It's been in Florida for about a year.   There is also the Manhattan NYC Judge who just got scammed for $1,000,000+ via a bogus email.

      Our Board Attorney warned us about this in writing... he said NEVER wire funds without first telephoning your Title Closer or Title Attorney for confirmation.

how are you getting involved with that???  wise guys are now scamming buyers....  what's this world coming to?? 

We have had 2 cases recently locally totaling over $300k and your basic errors and omissions insurance won't cover it.

Yes I'm a crime stopper.  

Holy smokes this scam just keeps getting bigger and bigger Caroline.  We are hyper vigiliant regarding these issues.  Sad commentary but it is what is....ugh.

In CA we require to sing a special form warning against wire fraud, the escrow does the same. 

Our board & attorney on the forms committee just put an entire paragraph in our forms about the wire fraud scam to alert buyers and sellers and everyone (and also to protect agents, lenders & title).  We all need to make our clients aware of this.  Scams are out of control. -Kasey

I tell my clients NOT to OK anythig without my approval including anything from their lenders.

So far i have not had any clients receive this fraudulent email. I do communicate that they must call the title company directly and get wiring instructions.

After my clients receive wire instructions, I like to have them call the title company to confirm.

You can ask them to stop, but it won't happen.  Of all the fraud cases I've seen, 100% of them have been conducted BY the escrow officer!

Break their fingers perhaps?

Caroline Gerardo Will these scammers ever stop. I have a friend who lives in Florida who helps retired people recover funds. He said they recovered $1.6 million last year and that was only the tip of the iceburg. He also does local presentations to groups to make them aware of these scammer's schemes.

This is getting to be a major problem in the last 2 years.  We deal with title companies out here and they recommend what to do.

We all need to be smarter and less trusting or assuming when it comes to wiring funds. #3 should prevent crime with wire fraud. 

I think #3 does it all.

Call and talk to someone whose office you can drive to confirm instructions.

Today's best scams in Florida are disguised FORECLOSURE auction that are later discovered to be on the second mortgage. The 'too good to be true'  warning proved to be true even for these EXPERIENCED buyers.

#3 is the crucial one that everyone should adhere to.

Always make a phone call for confirmation before wiring any funds.

No, we have little control except to warn our customers!

In California we have a Wire Fraud Advisory that is given to clients(buyers, sellers, landlords and tenants) to acknowledge.   I doubt spamming/scamming will ever stop but we can continue to raise awareness.   

Can I personally stop it?  I doubt it...

No.

This is all being done by the title companies & attorneys in my area. 

Thanks for the tips Caroline

We've had warnings from our Board for over a year now on issues like this. These are good suggestions, especially #3.

Caroline Gerardo - just don't wire! And tell the same to our clients - repeatedly.

Nope, for every sysytem there is an anti-system and then an anti-system to the anti-system................................

Listen to your agent....

Haven't experienced this before