Good afternoon —
Title industry executives and leaders frequently tell me the two biggest issues the industry faces are trouble attracting new talent and wire fraud.
Because my extended family is spread across the world, I grew up accustomed to wiring money. I had always assumed it was a highly safe and secure way to transfer funds. Fraudsters, however, have found effective ways to attack wire transfers, collectively defrauding homebuyers out of millions of dollars.
According to Matt Kilmartin, the vice president of sales at SaaS company CertifID, fraudsters typically start with a phishing attack and hack into the email of someone involved in the transaction.
"They sit in there for months at a time, just harvesting information," Kilmartin said. "Then they will send an email from a very similar, almost identical, email address to the client, telling them it's time to wire their funds to this account and the client just does it because they think that this is the title or closing or real estate agent instructing (them) to get on with the closing."
Kilmartin and CertifID work with the Secret Service to help track and attempt to recover funds lost through wire fraud.
While wire fraud is certainly a major threat and concern, Kilmartin said there are some simple steps everyone from lenders to real estate, title and closing agents can take to protect their transactions and clients.
"It starts with education because you can't expect the consumer to educate themselves on this problem," Kilmartin said. "Also, a lot of business comes from referrals, so strengthening those relationships and making sure everyone is aware of the risks [is] better. Title is at the middle of the transaction, but that doesn't mean it should bear all of the responsibility."
Kilmartin said clearly communicating when and how the closing will be conducted, as well as using security measures, such as two factor authentication, to ensure funds are sent to the right place, also can help prevent people from becoming victims of wire fraud.
If you have thoughts on the issue of wire fraud or have a system in place to help protect your clients from wire fraud you'd like to share, feel free to email me at brooklee@hwmedia.com.
Until next week,
Brooklee Han
Real Estate and Title Industry Reporter
brooklee@hwmedia.com
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