gabe@gabegold.com
Date: Sat, 4 Nov 2017 21:51:53 -0400
https://www.washingtonpost.com/realestate/hackers-prey-on-home-buyers-with-hundreds-of-millions-of-dollars-at-stake/2017/10/30/0379dcb4-bd87-11e7-97d9-bdab5a0ab381_story.html
New to me. Though, somewhat related, I keep hearing radio commercials for
some sort of "Lifelock for home titles" (my term, not theirs) preventing
bogus registration/transfers and mortgages. That seems about as credible as
Lifelock (that is, not).
Though I wonder about this:
Days or sometimes weeks before the settlement, the scammer poses as the title or escrow agent whose email accounts they've hijacked and instructs the home buyer to wire the funds needed to close -- often hundreds of thousands of dollars, sometimes far more -- to the criminals' own bank accounts, not the title or escrow company's legitimate accounts. The criminals then withdraw the money and vanish.
...since funds are often wired by mortgage lenders, I'd hope (!) they pay attention to where funds go.