Trust Through NFC Verification

Despite the fact that modern ridesharing has only been operating for approximately a decade, it h...

Secure Ride-Hailing Services – Building Trust Through NFC Verification Explore More

Blog

Online Marketplaces and Increasing Crimes – How Shufti KYC Solution Can Help

With technological advancements and emerging innovations, online marketplaces have been digitized...

Online Marketplaces and Increasing Crimes – How Shufti KYC Solution Can Help Explore More

Blog

AML Compliance – Addressing the Threat of Money Laundering in NFT Marketplaces

The NFT marketplace is flourishing even though the top platforms do not always comply with Anti-M...

AML Compliance – Addressing the Threat of Money Laundering in NFT Marketplaces Explore More

Blog

The Evolution of AML Compliance from Checkbox to Risk-based Approach

Financial institutions are exposed to several money laundering threats, as criminals today are we...

The Evolution of AML Compliance from Checkbox to Risk-based Approach Explore More

Blog

5 Technology Trends To Disrupt Banking in 2020

Living in the digital era, technology is driving major changes in almost every industry. Whether ...

5 Technology Trends To Disrupt Banking in 2020 Explore More

Blog

eKYC: Transforming ID Verification for Enhanced Security and A Seamless Customer Experience

Governments have mandated various businesses, including financial institutions, to thoroughly und...

eKYC: Transforming ID Verification for Enhanced Security and A Seamless Customer Experience Explore More

Blog, Fraud Prevention

Credit Card Frauds- How Can You Prevent It?

Ever since credit cards were introduced, credit card fraud has been elevating. One needs to stay ...

Credit Card Frauds- How Can You Prevent It? Explore More

Blog

Identity verification in social media – Lighting up the dark side

Social media is a word every one of us can relate to. With every passing day, it is penetrating i...

Identity verification in social media – Lighting up the dark side Explore More

Blog

Age Verification Service – How Businesses can Identify Underage Visitors in Real Time?

When it comes online retail, one has to know that in such an age of fast-moving technology and in...

Age Verification Service – How Businesses can Identify Underage Visitors in Real Time? Explore More

Blog

Cross-Border KYC Compliance | Understanding and Overcoming the Challenges

To handle money laundering incidents and rising regulatory pressure, the banking industry benefit...

Cross-Border KYC Compliance | Understanding and Overcoming the Challenges Explore More

Blog

Digital Document verification – an efficacious method of ID card scanning

Businesses, banks, airports, social media platforms, e-commerce stores all need to be sure of the...

Digital Document verification – an efficacious method of ID card scanning Explore More

Blog

Avoiding Billion-dollar Fraud & Non-Compliance Costs With Shufti

Businesses deplete millions of dollars each year on outdated technologies, employee training, and...

Avoiding Billion-dollar Fraud & Non-Compliance Costs With Shufti Explore More

Blog

Understanding the Difference Between CIP and KYC

Financial institutions worldwide, including banks, lenders, credit unions, insurers, and other en...

Understanding the Difference Between CIP and KYC Explore More

Blog

Money Laundering in the Metaverse – NFTs, DeFi, and the Role of Shufti’s AML Solutions

For more than a decade, the metaverse concept has been picking up pace, and the world is preparin...

Money Laundering in the Metaverse – NFTs, DeFi,  and the Role of Shufti’s AML Solutions Explore More

Blog

Top 8 Facial Recognition trends to watch in 2020

Facial recognition has been gaining prominence in recent times, owing to the benefits it offers o...

Top 8 Facial Recognition trends to watch in 2020 Explore More

Blog

An Insight into the US Regulations for the Art Art & Antiquities Sector

Billions of dollars worth of art and antiquities are traded throughout the world without checks t...

An Insight into the US Regulations for the Art  Art & Antiquities Sector Explore More

Blog

The Worldwide Response on Covid Vaccine Passports – A Brief Insight

One question that is being asked around the world with great urgency is, would freedom be granted...

The Worldwide Response on Covid Vaccine Passports – A Brief Insight Explore More

Anti Money Laundering, Artificial Intelligence, Blog

AI a Blessing – AML compliance cost reduced by $217 billion

The U.S. financial firms spend approximately $25.3 Billion in terms of compliance, risk managemen...

AI a Blessing – AML compliance cost reduced by $217 billion Explore More

Blog

Crypto as a Virtual Safe Haven for Russians Amid Sanctions

The Russia-Ukraine conflict has had some serious effects on the global financial landscape. While...

Crypto as a Virtual Safe Haven for Russians Amid Sanctions Explore More

Blog

Secure Ride-Hailing Services – Building Trust Through NFC Verification

Despite the fact that modern ridesharing has only been operating for approximately a decade, it h...

Secure Ride-Hailing Services – Building Trust Through NFC Verification Explore More

Blog

The New Face of Authentication (*hint: you’ve seen it before!) 

Companies face the daunting tasks of securing their data against the evolving threat of fraud whi...

