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  Geebo 8:00 am on April 6, 2023 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: BEC scam ( 2 ), business email compromise ( 8 ), home buying, real estate ( 117 ), Scams ( 1,224 ), wire fraud ( 21 ), wire transfer   

  Family loses $160K to home buying scam 

  

  By Greg Collier

  Lately, we’ve noticed an uptick in news stories about the business email compromise scam. While this is only anecdotal evidence, it can mean that scammers are getting better at it, or more people are coming forward about it. Either way, it seems we can expect to see increasing incidents of the BEC scam.

  For those who may not be familiar, the BEC scam is a scam that targets businesses and individuals who regularly perform wire transfers or make large payments via email. In this scam, the attackers use social engineering tactics to trick the victim into sending money to a fraudulent account instead of the intended recipient.

  In the context of buying a house, the BEC scam typically involves impersonating a real estate agent, lawyer, or title company representative. The attacker sends an email that appears to be from one of these legitimate sources and instructs the homebuyer to wire transfer the funds for the down payment or closing costs to a specified account. The email may seem convincing and use language that mimics that of the real estate professional, including branding and logos.

  A family from Ohio recently fell victim to this scam while closing on their home after the husband retired from the military. Since they were a military family, they are familiar with the home buying process. However, in Ohio, it’s required by law to wire any closing costs over $10,000, instead of paying by check. They received an email from who they thought was the title company, and followed the included instructions on where to wire the funds. The transfer was for $160,000. It wasn’t until the next day when the family discovered the title company wasn’t the one who requested the transfer.

  The family contacted their bank, and the wire transfer was stopped before going into the scammer’s account, but the bank is allegedly dragging their feet as far as issuing a refund to the family. This isn’t surprising considering the amount of bank scams we’ve seen where the banks refuse to issue refunds.

  The family was still able to close on their home, but not everyone has that luxury.

  To avoid falling victim to a BEC scam when buying a house, it is important to always verify payment instructions before sending any money. This can involve calling the real estate professional or company to confirm that the account details are correct. Additionally, it is wise to be cautious of emails that seem urgent or that request immediate wire transfers without sufficient verification.

   

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  Geebo 9:00 am on January 16, 2023 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: real estate ( 117 ), Scams ( 1,224 ), wire fraud ( 21 ), wire transfer   

  Even with agents, property buyers can still be scammed 

  

  By Greg Collier

  A Durham, North Carolina man loved his home and loved the trees that loomed over his backyard. He wanted to keep the trees standing, but he didn’t own the property the trees stood on. He always thought that if that property became available, he would love to buy it. Recently, the man received a text from a neighbor of his who saw that the property was being listed for sale. The man contacted his real estate agent to help with the purchasing process.

  The man’s real estate agent dealt with the property’s listing agent, which was in nearby Chapel Hill. The listing agent instructed the man to wire $10,000 to the owner of the property, who just happened to be in Vietnam. The Durham man even questioned the method of payment, but was assured by the listing agent that this was appropriate. They closed on the property after another $20,000 was wired overseas. The closing document stated that the owner was now in South Africa.

  About a month after the deal closed, the man received a phone call from his agent telling him that the deal was a fraud. The people the listing agent were dealing with were not the owners of the property, but scammers. The man’s agent informed him that he would be getting his money back, but only received $19,000. The listing agent ended up paying the remainder back to the man out of their own expenses.

  Even professionals can be taken in by scammers. In this case, the listing agent did not verify if they were talking to the actual owners of the property. That’s not to say there weren’t red flags. Anytime when dealing with real estate, and you’re asked to wire money overseas, it’s time to step back and assess the situation. In this instance, the agent’s insurance was able to cover the man’s loss, but in most situations that money would be gone forever.

  When buying a property, insist on going through the traditional closing methods if you’re asked to wire money. If the sellers refuse, there’s a good chance you’re dealing with a scammer.

