What is Wire Fraud?

Wire fraud is an unfortunate but very real threat facing people like you across the country who are involved in real estate transactions.  It happens when scammers use electronic communications, like email, to deceive Buyers or Sellers into transferring funds to fraudulent bank accounts. Unfortunately, these types of scams are becoming more common, and they can happen to anyone involved in a real estate deal.

Here’s how wire fraud works in real estate:

1. Impersonation: A scammer may hack into or spoof the email of a legitimate party involved in your transaction—like your real estate agent, title company, or mortgage lender.
2. Fraudulent Instructions: The fraudster sends you an email or message that looks like it’s from a trusted source, instructing you to wire funds (for example, a down payment or closing costs) to a different account than what was originally provided.
3. Loss of Funds: If you follow the fraudulent instructions, you could end up sending your money to the wrong account, and the scammer may quickly withdraw it, making it difficult to recover the funds.

How to Protect Yourself from Wire Fraud:

To help protect you from this risk, we use CertifID: an easy-to-use solution to validate your identity and securely share wiring instructions before funds are transferred. 

Pioneer Title will only send our wiring instructions via CertifID. If you have any questions about this process, call or email our office.

WARNING: 

• If you receive a request to wire funds through any way other than CertifID, STOP. Do not wire funds.
• Don’t trust a phone number or email address provided in any email the asks you for money.
• Never wire money without double-checking that the wiring instructions are correct.

Seller Impersonation Fraud

Another issue on the rise is Seller Impersonation Fraud. Fraudsters are impersonating property owners to illegally sell commercial or residential property. Sophisticated fraudsters are using the real property owner’s Social Security and driver’s license numbers in the transaction, as well as legitimate notary credentials, which may be applied without the notary’s knowledge. Because fraudsters are targeting properties that are not owner occupied, it can take months or years for the actual property owner to discover the fraud. This is especially true of vacant land fraud. Pioneer Title is combating this issue by utilizing CertifID’s Match feature.

CertifID Match is an easy-to-use process requiring a Seller to use their smartphone to take a picture of their government issued ID and a “selfie”. CertifID Match ensures the ID is real and matches the Seller using biometric data and checking for advanced anomalies.