Safer Stays: Compliance Solutions to Prevent Vacation Rental Fraud

Our client operates a global online marketplace platform that allows users to advertise, search, and book rental homes across the world. 

Initially, we started with a short-term contract to provide Know Your Customer (KYC) identity verification services. As our relationship with the client evolved, we expanded our digital services and supported Enhanced Due Diligence, Anti-Money Laundering (AML) services, and fraud management solutions to meet their growing needs.

The Challenge

Our Client faced challenges with their Know Your Customer (KYC) process, Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) backlogs, and rising refund requests. They had an inefficient workflow for verifying user details and identifying potential fraudulent activities, which were crucial in confirming users’ real identity and complying with regulations and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) policies. Additionally, they were experiencing a build-up of SAR cases due to their in-house Alert Investigations team’s limitations and a backlog of refund requests. These challenges led to significant operational issues.

The Answer is Us

To reduce vacation rental fraud and improve efficiency, TaskUs created a hybrid strategy that combines automated technology with enhanced staff training. Our identity verification process optimization helped teammates handle multiple tasks without the need for additional staffing.

Key steps included:

1. In-depth document checks for both hosts and guests as part of our guest screening, with extra care for high-risk parties
2. Sanctions screening and host/guest screening by TaskUs analysts to detect potentially banned users
3. Guideline-based identification of possible fraudulent reservations flagged by the client’s systems
4. Detailed activity log reviews and fraud traces to uncover duplications and suspicious patterns
5. Validation of user details against provided documents using the client tool
6. Resolution of alerts, escalating only those with suspicious findings

To proactively address our client’s backlog issues:

• We implemented an efficient compliance outsourcing system, building teams across two locations working round the clock on SAR filings to four different regulatory bodies
• We established a new department using existing resources to manage the growing number of refund cases
• We enhanced direct communication with customers to speed up refund processing and resolution

The Results

Our client saw significant improvements in the following areas:

Identity Process Automation and Optimization

• Minimized SAR backlog from 20,000 to industry-standard 1% in two months
• Maintained real-time processing for ~250K monthly KYC alerts without backlog
• Identified ~100 true sanctions matches within six months while working on real-time alerts

Quality Assurance

• Sustained less than 10% error rate
• Investigations: Completed six detailed reviews per analyst daily
• KYC: Reviewed 20% of alerts per analyst daily
• Sanctions: Performed 100% alert reviews per analyst daily

Streamlined Refund Process

• Cleared 7,000 backlogged refund tickets in 45 days

Operational Expansion

• Our team scaled from handling one investigation queue to three over 14 months.

Combining human expertise, Generative AI, and the ability to cover a global footprint effectively, TaskUs helped manage the criminal activity of bad actors.