As much as we all like to believe we’re savvy about attackers’ latest online fraud, phishing, and email scams, here’s a variation of one that’s shocking, potentially devastating financially—and that, surprisingly, many people aren’t aware of.
For Tina Brown and Phil DeMarco, it started in December 2017 when they decided to sell their home in New Jersey and purchase a new home in Colorado. The New Jersey sale was set to close on a Friday, the proceeds of which would be applied to the Colorado home, scheduled to close the following Monday. A week prior, the couple received an email from their realtor instructing them how and where to wire-transfer the closing funds, adding that she would be too busy to take phone calls for the next few days and they should reply to her only by email.
Many buyers, in their eagerness to follow instructions to the letter so they can get into their new homes quickly, have followed similar wiring instructions and found themselves not only without a new home but stripped of their entire life savings—stolen by scammers. It nearly happened to Brown and DeMarco, too, who initially forwarded the wiring instructions they received to the New Jersey title company. But almost immediately, they became suspicious of the email and called their realtor, who wasn’t too busy to pick up the phone and who told them she had sent no such email. The couple immediately notified the title company of the fraud.
“The scary part is how convincing the email was because it consisted of a carefully crafted thread of emails back and forth between our loan officer, title company, and our realtor,” said Brown. “And all of the names, addresses, phone numbers, and signature blocks were correct. Of course, as it turned out, the messages were all fake.”
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