May 13, 2025
The Rise of Income Fraud-and Why Documents Don’t Work
Income fraud is a growing concern in today’s financial landscape. While income verification processes have traditionally relied on documents like pay stubs or bank statements, these methods have become increasingly vulnerable to fraud.
Deepfake Pay Stubs: AI-powered tools like MidJourney and ChatGPT can create flawless fake pay stubs in just minutes. These fake documents are nearly impossible for traditional systems to detect.
Bank Login Scams: Around 18% of applicants unknowingly share compromised bank login credentials, exposing both personal data and financial security risks.
The Cost: Financial institutions and businesses lose a staggering $12 billion annually due to fraudulent income claims.
Clearly, the old ways of document-based verification just aren’t cutting it anymore. So, how can businesses safeguard against income fraud while keeping the verification process seamless for applicants? Enter Reclaim.
Cutting Out the Middleman: Direct Tax Portal Integration
At Reclaim, we don’t rely on document uploads or third-party verification services. Instead, we pull real-time tax data directly from trusted government portals and payroll systems-ensuring 100% authenticity.
This gives you access to real-time tax return data, but only with the applicant’s consent.
This enables us to verify income directly from government tax records, including:
W-2s (employed individuals)
1099s (freelancers or contractors)
Self-employed filings
The result? A fraud-proof process that eliminates the risk of fake pay stubs or forged documents.
Payroll System Cross-Checks
In addition to IRS data, we integrate live payroll systems like ADP, Gusto, and Workday to verify salary deposits. With this, businesses can be sure that the income reported matches what the applicant actually earns.
Gig Economy Solutions
In the gig economy, income verification becomes even trickier. That’s why Reclaim also integrates directly with platforms like Uber, Lyft, and others through their API, allowing us to verify earnings without requiring bank login credentials.
This makes the income verification process easy, secure, and free from potential fraud.
Why Competitors Can’t Keep Up
The traditional methods of income verification simply can’t keep pace with AI-powered fraud and the need for faster, more secure systems. Here’s why Reclaim stands apart:
Tax Portal Access
Reclaim is the only vendor for real-time income verification, giving us exclusive access to verified tax data. No more relying on potentially fake pay stubs or outdated document uploads.
Privacy-First Approach
Unlike screen-scraping tools that often store sensitive information like SSNs or bank account details, Reclaim prioritizes privacy. We never store any sensitive financial data, ensuring a safe and secure verification process for applicants.
Global Scalability
Reclaim works with real-time tax data from the IRS (U.S.), HMRC (U.K.), and CRA (Canada), ATO ( Australia) making it a globally scalable solution for businesses that need to verify income in multiple regions.
Case Study: Slashing Fraud in Affordable Housing
Client: A nonprofit housing agency in Texas
Problem: 30% of applicants were submitting fake pay stubs to qualify for low-income housing.
Solution: Reclaim's direct tax-data verification was implemented to ensure only legitimate income claims were accepted.
Results:
100% fraud elimination in just 6 months
80% faster approvals for qualified applicants
Significant cost savings from reduced manual verification time
By switching to real-time tax data verification, this nonprofit housing agency not only eliminated fraud but also accelerated the approval process-helping them provide housing to those who needed it most, faster.
The Future of Income Verification
As income fraud continues to rise, businesses need to adapt to a more secure, faster, and tamper-proof solution. Reclaim's direct tax data integration, privacy-first design, and real-time verification are setting a new standard for income verification.
Ready to leave behind outdated document-based systems and join the future of income verification?