Real Estate Wire Fraud in SC is real! Do be lulled into the idea of “it won’t happen to me”! Laziness, inattentiveness and simply being too busy to pay attention, is what cyber criminals rely on to get your money. They are waiting for you to let your guard down and give them the opportunity to steal from you.
How Do Cyber Criminals Create Real Estate Wire Fraud In SC
The goal of the cyber criminal is to have you wire funds to them instead of the correct party. They do this by hacking into computers and monitoring emails so they can determine the parties to a transaction. First they will discover the names and contact information of the parties to the transaction. Then, they will impersonate a party to the transaction and attempt to divert the money being wired for the closing. What they are relying on is for you to either be unknowledgeable about their strategy, or simply not paying attention.
Who Are Targets
Anyone in a real estate transaction can be a target of real estate wire fraud in SC. Whether you’re the homebuyer, home seller, mortgage company, closing attorney or many others, your money can be at risk.
- The Buyer: The home buyer wires downpayment and closing cost money to the attorney for closing.
- The Closing Attorney: The attorney wires money to the sellers lender to payoff the home sellers loan. They may also wire the home seller their proceeds from the sale. The attorney also occasionally wires the real estate companies their commission checks. Also based on the settlement statement they may wire money to a variety of service providers in the transaction.
- The Mortgage Company: The home buyers mortgage company wires the money the buyer is borrowing to the attorney’s office for closing.
- The Home Seller: The seller may wire their proceeds money to their investment banker or others.
This list is just a small sample of the subsequent transactions the are executed as a result of a real estate sale. And…their probably many others that we haven’t mentioned.
So you see the stakes are high and it’s easy to understand why a real estate transaction is target of cyber criminals.
How Do I Protect Myself From Real Estate Wire Fraud In SC?
- Pay Attention: No one is going to look out for your money like you will!
- Always be suspicious of emailed wire instructions.
- Check the wire’s authenticity and routing numbers.
- Verify wiring instructions with a trusted source either in person or over the phone with someone you actually know and will recognize their voice. Never by email or text.
Cyber criminals are very clever and will use a variety of methods to steal your information and your money. The SC Real Estate Board has produced a disclosure form to help increase the public awareness of this issue. Although, it is not a required form, most professional realtors will provide this form to educate their clients.
We feel that our job is more than helping clients make a great real estate deal. It’s also about informing them about things like Wire Fraud that could have a devastating impact on their lives. We want to protect our clients interests every step of the way so they can have a fulfilling financial future.
What Does Real Estate Wire Fraud Look Like?
Below is actual correspondence between a cyber criminal and a homebuyer. The names of the parties and other sensitive information have been altered to protect their privacy.
- This email message has a sense of urgency and requires the homebuyer to reply to the message.
- It uses the word “Kindly” in a way that some people might not.
- The author uses questionable grammer in the message which is often a tip-off that something is not right.
- The sender is using an email signature and company name that matches a real person and the real company.
- At this point the homebuyer is unaware that they are being targeted in an attempted Wire Fraud.
- For the homebuyer, requesting the wiring information at this stage is normal and appropriate!
- So why wouldn’t the homebuyer be willing to send the wire based on this correspondence?
Luckily in this case, the homebuyer became suspicious! Would you have sent the wire without verifying the authenticity of the instructions? It’s a pretty scary thought but these crimes happen and innocent people are hurt financially by crime like this too often.
Here is a great tip on how to discover the true source of an email!
This is how the cyber criminals disguise their true identities when sending spam and phishing emails. Now you know how to discover the email source.
If you ever feel like you are being targeted by a cyber criminal make sure your report it to the proper authorities.
I hope you’ve found this information helpful and informative. As a real estate professional for the last 35 years I’ve seen a few scams in my time. However, none have had such a devastating effect on peoples lives as Real Estate Wire Fraud. Beware, cyber criminals are out there and they are hunting for our money!
The original concept for this article and graphics provided by Title Alliance Greenbrier, LLC
The Author…
Bill Byrd is a Husband, Father, Realtor, Educator, Musician and Athlete. A licensed Realtor since 1986 who loves helping his clients grow their personal wealth through real estate! Having helped hundred’s of families and individuals during his career you can feel comfortable that Bill’s and his Team’s experience and expertise are unparalleled in our market. Plus, Bill’s a great guy and one heck of a guitar player! More About Bill
