$25,000 EMD lost in Wire Fraud

[Joshua Lyon]

I’m a realtor and investor in the Orlando area. We put a 5 unit property under contract, did our inspection and requested the wire instructions. The listing broker sent me the wire info for the title company (which I should have called the title company directly). It was an international wire and the funds never showed up in the escrow account. Our bank said it can sometimes take up to 10 days to show up. After the 10 days there was still nothing in escrow but it had left our account. After sending the wire instructions to the title company to verify they were correct, they told me to call my bank ASAP and report it because it wasn’t their wiring info. The listing broker also called me in shock and said our 10 days of email traffic hadn’t been him and someone had hacked his account. The bank is doing an investigation but I don’t know what else to do. I have a feeling I’ll never see the money again. Is the listing broker responsible if his account was hacked? Should the listing brokerage have insurance for things like this that they can make a claim on? Any other ideas??

[Russell Brazil]

No the listing broker is not liable. You are a Realtor and should be well versed in wire fraud.  Unfortunately, this is on you.  Email accounts are spoofed all the time, and fake wiring instructions sent.  As an agent you should know that you should always call the title company to verify wiring instructions, and you should know that wiring instructions never ever come from agents or brokers.  I probably receive 10 emails a week with fake wiring instructions.