FAQs

 Here are five tips to protect against wire fraud:

1. Call, don’t email: Confirm all wiring instructions by phone before transferring funds. Use a number you trust or have verified, such as the phone number from the title company’s website or a business card.
2. Be suspicious: It’s not common for title companies to change wiring instructions and payment info.
3. Confirm it all: Ask your bank to confirm not just the account number but also the name on the account before sending a wire.
4. Verify immediately: You should call the title company or real estate agent to validate that the funds were received. The sooner it is detected that money has been sent to a wrong account, the better chance you have of recovering the money.
5. Forward, don’t reply: When responding to an email, hit forward instead of reply and then start typing in the person’s email address. Criminals use email addresses that appear very similar to the company’s legitimate emails. By typing in email addresses you will make it easier to discover if a fraudster is after you.

Scammers are stealing down payments via wire fraud and getting more clever every day. Be sure you don’t fall victim to wire fraud by following these three steps.

1. Pay attention to how wire instructions are sent. It is best to only accept instructions that are secure and encrypted.
2. Before wiring funds to an individual or company, call to verify the wire instructions independently with the title company.
3. Be very watchful of any changes. Wire instructions rarely change. If you receive an email saying that any wiring instructions have changed, call your REALTOR or title company immediately to confirm.

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