You skimped and saved. You skipped Date Night at the nice restaurants, kept your 20-year-old car limping down the road, and sacrificed that family vacation, all to save for the 20% Down Payment on your Dream Home. You’ve finally done it!
Wow! Now you’ve found the Perfect Home! It’s like a Dream. Everything that you’ve worked so hard for, all that Blood Sweat and Tears, is finally coming to fruition.
Fast forward a few weeks. Your Escrow Agent sends you an email with the Wire Instructions to wire that precious down payment to them so you can close. So Exciting! Closing day is almost here!
The next day, you get a call from your Escrow Officer telling you that they’re going to send you wire instructions for your Down Payment on your new home. “Wait, What? I wired that to you yesterday when you sent me that email” GULP!
No, No Nannette, you didn’t. You thought you were sending it to your Escrow company. You actually sent it, YOUR hard-earned MONEY, to a crook. You’re now a Victim of Wire Fraud.
WIRE FRAUD. Wait, What?! It’s a Thing?
According to the Lisa Stowers Team at Yavapai Title Agency it’s more common than you think. Every day, hackers try to steal your money by emailing fake wire instructions. Criminals will use a similar email address, steal a logo and other information to make it look like the email came from your real estate agent or your Title Agency.
Protect yourself and your money by following these steps:
Be Vigilant
- Don’t email - CALL: Confirm your wiring instruction by phone using a known number before transferring funds. Don’t use phone numbers or links from an email.
- Be suspicious: It’s uncommon for title companies to change wiring instructions and payment info by email.
Protect Your Money
- Confirm everything: Ask your bank to confirm the name on the account before sending a wire.
- Verify immediately: Within four to eight hours, call your Title Agency or your real estate agent to confirm they received your money.
What To Do If You're Targeted
- Immediately call your bank and ask them to issue a recall notice for your wire.
- Report the crime to Internet Crime Complaint Center
- Call your regional FBI office and police.
- Detecting that you sent money to the wrong account within 24 hours is the best chance of recovering your money.
There are some really bad people in this world. Protect yourself and your money.
For more information about how you can protect yourself against Wire Fraud, you can reach out to Lisa Stowers or one of her team members at 928-776-7070.
For more information on how I can help you find your Dream Home, call me, Your Real Estate Concierge at (928) 848-8830 or email me at [email protected].
