The Interview:
The Expert: Marv Steier -
British Columbia
What's the skinny on
Marv?
Marv is the Managing Director of a group of
companies that fill a niche for credit and
fraud information. He has twenty years with
the R.C.M.P., including ten of them involved
investigating fraud. Marv has another ten
years of fraud investigation at an insurance
company in British Columbia and just less than
two years with the Royal Bank of Canada.
The companies and their sites include:
-
Tenant Verification:
www.TenantVerification.com
Landlord services providing a comprehensive
and convenient TENANT SCREENING that
includes credit reports, criminal and
eviction searches, Tips & Advice!
-
Business Fraud:
www.BizFraud.com
BizFraud
provides Business Owners with
Commercial Credit Reports
on Companies. Why would you extend credit to
someone about whom you know nothing? Why
would you hire someone about whom you
know nothing?
-
Criminal Fraud:
www.CriminalFraud.com
This site is designed to help educate the
Residential Rental Industry, the Small
Business Sector and Consumers on
fraud-related matters.
Folks can also sign up for a tip of the week
– scam alert – at this site.
The Interview:
T.P.: Could you tell us
a bit about each company and the niche market
they attempt to serve?
M.S.
Tenant verification is
the flagship web site for our products and
services. This Service is available across
North America to landlords of all sizes. Once
they have a signed authorization rental form
giving permission, they can obtain a credit
report before the tenant occupies the
property.
There are forms available to the landlord
business that includes signed authorization,
rental application, a deterrent form which
lets the tenant know what happens if they
leave the landlord 'stuck' with unpaid rental
fees or damaged rental property, and also a
certificate of satisfactory tenancy which the
tenant can show the next landlord. .
T.P.
Could you tell me a bit more about that last
one, Marv. What is a certificate of
satisfactory tenancy?
M.S.
All too often we report on the negative
aspects of tenant pay history and tend to
ignore positive tenant pay history. When a
tenant has followed through on their agreement
and has satisfactorily paid rent on time, we
provide landlords with a method to notify
other landlords and reward that performance.
T.P.
Interesting. Where did you get this idea from?
M.S.
Well Tim that comes from over 30 years of
seeing the same crimes being committed over
and over again by people who never considered
the consequences, actually it’s a bit like
raising kids, they need to know the
consequences for being bad and they need to be
rewarded for doing good things, kind of like
that.
T.P.
Good move, Marv.
So, I gather in a lot of respects that the
service provides a credit report?
M.S.
Yes, we provide reports to landlords from
agencies such as Equifax and
Trans Union that
they would not be able to obtain on their own.
We also network
thousands of landlords who report tenant pay
habits to our database and landlords have
access to a TVS tenant report as well.
T.P.
Is it part of the agreement that landlords
using your services must report on bad-pay
tenants?
M.S.
It is not a requirement, we give them that
option but it is a good idea and good business
practice on their part. .
T.P.
A couple of your sites deal specifically with
fraud. Can you tell me a bit about bizfraud?
M.S.
Statistics tell us that 43% of all business
will become fraud victims at some point during
the life of the company.
Whether your business is involved in extending
credit, entering into a joint venture
with a firm or individuals or hiring new
personnel – there are important
questions that need to
be answered before making a commitment to any
of this.
Example: For a new
hire--who are they and what are they like as
an employee? The latter question is about
their character and in our society it is a
matter of do they keep the promises they
make. Credit and payment history generally
give us a good idea of character. It is not
foolproof – but there is other due diligence
due diligence that should be conducted.
Some basic background
checks in 'most' cases that I was involved
with would have sent the fraudsters packing.
T.P.
I gather the credit bureaus do not collect
tenant information – from landlords.
M.S.
No, they don't. None of the credit bureaus
report tenant histories they only report
credit histories, TVS reports both..
T.P.
The criminal fraud site appears to be free. Am
I right?
M.S.
Yes, it is an educational web site that talks
about the various aspects of fraud, this
website is available to anyone who is
interested and we recommend that folks check
in at least once a month to hear about the
latest scams, particularly those involving
landlords and business owners.
