Please protect yourself from scams!

[Mindy Jensen]

A friend who is not an investor is buying a house to live in. This is her first home purchase.

She has had a less than stellar experience with her agent, her title company and her experience in general. At the last minute on Thursday afternoon, her title company emailed wire instructions to her. At 1:00 am they sent new instructions with different bank information.

She was at first frustrated with the new instructions so last minute, which quickly turned to horror and anger when it was discovered that the new instructions came from an email account that had been hacked.

I am even more angry on her behalf because the title company said this has happened about 30 other times, yet at no point in her interactions with this title company was she warned this was a possibility.

Please read this article about common real estate scams . Take proactive measures and get the wire information from your title company well in advance of the transaction. Do NOT believe last minute emails that reroute you to a new account, and make sure to confirm the account information on the phone after you receive it. 

[Allen Fletcher]

As a general rule of thumb, anytime you get a request for money, transfer request, etc. no matter how urgent it may appear. Call to verify it. If the strange message comes with a phone number ignore it and find the number from another source, then call. These scammers prey on those that are feeling rushed and hassled, which means those that take a minute to verify what they receive usually can defeat them.

I hope your friend has a better experience next time,

Allen Fletcher