Wire fraud in real estate
Currently there’s a lot of fraud that goes on in this world. Everything from credit card fraud, online scams, and hacking! Real estate is no different when it comes to fraud. The type of fraud that I am referring to is wire fraud.
As soon as you put your house on the market or purchase a home and it is under agreement, “hackers” begin their phishing scheme. One example is that a seller will get an email that looks like it came from either the title company or the real estate company that you are using asking you for your bank information so they can “wire you funds” from your settlement. But what happens is obvious and your bank account gets wiped out.
These emails that are sent down look very legitimate and a lot of people would not think twice of responding. The best advice I give all my clients is, if you get any type of email related to the real estate transaction that we are doing, call me first. I will tell you if it was sent from my office or not.
This will guarantee that you will not be sending your confidential information to some scammer out there. If you have any questions, please feel free to call me at 215-630-9363.
PHOTO CAP: Broker owner, Barry Angely, presenting Joe Cairo with the RE/MAX Platinum Award.