Wire Fraud in Real Estate
No industry is exempt from cybercrime taking place, and the real estate industry has become a common target. As hackers devise plans to obtain sensitive information about real estate transactions, real estate professionals need to take a particular interest in cyber security to protect their clients and themselves from wire fraud.
What is Wire Fraud?
In instances of wire fraud, a common ploy involves hackers breaking into a real estate agent’s email account. From here, they obtain details about upcoming transactions. Once the hackers have all the information they need, they send an email to the buyer. They then pretend to be the agent or a representative of the title company.
In an email to the buyer, the hackers state that there has been a change in the closing instructions. They will then claim that the buyer needs to follow new wire instructions listed in the email. If a buyer falls victim to the scam and wires money to the fraudulent account, they’re unlikely to see the money again
Red Flags
A potential indicator of wire fraud is an email that makes any reference to a Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) wire transfer that is sent via the SWIFT international payment network and indicates an overseas destination for the funds. However, since the emails tend to include detailed information pertaining to the transaction—due to the perpetrator having access to the agent’s email account—many people make the mistake of assuming the email is from a legitimate source.
How to Avoid It
To prevent cyber crime from occurring, you can follow this series of security measures that include the following:
- Never send wire transfer information, or any type of sensitive information, via email. This includes all types of financial information, not just wire instructions.
- If you’re a real estate professional, inform clients about your email and communication practices, and explain that you will never expect them to send sensitive information via email.
- If wiring funds, first contact the recipient using a verified phone number to confirm that the wiring information is accurate. The phone number should be obtained by a reliable source—email is not one of them.
- Encrypt all transactions done through email.
- Delete old emails regularly, as they may reveal information that hackers can use.
- Change usernames and passwords on a regular basis, and make sure that they’re difficult to guess.
- Keep anti-virus technology up to date and insure firewalls are installed and working.
- Never open suspicious emails. Never click on any links in the email, or open any attachments or reply to the email
Hotaling Insurance Services is here and ready to protect you should you become a victim of a cybercrime. We provide extensive coverage options that will reimburse you for financial loss. This covers from Forgery or Alteration of Checks, Acceptance of Counterfeit Money, Identity Fraud, Theft of Cryptocurrency and more.
Contact us for more information on fraud and cyber security and how we can help protect you.