The New Face of Authentication (*hint: you’ve seen it before!)  Explore More

Blog, Identity & KYC

Online Identity Verification – Why Shufti is Perfect for Digital Authentication

In a short period of time, Shufti has managed to make a significant mark upon the end-to-end ...

Online Identity Verification – Why Shufti is Perfect for Digital Authentication Explore More

Blog

Crypto Regulations in the US and UK | A Comprehensive Overview

Financial regulators struggle to understand how to categorise and regulate cryptocurrency that do...

Crypto Regulations in the US and UK | A Comprehensive Overview Explore More

Blog, Online Marketplace

ID Verification – Fraud Prevention in Online Gambling Industry

By its very nature, gambling is quite risky. Add to it the potential for fraud that it attracts, ...

ID Verification – Fraud Prevention in Online Gambling Industry Explore More

Blog

Top 6 trends in Anti-Money Laundering for 2020

To enhance the scope of AML compliance, new regulations were brought into force throughout last y...

Top 6 trends in Anti-Money Laundering for 2020 Explore More

Blog

UK Elections: Photo ID Law Change Raising Concerns for Voters

Law changes bring several hassles for the public and government authorities. The recent photo ID ...

UK Elections: Photo ID Law Change Raising Concerns for Voters Explore More

Blog

Top 5 Ways Minors Use to Dodge Age Verification Checks

Protecting minors from the perils of the digital world is nearly impossible for businesses withou...

Top 5 Ways Minors Use to Dodge Age Verification Checks Explore More

Blog

How can AML play a role to impede the financing of terrorism?

Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing are global issues and there is no dispute regarding it. ...

How can AML play a role to impede the financing of terrorism? Explore More

Blog

Why Digital Identity Verification is Booming – A Detailed Insight

According to the report “Digital Identity & Document Verification Market & Technology Ana...

Why Digital Identity Verification is Booming – A Detailed Insight Explore More

Blog

Document Authentication | Streamlining Onboarding, Compliance & Fraud Prevention

Before the world experienced digitisation due to the advent of smartphones, fast-speed internet, ...

Document Authentication | Streamlining Onboarding, Compliance & Fraud Prevention Explore More

Blog, Identity & KYC

Know Your Patient: Anti-Fraud Pill for Healthcare Industry

Know Your Patient: The healthcare industry is more prone to data breaches than any other industry...

Know Your Patient: Anti-Fraud Pill for Healthcare Industry Explore More

Blog

Debunking the Top 7 Myths about Video KYC with CEO of Shufti

Businesses were looking for more robust and remote ways of verifying the identities of customers ...

Debunking the Top 7 Myths about Video KYC with CEO of Shufti Explore More

Blog

Enhanced Due Diligence – How to Identify and Deal with High-Risk Customers

Business relationships always come with associated risks that require carefully implemented measu...

Enhanced Due Diligence – How to Identify and Deal with High-Risk Customers Explore More

Blog, Business Technology

What Due Diligence Means for Your Business

Due diligence is a process that helps banks and individuals to get to know in detail who they are...

What Due Diligence Means for Your Business Explore More

Blog

How E-KYC is Overcoming the Hurdles of Financial Inclusion

The challenges associated with the global pandemic have risen at a bewildering speed and yet ther...

How E-KYC is Overcoming the Hurdles of  Financial Inclusion Explore More

Blog

Financial Regulations Against Crypto Sanctions Evasion in the UK – Is the Crypto Sector Safe?

Many governments throughout the world are facing concerns of money laundering and sanctions evasi...

Financial Regulations Against Crypto Sanctions Evasion in the UK – Is the Crypto Sector Safe? Explore More

Blog

New KYC Regime for the UK, US, and Australia – What’s in it for Financial Institutions?

Financial institutions are known for getting their reputation maligned due to crimes like identit...

New KYC Regime for the UK, US, and Australia – What’s in it for Financial Institutions? Explore More

Blog

Curbing Real Estate Crimes with AML Screening Solutions – How Shufti Can Help

In course of history, money laundering has always remained most complicated issue for governments...

Curbing Real Estate Crimes with AML Screening Solutions – How Shufti Can Help Explore More

Blog

5 Features of the Best Transaction Monitoring Solution

Criminals are continuously devising sophisticated strategies to launder illegally-acquired money....

5 Features of the Best Transaction Monitoring Solution Explore More

Blog

Safeguarding the Art Market with Shufti’s AML Screening Solution

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs), blockchain-powered title deeds tied to a virtual or physical asset, h...

Safeguarding the Art Market with Shufti’s AML Screening Solution Explore More

Blog

Anti-Money Laundering Screening | Securing Digital Economies from Financial Crimes

The increased reliance on digital banking and the advent of virtual currencies in today’s d...

Anti-Money Laundering Screening | Securing Digital Economies from Financial Crimes Explore More

Take the next steps to better security.

Contact us

Get in touch with our experts. We'll help you find the perfect solution for your compliance and security needs.

Contact us

Request demo

Get free access to our platform and try our products today.

Get started