One of our maintenance techs had to get a ride to one of our properties with his girlfriend. She wasn't feeling well and was invited to lay down in the office. She was left alone by the office staff who went to run an errand, for about 30 minutes.
A week later one of the tenant's of this property asked the manager why our company took money out of his checking account without his permission. He pays rent with a personal check, and it wasn't even the same amount as his rent payment.
After checking, researching, verifying and interviewing, we came to this conclusion:
The maintenance tech's girlfriend went into the office desk and wrote down the information off the tenant's rent check: Name, account number, routing number. She then used it to set up her resident portal payment and made her rent payment with his checking account information.
She and our maintenance tech are tenants at another property we have. They have only lived there about 2 months.
When confronted, she offered a "document" to prove she made that particular payment with her father's credit card. The document was so fake it was ridiculous!!!
We at the point where we have to decide:
1. Evict them both for criminal activity (we have all the evidence to 100% prove it)
2. Turn her over to the authorities (recommended by our attorney)
3. Fire our maintenance tech because he will not admit she is guilty, so it could be either of them
4. Make a deal.
I still don't know what the tenant, whose information was stolen, is going to do. He had to shut down his bank account. Our company sent him a check for the lost amount.
Has this happened to you before? What steps do you take to protect tenant check information until it is deposited? We also keep copies of their checks.
Tough one. She is also claiming she is in an early high-risk pregnancy.