[abfunders]

Yes. You're almost better off doing a soft pull... why do a hard pull/create a trigger lead for all your competitors!

If someone says they don't do hard pulls, but you are suspicious, investigate! Find someone who's applied before, do a soft credit pull on them, or have them look at their credit report (free on credit karma.com etc.) and boom instant proof.

creditkarma.com won't provide "proof" of the credit pull
The vast vast majority the funders that I'm aware of pull on EXP, and creditkarma only provides EQU and TU.
But Experian.com does have a free service also