Fraudulent Wiring Instructions
“ANTI-FRAUD DISCLOSURE: Edina Realty and its agents will never provide you with wiring instructions via email without verifying the information in person or over the phone. EMAILS ATTEMPTING TO INDUCE FRAUDULENT WIRE TRANSFERS ARE COMMON AND MAY APPEAR TO COME FROM A TRUSTED SOURCE. If you receive an email directing you to transfer funds via wire, EVEN IF THAT ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION APPEARS TO BE FROM Edina Realty or its agents, do not respond until you have verified it one of the following ways:
• Call your agent if the email appears to be from Edina Realty.
• To verify instructions related to wiring funds to anyone other than Edina Realty, call the company or agent using a phone number you look up yourself, rather than a phone number in the email.”
–Excerpt from Edina Realty’s “Contract for Exclusive Right to Represent Buyer.”
It’s always a good idea to be very careful who you wire money to.
However, if you’re a Buyer about to close on the purchase of a home, and readying a $10k (or $100k!) wire transfer, that advice is especially timely.
That’s because the incidence of online fraud — or at least, attempted online fraud — is rising, and the come-on’s are increasingly subtle and sophisticated.
Gone Phishing
One of the most common ploys: an email putatively from the Buyer’s Realtor or title company directing the Buyer to make a change to the wiring instructions they’ve already received.
Which is why Edina Realty (and presumably other brokers) will NEVER instruct clients solely via email how to transfer funds, and without verifying the info either by phone or in person.
Making such rip-off’s especially dangerous: their favorite time to scam people is the end of the month, when title companies (handling closings) are swamped and most distracted.
As you might guess, once funds have been wired to a fraudulent recipient, recovering them is next to impossible.
P.S.: Does all of the above make anyone else nostalgic for good, old-fashioned cashier’s checks??
