Rental Property Investor · Member since 2018 · 78 posts · 53 votes
I’m in escrow and today I almost got scammed out of 1 million dollars +.
A scammer intercepted some emails and pretended to be the escrow officer from the title company. They sent me wiring instructions for over $1 million. They were able to provide me with closing documents and also a dollar amount for the balance which closely matched what I owed.
Luckily the wire I tried to send from the bank did not go through. The bank checked the account number and it did not match any title company bank. Thank goodness for this check or else we would’ve been homeless in 2 weeks.
This is such an incredible lesson. I didn’t know scammers were so sophisticated and their timing was always just right.
Lesson learned to always make that verification phone call before moving large sums of money.
I’m having an extra strong drink tonight and counting my lucky stars.
Rental Property Investor · Durham, NC · Member since 2016 · 7k+ posts · 7k+ votes
6y
@An Lam not to sound harsh but didn’t you post on BP a couple weeks ago asking what to do with 1 million dollars cash?
Then you stated you were closing on a house soon? If I’m remembering correctly, that probably aided the scammer immensely in targeting you. I’m glad it worked out but I wouldn’t post stuff like you did a couple weeks ago again...
Real Estate Agent · Kansas City, MO · Member since 2019 · 23 posts · 10 votes
6y
@Account Closed Our brokerage has a warning at the end of every email that specifically says “We will never ask or provide wiring instructions via email.” If we receive wiring instructions via email, we always call the title company to verify instructions, and look up the title companies number on google to match it with the email. I suggest more people adopt this idea to protect yourselves and your clients.
Investor · Poway, CA · Member since 2015 · 7k+ posts · 8k+ votes
6y
A few years ago an experienced RE investor on this site got hit by a similar scam and posted his lessons learned in a blog (Something like "How to lose $225K in a wire transfer fraud"). I like to think I am careful, but these scammers keep getting more sophisticated.
We recently received an email from "Fidelity" stating there was a problem with our account and a telephone number. When we called the number it showed up as Fidelity in our caller ID and answered as Fidelity. All of our accounts have 2 step authorization (they text a code) so we had another layer of protection (nothing lost).
Be careful. The scammers keep upping their game. To be diligent we need to keep upping our game. I also recommend every financial related account (investment accounts (Fidelity, Vanguard, etc.), Bank Accounts, financial planning/monitoring (Mint, Personal Cap, etc.)) be set up with 2 step authorization and that you freeze your credit reporting.
"Remember, Be Careful Out There" Hill Street Blues.
Investor · Broward County, FL · Member since 2018 · 1k+ posts · 938 votes
6y
When I am asking my correspondant their PGP or SSL public keys I always have a dead silence at the other end. They are the same people who swear by using docusign where you have absolutely no warranty who is the person signing...
We need as an industry to learn how to use proper encryption and authentication technology. I wish that NAR would have a CA and issue SSL certificates to its members and teach them how to use it properly. Same with each bar association for their members.
Last but not least bank are the worst at security. I am still furious about them asking “for your security let me ask you some questions from public record information”. If it’s public it is NOT secure and fraudster already have it. You can buy a complete profile with social security number, credit card and bank account numbers, addresses, employer and most answer to useless website security question for less than $50 on the dark web.
Real Estate Agent · Joshua Tree, CA · Member since 2014 · 19 posts · 16 votes
6y
A RE agent/colleague of mine had his clients scammed out of about 320k earlier this year. The wire fraud included hacked emails and a phone number with an "escrow officer" standing by to take the call and reassure the victim. I heard that the FBI was not particularly interested in their case because the amount was not close to other, greater scams. (Though God knows it devastated them...) It's a huge and dangerous criminal industry and you cannot be too careful.
Investor · Newport Beach, CA · Member since 2016 · 106 posts · 84 votes
6y
@Account Closed
Yep that is the one thing that really gives me pause, a wire scam. I always confirm the Acct number with a confirmation phone call. I just wonder how the scammers plan to overcome that safety precaution, because you know they are thinking long and hard on how to do that.
Walnut Creek, CA · Member since 2015 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes
6y
Just another important note, use a known good number when calling NOT a number from email. If you take a call, hangup and call back...it's beyond easy to spoof caller ID.
this also applies credit cards, banking, anything with money or sensitive info.
Investor · Manteca, CA · Member since 2017 · 1k+ posts · 2k+ votes
6y
I just did a wire transfer through my account at ALLY bank. I set up the wire on their website. The day of the scheduled wire, they had an agent call me and leave a message. I verified the number on their website and called them back. They then went over all the details of the wire and then put me on hold for like 8 minutes...... did some check on the wire transfer info and then went over the details again and approved the wire to got through. I then contacted the people receiving and verified it was received.
So ALLY did a pretty good job making sure I wasn't doing something stupid......