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Maybe we should have to give verbal PW at the title company to release the money...two step verification.....the scammers are very cleaver......
I put the fear of god in my clients to know who they are wiring to....and encourage them to do everything by cashier checks....but some title companies try to fight cashier checks....they've ended up taking them from my clients without delay, but they always threaten delay.
Our title companies have the agent for buyer have the buyer call the title co, and the title company will give them wire instructions over the phone. For sales, they have seller give them a voided check, and they wire to that acct.
There was nothing wrong with the wire transfer procedure. The idiots sent it to the scammers based on fraudulent instructions. Had they exercised a bit of verification, the whole transfer would never have been initiated by them. The vast majority of wire fraud had nothing to do with procedures, it had to do with stupid people initiating a wire transfer that was based on a scam.
This right here.
They were scammed because they allowed themselves to be. The procedures are fine, and they must be followed to prevent being scammed.
When people are getting scammed out of millions / billions of dollars, there is something inherently wrong with the system. It should be toughened against scammers.
For instance, require a small wire transfer 1 week in advance to ensure it goes through, of a token amount of $100 or so. That would eliminate the vast majority of scams.
How can you say the procedures are fine when so many people are scammed routinely?
That's like saying the Boeing 737-Max is fine because only 2 planes have crashed in 1 year.
When people are getting scammed out of millions / billions of dollars, there is something inherently wrong with the system. It should be toughened against scammers.
For instance, require a small wire transfer 1 week in advance to ensure it goes through, of a token amount of $100 or so. That would eliminate the vast majority of scams.
How can you say the procedures are fine when so many people are scammed routinely?
That's like saying the Boeing 737-Max is fine because only 2 planes have crashed in 1 year.
The email signature of just about every real estate professional I deal with in almost every phase of the transaction says "Always verbally verify wire instructions" or something to that effect. Your solution to the issue seems overly complex to me and would still allow scammers to receive money which would incentive them to continue scamming people. A simple call to the office of the closing entity whether it be an attorney or an escrow company to verify wiring instructions is more than sufficient to protect yourself from such a scam IMO.
Flip side: How do you handle a crooked buyer sending a wire and then recalling it after closing when they've had the deed recorded and taken possession?
Flip side: How do you handle a crooked buyer sending a wire and then recalling it after closing when they've had the deed recorded and taken possession?
Seriously?
That's a new one on me.
I sure wouldn't want to be the buyer jerking funds back out of an attorney's trust fund post-recording.
Flip side: How do you handle a crooked buyer sending a wire and then recalling it after closing when they've had the deed recorded and taken possession?
A house is a fixed asset in the literal sense--it's not going anywhere. It's easy to prosecute someone and seize assets, if necessary, to recover any loss. The problem with these wire scams is that the money is wired out of the country and it's difficult to impossible to track them down. That's why bad wires or bad checks from actual real estate purchasers is virtually nonexistent. There are much better ways to do fraudulent real estate deals.
The email signature of just about every real estate professional I deal with in almost every phase of the transaction says "Always verbally verify wire instructions" or something to that effect. Your solution to the issue seems overly complex to me and would still allow scammers to receive money which would incentive them to continue scamming people. A simple call to the office of the closing entity whether it be an attorney or an escrow company to verify wiring instructions is more than sufficient to protect yourself from such a scam IMO.
The problem is sometimes it's hard to reach people at the escrow company depending on the time of day. And crooks can even change official looking phone numbers of escrow companies to redirect calls to their own number, so a phone call is not always the best avenue as the main line of defense.
Multiple ways to verify the wires (which are irreversible) is a good idea. Only having a single layer of defense is not working.
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