wire fraud

[Devin Scott]

I just wanted to share this so it would not happen to anyone else. I have an upcoming settlement where I will be bringing cash to the table. I have been emailing back and forth with the attorney who is setting up settlement. 

The emails started to get weird. She stated that I cannot bring a certified check but I need to send a wire. She also stated the wire instructions have changed and that I need to send the wire right away. I asked for a HUD. She said it is not ready yet. I asked for a settlement date and time. Not ready yet. But still need the wire right away. The amount needed was $21,000.

I went to send the wire anyway trying to be aggressive and get the deal done. I went online and my bank wouldnt let me send online. I called the bank and they said I needed to initiate the wire in person. I emailed back "the attorney" and said that I will send the wire when I get off at 5. She said no, please send before 5 so we can have the confirmation and get a settlement date. 

I noticed a red flag when her grammar was off, and punctuation was a little weird. 

But then I noticed that in the back and forth of the emails, the email address kept changing, but only slightly. maybe one letter different. I scrolled back to the original emails that I got from the real attorney.  To try to shorten this story, someone got into either my emails or her emails, got her name, her company signature, and created an email address that was one letter different than hers. I would never have noticed if they were not so aggressive about sending the wire. I called the real attorney to confirm and she confirmed it is a scam. I was that close to losing $21,000.