Real Estate Fraud Prevention with Verifiable Credentials

Verifiable credentials are an important tool in preventing fraud because they establish trust and credibility between parties involved in a transaction or interaction. When someone presents verifiable credentials, it means that their identity and qualifications have been independently verified by a trusted third party, such as a government agency or a professional association.  They are based on decentralized technologies and are designed to provide users with control over their own personal information.  

Real Estate Use Cases

• Identity verification - Verifiable credentials can be used to prove identity in a secure and decentralized manner. This can be particularly useful in situations where traditional forms of identification are not available or reliable.
• Qualification verification - Verifiable credentials can be used to prove qualifications such as academic degrees, certifications, and professional licenses. This can be useful for employers and educational institutions to verify the credentials of job candidates and students.
• Access control - Verifiable credentials can be used to control access to physical or digital resources such as buildings, websites, and data.
• Personal data sharing - Verifiable credentials can be used to share personal information with others in a secure and privacy-preserving manner. This can be useful in situations where individuals want to share their information with specific parties, such as healthcare providers or financial institutions.

Real estate fraud is a particularly serious problem that can result in financial losses for both individuals and businesses. One way to combat real estate fraud is using verifiable credentials as described above, allowing for secure and trustworthy digital identification.

Real Estate Benefits

By using verifiable credentials, individuals and businesses can reduce the risk of real estate fraud in several ways:

• Secure identity verification - Verifiable credentials can be used to verify the identity of buyers, sellers, and other parties involved in real estate transactions. This ensures that only authorized parties are involved in the transaction and reduces the risk of identity theft or impersonation.
• Property ownership verification - Verifiable credentials can be used to verify property ownership and transfer ownership securely. This can prevent fraudulent transfer of ownership or double sales of the same property.
• Qualification verification - Verifiable credentials can be used to verify the qualifications of real estate agents, mortgage brokers and other professionals involved in the transaction. This can help to prevent fraud by ensuring that only qualified individuals are involved in the transaction.
• Fraud detection - Verifiable credentials can be used to monitor and detect fraudulent activity in real estate transactions. For example, if an individual attempts to use fraudulent credentials to gain access to a property, the verifiable credentials system can detect the fraud and prevent the individual from gaining access.

The use of verifiable credentials in real estate transactions can help to reduce the risk of fraud and improve the security of transactions. As more individuals and businesses adopt this technology, we can expect to see a reduction in real estate fraud and increased trust in the real estate market.

What Credivera Brings to the Table

Credivera’s digital identity solution offers verifiable credential capabilities tailored to the real estate industry.  It enables the verification of credentials at the primary source without the need for intermediaries in that process.  Put simply, it enables private, online sharing of details related to a particular transaction between professionals in this industry, the buyers and the sellers. Working alongside other real estate systems, Credivera enables data to be verified and exchanged in real time. The types of verifications that Credivera enables include background checks, licence checks and property checks.  

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Robert Forget, Credivera CRO

About the Author: With over 20 years of progressive experience in innovation, technology partner management and strategic sales, Robert holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering Physics from the University of Saskatchewan, an MBA and is also a certified Professional Manager. Robert also serves on the IoT Advisory Board for CompTIA and has been active on the boards of many organizations from such diverse areas as technology and professional associations, housing developments, politics, and not-for-profits.

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