These days those are mostly electronic, it's not hard to edit the text in a PDF to make it show a different address. Not something an average person can easily do, but trivial for a motivated attacker to pull off with a bit of money or the right friends.

Also, if it has your name on it then it's no longer anonymous.

Photoshop seems like a straightforward way around this method of verification. It works for the DMV here in the States, but perhaps only because lying in that context carries legal penalties.

And how would the service verify the statements? Why would it take a fake account? It's not that hard to get a sample statement and modify it to seem real. If you could get confirmation from a bank or utility that might be enough to prevent forgeries, but what incentive would there be for them and why would they want to share private information?

Auth a credit card with address verification? That’s how usps does it for forwarding proofing. Could also mail a postcard with a code on it using Lob to verify residency pre move.

Alternatively, ask for a copy of the lease and ID. Throw both away after verifying and set is_verified = True.

Any system can be gamed, you’re just trying to make it hard enough that most bad actors are waved off while keeping your costs reasonable.

(Landlord/housing provider and renter intermittently)

Any landlord will have utilities in his name at some point or another.

NextDoor mails a card with a confirmation code to your address

Weird they didn’t do it for me

They have other options too https://help.nextdoor.com/s/article/How-to-verify-your-addre...