WARNING: Manual ID checks leave agents ‘vulnerable to scams’

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Anti-money laundering specialist firm SmartSearch says estate agents need to ensure they verify identities using digital technology.

23rd Feb 20260 645 1 minute read David Callaghan

 

Property agents are warned that manual identity checks leave them vulnerable to scams.

Proptech anti-money laundering firm SmartSearch says less than half of ID checks are carried out digitally.

Exploit weaknesses

And without the extra security offered by digital checks, scammers can exploit weaknesses, SmartSearch says.

Collette Smith, Chief Customer Officer, SmartSearch

Collette Smith, Chief Customer Officer at SmartSearch, says: “Manual processes can’t scale to catch the volume and sophistication of modern fraud.

“Visual inspection doesn’t detect pixel-level document forgery.”

Trigger alarms

She says the question is “whether those processes could catch what criminals are deploying in 2026: AI-generated identities, deepfake documents, and synthetic profiles that pass traditional checks without triggering any alarms”.

“Businesses have a responsibility, and a regulatory obligation, to ensure that the accounts facilitating these scams don’t exist in the first place.”

SmartSearch recently surveyed 1,000 key decision-makers across property, finance, legal and accounting sectors, and found 54% of identity verification checks were still conducted manually, with only 46% digital.

Fake documents

Smith adds that the Financial Ombudsman Service is right to urge consumers to pause, research, and verify before transferring money, but says the burden can’t rest solely on victims.

Last year, a survey by the digital identity verification provider Credas among 250 estate agents found that 70% have witnessed an increase in fraud cases, with over half (52%) encountering fake identification documents.

The survey also revealed that fraud prevention had overtaken customer experience as estate agents’ primary operational concern.

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TagsDIgital ID Smartsearch 23rd Feb 20260 645 1 minute read David Callaghan Share Facebook X LinkedIn Share via Email