FRAUD ALERT
HOW AM I AT RISK?
Technology is a great thing. It has made real estate transactions easier to close and helped all parties work with much greater efficiency. Unfortunately, it has also opened the door for "evil-doers" -- fraudsters who seize any opportunity they can to separate buyers, sellers, Realtors, banks and title companies from their money.
But why is real estate such a huge target nowadays? That's easy -- because real estate transactions involve a lot of money in one single transaction. Fraudsters don't need to steal a little money from a lot of people. They need only be successful one time and they'll make off with a lot of money.
Here are some of the ways you can be victimized:
Here are some of the ways you can be victimized:
- Your email account is hacked and a fraudster sends an email to the title company, posing as you, directing the title company to send your money to a fake account. The money is then quickly sent out of the Country.
- Your Realtor's email gets hacked and an email is sent to you telling you to send your deposit or closing funds to a different account.
- Your title company's email account gets hacked and a person posing as the title processor sends you an email telling you to send your funds to the wrong account.
- And on and on, with fraudsters always devising new ways to scam everyone in the transaction.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO STOP IT
Although this sounds grim, do not despair. The good news it that it is very easy to stay safe. If you follow a few simple, common-sense rules, you will remove any opportunity for fraud. Here's how:
- Don't ever wire money to the Realtor, title company, or anyone else in a real estate transaction without first VERBALLY CONFIRMING the wire instructions. DON'T ACCEPT EMAILED WIRING INSTRUCTIONS. Instead, call the person (make sure it is his or her verified number) and ask to verbally confirm the instructions over the phone.
- Don't ever accept last minute verbal instructions by a phone call to you. What if the fraudsters have hacked someone's email account and are simply monitoring the email thread and know when money is about to go out? They could call you last minute and tell you they're from the real estate agency or bank or title company, and that there's been a change in the wire information. If that happens, STOP! DO NOT SEND MONEY. Call us immediately and let us know. We'll tell you what to do.
- Always pay attention to the email address of the person sending you the email. Fraudsters are good at setting up fake email addresses that are very similar, but not exactly the same, as the real email address. If an email address doesn't match a prior email address, it's likely coming from a fraudster.
- Be EXTREMELY careful when clicking on attachments. Double check the email address and call the sender if necessary to confirm the attachment was actually sent. Fraudsters like to infect your computer with malware by sending you infected attachments or links. This is very difficult to deal with, so you must be hyper-cautious when it comes to attachments from unknown email addresses, or even ones from people you know.
WHAT WE DO TO STOP IT
Now that you know what you can do to stop the fraud on your side, it is important for you to understand what we do to protect all parties in a transaction.
First, we follow the exact same rules we have given you. We will never wire money out of our account based upon a verbal request.
Second, if you need money wired, we will request several things from you, including a voided check and deposit slip from your account, as well as written instructions which we confirm with you at closing. WE DO NOT ALLOW ANY ALTERING OF THESE INSTRUCTIONS AFTER CLOSING. Although this may cause irritation for some people, it is a necessary procedure to prevent any fraud from occurring.
Third, we verbally confirm all email instructions.
Fourth, we require two people in our office to initiate and confirm outgoing wires, and we then have to verbally confirm those instructions with the bank.
Please know that we take the safety of your money very seriously. We constantly monitor fraud alerts from our underwriters and train our entire staff on both email and wire security.
If you have any other questions or concerns about wire fraud, please contact us.
First, we follow the exact same rules we have given you. We will never wire money out of our account based upon a verbal request.
Second, if you need money wired, we will request several things from you, including a voided check and deposit slip from your account, as well as written instructions which we confirm with you at closing. WE DO NOT ALLOW ANY ALTERING OF THESE INSTRUCTIONS AFTER CLOSING. Although this may cause irritation for some people, it is a necessary procedure to prevent any fraud from occurring.
Third, we verbally confirm all email instructions.
Fourth, we require two people in our office to initiate and confirm outgoing wires, and we then have to verbally confirm those instructions with the bank.
Please know that we take the safety of your money very seriously. We constantly monitor fraud alerts from our underwriters and train our entire staff on both email and wire security.
If you have any other questions or concerns about wire fraud, please contact us.