Hi Harbour clients and friends:
I hope all is well. In Florida we are back in school. I know many of our clients across the country are still enjoying the Summer days!
This is an education email about preventing wire and cyber fraud.
We are introduced to many new clients during the home buying process. No matter how diligent you are in the process there always seems to be a rush of things that need to get done at the end. One of those things is often the exchange of money from the buyer to the seller. There is a lot of fraud and online hacking associated with this process. A few simple steps can help you prevent issues when you must exchange large sums of money. Your homeowner’s policy provides no coverage for this type of financial risk. But there are ways to mitigate this from happening.
Most of the time when someone steals money thru wire fraud, they are able to hack into your computer or your employer’s computer and monitor your email accounts. They are looking for emails about real estate transactions between you and banks about wiring money. Most people’s emails have great security against hackers. But let’s just assume that your email is always compromised. I know that is not a comforting feeling. But if you think this way it helps you get in the right frame of mind to protect yourself. If they can compromise your system, they can change email content and email addresses to disguise themselves to appear they are your realtor, banker or closing agent. And they send you an email with their wiring instructions, and not your bank’s wiring information.
So, what can you do to prevent this:
- Use a handwritten check. I know it slows things down a little but dropping a check off at your closing attorney’s office or Federal Expressing it to them can prevent you from sending money to the wrong account.
- If you need to wire money, ALWAYS call your closing attorney, and confirm the wiring instructions. Do not look at a phone number associated with the email they send you, look up the phone number online and call that number.
- If you feel rushed by someone then slow the process down. If they are pressuring you then that is a red flag.
Here is an interesting article with some additional advice.
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/07/23/wire-fraud-in-real-estate-silicon-valley-executive-warning.html.
Thank you for reading,
Will Kastroll
Owner
