According to the FBI, the biggest target of digital theft is the real estate industry. This has become such a significant issue, that the FBI has been reaching out to our community to actively prevent these crimes. The official name of this crime / scam is Business Email Compromise ( BEC ). Over the years different industries have been the target of BEC and now the Real Estate Community is the #1 Target of this type of crime.
“ Bank robbers don’t rob banks anymore. They don’t need guns, and they don’t wear masks. Instead, they hide behind their computer screen and cover their digital tracks. ”
There are two ways that the thieves do this:
Old Fashion hacking – Thieves are always trying to hack your computer – DO NOT open attachments if you do not know the sender, do not download anything or click any links
Social Engineering – Using social networking, thieves will find out who you trust and use that personal data to trick you into disclosing information you wouldn’t normally disclose
Once the thieves are in your email, they spy and keep track of upcoming closings and hijack an email with incorrect wiring instructions. The email will come from the agent directly or from the title company (what looks like the title company but generally it is one letter off) and this is where the digital theft begins. They will even text the buyer to make it look legitimate.
When you actually see what the e-mail looks like (this actually happened to one of our agents and this is the e-mail the thief sent to our client directly from our agent’s e-mail) it is pretty disturbing. They also sent wiring instructions in another e-mail directly from the agent’s account.
What can we do?
Always call the title company to confirm wiring instructions before wiring
Never download anything in your e-mail if you don’t know where it came from
If you get a notice that a new person tried to access your email for another ip address, change all passwords right away
Turn off mobile phone device setting to automatically load attachments
Purchasing a home can be stressful and there is such a long list of to do’s between contract to close. Your agent will provide a timeline and help guide you through all of the steps. Most of those tasks will be smooth an uneventful. However the one area of significant concern is wiring the money to the title company. This is where the digital theft occurs. Always Call before you Wire !!!
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