Fraud is on the Rise

Real estate fraud is alive and well and fraudsters are always finding new ways to cheat people out of their money. Their methods are endless and could include fraudulent emails or posing as a realtor and calling clients to get them to send money. Title companies, banks and realtors strive to protect buyers’ and sellers’ money as if it was their own money. It is our job to protect our clients and ensure a smooth closing process for everyone. We were asked recently what we do to protect our clients’ sensitive information and protect their assets – here are a few ways we do this.

ID Verification

When Sellers come to our office to sign documents to sell real estate, we check identification. We want to make sure the person in front of us is in fact the person on the documentation and not some fraudster trying to claim real estate as their own.

Remote Online Notarization (RON)

Believe it or not, signing documents through a RON environment is more secure than signing in person. Signers must submit their photo ID while on a live audio-visual session and answer KBA (Knowledge-based authentication) questions to verify their identity. We simply do not have that kind of capability in person.

Secure Wire Instructions

We work with CertifID to send and verify wire instructions. It does take a little extra time to verify your identity with this process. However, we do this to guarantee funds are getting to where they are supposed to be instead of being sent to another country into a fraudsters personal account.

payments.io

We offer this payment portal for our clients to securely send their Earnest Money to satisfy the terms of the contract. The process is simple and works a lot like other payment apps such as Cash App or Venmo. How do they access this? TGT will send the buyer a link to our custom payment page (this and our direct link via our website are the ONLY WAYS to access this page). The Earnest Money goes straight from the Buyers bank account to the Tallgrass Title account. There is a service fee for this method but it is typically half of the cost of sending a wire, depending on the buyers bank, and reduces the need to navigate wire instructions and human error.

E-Signature Platforms

Our office utilizes Dropbox Sign to get documents to clients securely. We can send view only documents or we can send documents with a request for information and signatures. This eliminates the requirement for password protecting a PDF in email and still applies the security necessary for sensitive information.

Password Protected

If our office does send out sensitive information via email, we will always password protect it to secure information that is not public knowledge, such as settlement statements. At any time, a fraudster could be hanging out in your email and open attachments that are not secured to see what the proceeds would be for a transaction, then reach out to you with bad wire instructions requesting you send your hard-earned money to then instead of to the title company for your transaction.

Why?

Wire fraud and other forms of cybercrime in the real estate sector resulted in $500 million in losses in 2024, up over $100 million in 2023. While only 12,000 people a year are victims, one in three real estate transactions is a target. This is why we remain vigilant in our own practices and in our efforts to educate our clients.[1]

A staggering 35% of fraud attempts reported in 2024 were traced back to email. If you suspect a fraudulent email was sent to you, do not respond to it, click any links, or open its attachments. Reach out to your realtor, title company, lender, client using known information from a source outside of the email. Stay tuned for a follow-up blog on email security tips!

We are here to answer any questions you may have, protect your information, and help make your closing experience as smooth as possible.