Transunion Launches Tool To Bolster Realtor Safety, Fight Fraud

As real estate professionals face growing threats from title fraud and in-person safety risks, TransUnion is introducing a mobile solution that consolidates tools for verifying identities and checking criminal backgrounds.

TruLookup for Real Estate allows agents to validate property ownership, conduct personal safety checks using a phone number and generate prospecting lists — all within a single app.

The solution comes as agents increasingly juggle multiple platforms to assess risk.

A 2026 commissioned survey by Forrester Consulting on behalf of TransUnion found that 48% of real estate professionals use four or more tools to evaluate safety risks and confirm contact information.

Nearly half of those surveyed said they could not find contact information for potential clients using their existing tools.

“If I have to go hunting for the data and hunting in multiple places, there’s two big issues with that,” said Melanie Zimmerman, president of TransUnion Risk and Alternative Data Solutions. “Am I looking in the right places? And am I looking in the best places? And then is the data itself going to be robust and comprehensive?”

Realtors frequently meet strangers alone in vacant properties, a scenario Zimmerman described as a “perfect storm” of potential risk.

The Forrester survey found the most important information agents want when meeting new clients includes property ownership status and addresses (57%), criminal offense history (43%) and whether an identity is suspected of fraud (40%).

Zimmerman said criminal data — including sex offender registry information and identity verification included in TruLookup — can serve as critical red flags.

“Being able to validate based on information that the consumer provides to you or based on information you might see in the caller ID in terms of their phone number is key,” Zimmerman said. “Then, being able to use that information to triangulate the data that you’re being told is the person’s information, versus what the system shows, is also very important.

The app allows agents to run safety checks before in-person meetings and verify that a person claiming to own a property is indeed the legal owner — a growing concern amid rising title and deed fraud.

“In terms of knocking on a door, with this solution, you wouldn’t have to do that,” Zimmerman said. “The tool in your hand and the app will enable you to do these searches.”

TruLookup for Real Estate will be available in early April through participating associations and brokerages.