   
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  Geebo 8:00 am on October 10, 2022 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Amazon ( 103 ), antivirus scam ( 5 ), FTC ( 13 ), impersonation scam ( 113 ), Scams ( 1,224 ), wire transfer   

  Scam victim gets hit with multiple scams at once 

  

  By Greg Collier

  We’ve said in the past that if you’ve been scammed once, the odds are pretty good that you’ll be targeted by scammers again. Except, it doesn’t typically happen in one day. That’s what happened to one Texas senior who not only lost $75,000 to scammers, but they continued to plague her afterwards.

  It all started when she received a call from someone offering to install an antivirus program on her computer. The victim says she needed this for her computer, but in order to do so, the caller needed remote access to her computer. Right off the bat, the scammers are starting with the tech support scam. If the scammers aren’t saying they’re installing software, they’re telling you that you have a virus on your computer. Once scammers have access to a victim’s device, there’s an untold amount of havoc that can be wreaked using the victim’s personal information.

  But getting back to the story, the woman then received a message on her computer that said her Amazon account had been hacked, and she needed to call the listed phone number. Now, the scammers are following up with the Amazon scam. This is where scammers claim to be from Amazon and that there is something wrong with your account. This is done to either get your payment information, or the scammers will try to convince you that you need to ‘move your money’ to avoid being hacked.

  While on the phone with the fake Amazon representative, the victim was then told she was being transferred to the Federal Trade Commission. Not only did the scammers pretend to be with the FTC, but they pretended to be the current FTC chairwoman. This is what’s known as the government impersonation scam. Scammers will pose as anyone from local police to the chairs of federal commissions if they think they can intimidate their victims. Unfortunately, this is not the first instance we’ve seen of scammers posing as high-ranking government officials.

  The phony FTC chairwoman threatened the victim with arrest if she didn’t comply with her demands. The victim was told that someone was selling drugs and laundering money through her bank account. To ‘clean’ her money, the victim would need to wire it to the scammers posing as FBI agents.

  Again, when someone who is not familiar with how online activity works, it can be quite easy to fall for such a scam. However, there are tips to keep you or a relative safe. The first is not to allow anyone you don’t know personally to install software on your device, or give them remote access. Anyone calling to offer software is more than likely a scammer. Also, if your computer runs Windows 10 or 11, they have built-in security software already.

  If Amazon is calling or your device says you need to call them, it’s a scam. Amazon, or any other company, does not know the status of your device, nor do they know your banking activity. If any company besides your bank says there’s a problem with your bank account, they’re probably trying to scam you.

  Lastly, no legitimate government agency or law enforcement branch is going to threaten you with arrest over the phone. Neither will they ever ask you to move your money to ‘clean’ it, whatever that means.

   
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  Geebo 8:00 am on July 7, 2022 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: cattle scam, farm scam, Scams ( 1,224 ), wire fraud ( 21 ), wire transfer   

  Why you should care about a cattle scam 

  

  By Greg Collier

  The scam we’re about to discuss probably wouldn’t affect the majority of our reading audience. However, we think it goes a long way into showing just how prevalent scams are these days.

  A cattle farmer from Tennessee was looking to add a cow to his livestock. He went on a legitimate livestock marketplace platform called Cattle Exchange. There, he found cattle he was willing to purchase. The seller, who claimed to be from Arkansas, asked for a $15,000 deposit to be sent through wire transfer, with the rest being paid on delivery. After sending the $15,000 deposit, the seller then started asking for the rest of the money before delivery.

  It was at this point the farmer realized that something was wrong. The farmer contacted law enforcement, but unfortunately, his money could not be recovered since the money was sent somewhere out of the country.

  According to the news report, the traditional way to pay for cattle is through a cashier’s check. However, the article states that you should check with the issuing bank before depositing the check to make sure the check is valid.

  So, why should our readers be concerned about a cattle scam? While the odds are pretty good you may not be a cattle rancher, you probably do have an interest which could be considered a niche interest. While I’m sure it’s very profitable, cattle ranching can be considered niche to those of us not involved in the industry.

  No matter how niche or obscure your business, hobbies, or collections can be, the odds are there’s a scammer waiting to take advantage of you. This is especially true when making trades or purchases online. Not only do scams happen on large platforms like eBay and Facebook Marketplace, but they also happen on specialized marketplaces that only cater to a limited audience.