Wire Fraud In Ohio Real Estate Closings: How Buyers And Sellers Can Protect Themselves

When it comes to real estate sales, there is always a considerable amount of money involved. As such, it becomes very tempting for crooks and con artists to take advantage of real estate transactions. The problem is that the process often takes place during the closing, where the buyer needs to send a considerable amount of money through a wire transfer to make the deal successful. The problem is that it becomes almost impossible to recover the money after the transfer. 

How real estate wire fraud works 

Wire fraud in real estate usually occurs when the criminals get into the communication loop involving buyers, real estate agents, banks, lenders, or the title company. After that, the criminals will wait for the conversation to show that the closing day is near.

Once the closing day comes up, the criminals will send out emails, pretending to be any of the people involved in the conversation, including the title company or closing attorney. The fraudsters will give new instructions to the buyer to send money via wire transfer due to changes in the payment information.

Since the email looks legitimate because it has details about the transaction, there would be no reason for the buyer to doubt the legitimacy of the email. Buyers will send the requested money to the specified account. 

Warning signs of wire fraud 

Although these scams are quite sophisticated, there are certain red flags that both parties should consider. Unusual requests for changes to the wiring instructions are among the most popular indications that the deal could be fraudulent. Reputable closing agents hardly ever change their wiring instructions at that late a stage.

Another potential red flag is urgent language used by the fraudster who is trying to pressure the victim not to double-check their wiring instructions. Another sign of a scam can be an email that uses unusual language, has minor misspellings in the sender’s email address, and contains a slightly changed domain name.

If something is out of place in the instructions, you should double-check them. 

How to protect yourself during closing 

There are several measures that you can take to prevent such cases of wire fraud. For one, you can always verify your wire instructions directly by reaching out through a reliable phone number. You should never rely entirely on your emails when making huge payments.

Next, you can always try to receive wire instructions early enough and even try verifying them much earlier than your closing date, so that it becomes easy to spot any last-minute attempts at fraud.

Thirdly, you can send your money in small chunks until you confirm that your first transaction was successful.

Lastly, do not click the suspicious links. They could end up leading you to malicious websites or emails that are trying to get into your account. 

Talk to a Columbus, OH, Consumer Fraud Attorney Today 

Kohl & Cook Law Firm, LLC, represents the interests of Columbus residents who have become the victims of consumer fraud. Call our Columbus consumer lawyers today to schedule an appointment, and we can begin discussing your case right away.