Realty Executives is hosting a free webinar, “Wire Fraud: Educating Clients and Avoiding Scams in Real Estate,” Jan. 26 at 11 a.m. CT, the company recently announced. The webinar will co-hosted by the general counsel for the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) and a member of the FBI Cyber Crimes Task Force. Anyone interested can register at www.realtyexecutives.com/fraudwebinar.
Scammers have begun aggressively focusing on real estate in a serious phishing scam that has resulted in losses of hundreds of millions of dollars and devastating results for those in the process of purchasing a home. Unfortunately, the general public is generally unaware of this potential threat. The way this scam works is hackers target email and other accounts with messages relating to real estate activities, collecting contacts/email address of those in the process of buying a property. The scammer then spoofs an email to the buyer, often pretending to be an agent, title company, etc., directing them on where to wire their down payment. For those unfortunate buyers who follow through, they are out their down payment with little chance of ever getting it back.
“We believe the way to stop these scammers in their tracks is by educating clients to identify, avoid and report potential fraud,” says Alysia Heun, vice president of Franchise Services at Realty Executives International. “By raising awareness in the real estate industry on how these scams are being carried out, we can create a united front fighting against and work to shut down this devastating trend.”
The company has also compiled a list of the top three things buyers can do to help prevent wire fraud at www.realtyexecutives.com/blog/preventing-wire-fraud.
For more information, please visit www.realtyexecutives.com/fraudwebinar.
For the latest real estate news and trends, bookmark RISMedia.com.