T.P.
So, Fraudsters
will be around for some time?
M.S.
That’s a safe bet Tim. It is relatively easy
money – and there are no judicial consequences
in most instances for their actions. I can
count on one hand, over my more than 30 years
in the fraud business where any of the victims
were actually compensated by the fraudsters.
T.P.
I don't think that sounds very fair, Marv.
M.S.
It’s not, and there has been no political will
to change the laws for white collar crime, so
it will continue.
T.P.
No doubt there are some recommendations
you would make to people in business. Can you
share two of them with us, perhaps one that is
quick and inexpensive and another that may
cost more – but is so important it should at
least be started?
M.S.
As most Financial Institutions will tell you
“know your client”. You need to conduct due
diligence where you extend credit or hire an
employee, this means gathering information
from both formal and informal sources like the
credit bureaus, suppliers, references,
municipal Business Licensing Department,
references etc.
T.P.
A small business owner or entrepreneur cannot
afford a full or even a part-time fraud
investigator. What can they do that is quick
and inexpensive in order to keep them on top
of the game?
M.S.
Well, a business owner might be taking a
chance if the information that is relied on is
quick and inexpensive.
There are Resources such
as
www.Bizfraud.com
that can conduct the due diligence for a
business owner at a reasonable price. It makes
good business sense to know that the person
you are hiring is trustworthy wouldn't you
agree, for example if you are hiring an
accountant to look after your company’s
financial affairs, wouldn’t you want to know
whether A… that Individual is actually an
accountant? And B… does that Accountant come
with good references and/or a criminal record
for theft? A business owner should know that.
I know of a case
still pending where an individual who had a
criminal record and no accounting
certification was hired as an accountant for a
medium sized company grossing about 8 million
dollars per annum, but the only thing he ended
up keeping was a lot of the company’s money –
to the tune of more than $750,000 and its all
gone. The company declared bankruptcy within
six months as they had a huge cash flow
problem. This was a case of the principals
working in the business and not on the
business.
This individual was
hired through an agency, there was no due
diligence conducted on the alleged accountant
to verify or confirm certification, credit
worthiness or trustworthiness. A criminal
record check in this instance would have
revealed a criminal record for a previous
theft and would have showed that he was not an
accountant but a bad bookkeeper. If you hire
people through an outside agency, don't make
the presumption that the due diligence
which includes a criminal record check has
been conducted; you've got to find that out as
the business owner.
T.P.
Looking ahead, what do you see as the next
important steps in the fraud business?
M.S.
There is a dire need for the small business
sector, and the residential rental industry
which in essence are businesses, to get
educated and to protect their business against
fraud. Being aware, being alert and using the
Resources that protect and minimize risk are
key ingredients for fraud prevention.
Fraudsters are way ahead of us in terms of
planning, technology and implementing a plan
to action, they are working in a hassle free
environment; there is no consequence for their
actions. Consumers, business owners and the
residential rental industry need to come to
action, we need to get educated and we need to
use the Resources that are available to
counteract the fraudsters. .
T.P.
Is there a lot of competition out there for
you?
M.S.
There is quite a bit in the U.S. Market, but
not the same degree here in Canada,
competition is good, it makes us all better at
what we do.
T.P.
Why is there more competition in the U.S. vs
Canada?
M.S.
The population is one reason, they have so
many more people, the small business sector
and the residential rental industry are much
larger. The volume of fraud is a lot higher
and Fraud Prevention Resources are used a lot
more readily in the U.S. than in Canada.
T.P.
Why should folks deal with you, rather than
someone else?
M.S.
We provide an efficient fraud prevention
Service that also serves to educate people, we
minimize the risk of fraud and we teach people
to be more aware so that they don’t become a
fraud victim. And by the way Tim, when is the
last time that you got to speak with a live
body about any type of Service?
T.P.
Are you telling me if I call that I can talk
to a 'real' person on the other end?
M.S.
That's right; our friendly Operators will
answer all the questions that our websites
can’t.
T.P.
Interesting concept, Marv. I hope it catches
on!
M.S.
Thank you for your time, Tim.
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