All Forum Posts by: Justin R.

Zachary C. At least your doing excell. Im embarassed to say I havent even started using any software based tracking.

Thanks for the insight and detailed walk thru of your experience. Please keep it up. Im currently investing in a crowdfunding site, and may share my experiences at the end of my investment period. Not only will sharing keep us all informed on good investments, but it will keep these companies honest, and the good ones in business!!

I thought I would start a thread for investors to discuss how they keep track of their investment properties, and track their historical performance.

I think Im still in the 90's because I use an old fashion binder. My binder contains a photo of each unit, some acquisition data, and historical annual expenses and returns.

The binder does seem antiquated, but then again if I ever go into commercial investing it may be a great resource to show off my portfolio to a lender.

Please chime in if your have a better way, or just another technique.

James, the FBI assigned a computer scientist for the case. I sure hope the criminal gets caught, but like I mentioned earlier, it is extremely difficult to find the ring leaders. Whether they find the criminal or not, the money is definitely gone. 

My hope with filing a complaint with the Georgia bar was to get the closing attorney to act, and possibly file a claim with their malpractice.

I have been in constant contact with the FBI. The money is gone. It was immediately funneled thru many "mules" and fraudulent accounts. A "mule" is just a low level criminal who does the work of anyone who can get caught. For example, the ringleader does not walk into a bank to pull out $$$ so the cameras have his/her face to record. They pay a "mule" a small amount to pull out the money from many various locations.

@Leigh C Once the dust settles and all matters are closed Ill let the forum know how much is involved. I will say that it is enough for me to pursue any means of getting it back, including finding the best Attorney possible, and flying back to GA as many times as needed.

I was advised by someone to contact the state bar in GA to file a complaint with the closing Attorney. They mentioned as an "Industry Professional" they failed to follow "best practices" and were negligent in their actions. My "advisor" said they will simply make a claim with their emissions insurance.

Does this sound like sound advice, or should I go the route of litigation?

Thanks

Thank you all for your words and input. I am not a real estate "professional" but I am also not new to real estate investing. I have done many real estate transactions in the past with no problem. This is also the reason why I am sharing this information. I don't want this to happen to anyone else. Anyone who thinks they are above this crime and cannot be a target is wrong. I am not a lay person who would typically be scammed by the common cyber criminal that we get warned about. 

I was confident in the wiring instructions because they came 30 minutes after I talked with my real estate agent, who mentioned they would be to me within the hour. They came in PDF format with the company logo and all associated symbols, wording, etc. The emails also included information that helped prove they were who I thought they were because they were acting as a intermediary to all parties. Yes, a phone call would could have caught the wrong checking account number. To take it a step further though, this complex crime could have easily gave a false number. Again, my point isn't to scare anyone, but to make you aware of this, and go above your typical due diligence.

From my experience, $9,999 is the max I can send by cashiers check. Unfortunately, I lost well above that. From talking with the FBI this is a relatively brand new crime. The first ones were reported 2 to 3 years ago. In the last six months there has been a huge influx in these crimes. The National Assoc of Realtors, FTC, BBB, FBI, and countless RE journals and publications have warned about such. They warn the agents not to use unsecured email, and title companies not to PDF email wiring instructions. I was ignorant to these warnings, and learned the hard way.

Yes Bryan that is exactly what happened. I have not talked to their emmisions insurance. I believe agents dont have it, but their brokers do, along with the closing attorney. I did ask them if we could make a claim against their insurance, but they feel they are not at any fault, and I am the sole victim. I believe my only other course of action is litigation. Trying to find someone with experience in this has been tough.

The agent did not know they were hacked untill after all the pieces were put together, after funds were transferred. A secure email can be had thru a private business server, above my level, but many title companies and banks use them for this exact reason. Also, many important documents should be shared on secured sites utilizing portals. I dont know internet security practices myself, but industry professionals need to safeguard their clients and themselves, especially since this fraudulent scam is gaining popularity.