Buying a home—whether it is your first or last one—can be a rewarding experience. Owning a home not only has financial benefits, but people can have a lot of fulfillment in having something that is uniquely their own. Sadly, some wish to exploit or take advantage of people seeking their own homes.
Criminals who try to profit off others like this have developed highly elaborate means of doing so. These are more than phishing email scams trying to get you to send money to claim an inheritance from an unknown relative. Take a look at the following way this occurs to prevent yourself from being a victim.
Escrow
Before you close on your home, your lending company must give final approval on your loan. Ultimately, the lender wires the money into escrow. You, the buyer, will do the same before arriving at closing. The amount of money you are putting forth as a down payment gets wired this way.
Someone attempting to defraud you may send you an email requesting you wire the funds into a designated escrow account. The email could look exactly like it was sent from your lender. When you click on the link, it could even bring you to a site that also looks like your lender’s. After you send the money, which could be a significant sum, you realize you gave your money to the wrong person.
How To Avoid This
Your lender gives you precise information and instructions regarding how to deposit your money into the escrow account. The fraudulent email, by design, alters these instructions so that they receive the money.
Throughout the home buying process, you receive emails and calls from your lender and their underwriting department. One extra email asking you to follow a new set of instructions may not catch you off guard—but it needs to.
Contact your lender and confirm the wiring instructions. The easiest way to do this is to confirm the account number. If you can’t get someone on the phone to confirm, don’t send the money. It’s too big of a risk. Call the closing agent or conveyancer after the money has been sent to verify they have received the money.
Cueto Law Group, P.L.
If you have any further questions regarding a real estate dispute, contact the Cueto Law Group to schedule a consultation. When the real estate market intensifies, it leads to a larger amount of transactions and more disputes. Our passion is our clients and getting the results they deserve.
