{"id":2268,"date":"2016-02-04T21:22:27","date_gmt":"2016-02-05T01:22:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/?p=2268"},"modified":"2019-07-23T06:55:47","modified_gmt":"2019-07-23T10:55:47","slug":"evolving-real-estate-scams-vigilance-needed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/04\/evolving-real-estate-scams-vigilance-needed\/","title":{"rendered":"Evolving real estate scams – vigilance needed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last year, an old wire transfer scam evolved to target Realtors\u00ae and their clients. A December 15th<\/sup> \u201cAlert\u201d put out by the National Association of Realtors\u00ae (realtor.org) reminded NAR members and consumers to be vigilant. \u201cThe hackers often send an email that appears to be from an individual legitimately involved in the transaction, informing the recipient, often the buyer, that there has been a last minute change to the wiring instructions.  Following the new instructions, the recipient will wire funds directly to the hacker\u2019s account, which will be cleared out in a matter of minutes. The money is almost always lost forever<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"real<\/a>
From nar.realtor<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

NAR offers guidance and \u201cbest practices\u201d to prevent being a victim of scams and cybercrime. Even though your agent should be mindful and exercise caution, you should take the initiative to protect yourself. You should be attentive and alert to the possibility of email scams by: not sending sensitive information via email; never trust unverified email; you should not interact with suspicious emails; clean your email regularly; do not conduct business over free WiFi hotspots; and use strong passwords that are changed regularly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NAR stipulates that the guidance is \u201cnot all-inclusive,\u201d and you should check with your agent about their office\u2019s cybersecurity <\/a>policy. The warning states that the scammer emails are \u201cextremely convincing,\u201d such that \u201cmany sophisticated parties have been duped.\u201d No one is \u201ctoo small\u201d to target, and don\u2019t be over confident about being tech savvy. \u201cThis fraud is pervasive, convincing, and constantly evolving.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to an August 28th report issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (Business E-Mail Compromise, An Emerging Global Threat<\/a><\/em>; fbi.gov) BEC (Business E-Mail Compromise) is an insidious scam that is not only targeting real estate, but all businesses and consumers. According to FBI Special Agent Maxwell Marker (of the FBI\u2019s Transnational Organized Crime\u2013Eastern Hemisphere Section in the Criminal Investigative Division), \u201cBEC is a serious threat on a global scale\u2026It\u2019s a prime example of organized crime groups engaging in large-scale, computer-enabled fraud, and the losses are staggering<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BEC statistics<\/a> compiled by the FBI\u2019s Internet Crime Complaint Center (ic3.gov), from October 2013 to August 2015 reported 8,179 total victims (U.S. and non-U.S.) and $798,897,959.25 combined U.S. and non-U.S. exposed dollar loss. The IC3 has reported that computer intrusions related to BEC are on the rise; and can be initiated via a phishing scam that downloads malware that can access the victim\u2019s data, passwords, and financial information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Multiple versions of the scam are being implemented, and it\u2019s likely that the tactics will change as cybersecurity catches up with the scammers. The most recent version identified by the IC3 has fraudsters claiming to be a law firm handling confidential information (including real estate transactions). The scammer may use email and\/or telephone to contact potential victims, who are pressured to act quickly at the end of the business day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To learn more about BEC, protection strategies and how file a complaint \u2013 visit the Internet Crime Complaint Center (ic3.gov). If you are a victim of BEC, the IC3 recommends that you: contact your financial institution immediately; request that your financial institution contact the corresponding financial institution where the fraudulent transfer was sent; contact your local FBI office (if the wire is recent, the US Department of Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network might be able to help return or freeze the funds); and, regardless of dollar loss, file a complaint with the IC3<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Dan Krell
Copyright \u00a9 2016 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you like this post, do not copy; instead please:
reference the article<\/a>,
like it at facebook<\/a>
or re-tweet<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Protected<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n


Disclaimer<\/a>. This article is not intended to provide nor should it be relied upon for legal and financial advice. Readers should not rely solely on the information contained herein, as it does not purport to be comprehensive or render specific advice. Readers should consult with an attorney regarding local real estate laws and customs as they vary by state and jurisdiction. Using this article without permission is a violation of copyright laws.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last year, an old wire transfer scam evolved to target Realtors\u00ae and their clients. A December 15th \u201cAlert\u201d put out by the National Association of Realtors\u00ae (realtor.org) reminded NAR members and consumers to be vigilant. \u201cThe hackers often send an email that appears to be from an individual legitimately involved in the transaction, informing the … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Evolving real estate scams – vigilance needed”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[383,24,13,202],"tags":[597,863,1031,797,1030],"class_list":["post-2268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-consumer","category-internet","category-real-estate","category-real-estate-scams","tag-consumer-protection","tag-fbi","tag-internet-crime-complaint-center","tag-real-estate","tag-real-estate-scams"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1VZLf-AA","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2268"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2268\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5362,"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2268\/revisions\/5362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}