Millions of dollars have been stolen from consumers through an email scam related to real estate transactions. Consumers are being tricked into wiring their real estate funds, including down payments and/or closing costs, into scammer’s accounts.
Florida is in the midst of a home buying frenzy, and Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody issued a warning for Floridians to remain vigilant against real estate scams. Stressed buyers or renters can be fertile territory for scammers because offers that seem “too good to be true” aren’t. Consumers should understand how to safely navigate the process.
Common real estate scams include escrow wire fraud, rental scams, loan-flipping scams and foreclosure relief scams.
Scammers have done this by hacking into the email accounts of real estate agents and title companies and monitoring their emails. When they see a deal near closing, the scammer sends an email to the buyer within 24 hours with new wiring instructions. The consumer sends the money to the new account, which is often directed to a bank account outside of the country. It is then too late to locate the criminal or recover the funds. Sadly, this prevents many people from home ownership, as they have now lost the money they saved for the home purchase, and they have to start the saving process again.
A report from the FBI shows that due to this scam, over $149 million have been lost by consumers across the nation. While the scam isn't new, it is growing rapidly.
To avoid being taken in by these scams, real estate consumers are urged to:
- Be wary of free, web-based email accounts; they are easily hacked
- Always verify changes in payment instructions and confirm requests for transfer of funds
- Carefully evaluate any requests for secrecy or pressure to take action quickly
- Call, don't email: Confirm all wiring instructions by phone before transferring funds. Use the phone number from the title company's website or a business card
- Be cautious about opening attachments and downloading files from emails, regardless of who sent them.
- Confirm it all ask your bank to confirm not just the account before sending a wire
- Verify immediately: you should call the title company or real estate agent to validate that the funds were received. Detecting that you sent the money to the wrong account within 24 hours gives you the best chance of recovering your money.
- 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 are similar to the real one for a company. By typing in email addresses you will make it easier to discover if a fraudster is after you.
Accepting wire and disbursement instructions by email is dangerous, especially changes to those instructions. Buyer/Seller acknowledges that any email request to wire funds that appear to come from any attorney, title company, agent or broker should by verified before making any such wire transfer. Verify by calling the originator of the email using previously known contact information prior to sending funds. YOU WILL NEVER RECEIVE WIRE INSTRUCTIONS OR AN EMAIL REQUEST TO WIRE ANY FUNDS FROM ANY TREELINE REALTY CORP REPRESENTATIVE.
Real estate and moving scams in Florida can be reported to the Attorney General’s office by calling 1(866) 9NO-SCAM or filing a complaint online at MyFloridaLegal.com.
Source: Ask an Expert - Beware of Consumer Real Estate Scams (usu.edu) & Fla. Attorney General Issues Real Estate Scam Warning | Florida Realtors