Yes, Another Fraud Post

This year, International Fraud Awareness Week is being recognized from November 17-23. I know we have discussed fraud a couple times before, but the importance simply cannot be stressed enough. The battle against fraud is never truly over. There have been countless fraud attempts involving buyers and sellers across the nation, and thanks to the power of knowledge and caution, some of these attempts were decisively quelled. However, for every fraud attempt that fails, another one elsewhere succeeds, and this will remain true until everyone is in the know. Let’s cover a few different types of fraud, as well as what The Waldren Team does to keep our contacts safe. 

Types of Fraud We Have Encountered

Real estate escrow wire fraud 

One common real estate scam involves somebody posing as a fake title or escrow company. They give you instructions to wire transfer funds into your escrow account, using spoofing tactics to mimic phone numbers and other contact info.

Before you send money to a third party, contact your lender or escrow company directly using the information on the documents they gave you. Verify their instructions for escrow funds to easily avoid having your money stolen by scammers. One other note, when your escrow company sends you wiring instructions, these instructions almost never change, so if you see new wiring instructions, keep your guard up and immediately contact the office for verification.

Video of our team leader Christine outlining steps to enable Risk Alert with the Collier Clerk, putting your property on an email alert whenever something changes with the deed/title - allowing you to act if fraudsters try to exploit your property. 

Fraudulent listings and rentals 

Unfortunately, fraudsters also attempt to prey upon homeowners by trying to list or rent out their homes by posing as the owner. Vacant land accounts for the most common property they try to fraudulently list; this is because sale of vacant land involves less steps (no inspection, walkthrough, etc.) so the fraud is less likely to be detected. Many agents are equipped to do background checks and verify ownership of the property, but sometimes the fraud goes undetected, or the fraudster presents it as a FSBO. After finding a buyer or renter, the fraud is completed by receiving a wire from the unfortunate purchasers/renters.

So how can this be combatted? The Waldren Team can set you up on an MLS automatic search specifically for your property, so if it comes onto the market, fraudulent or not, you will be wise to it. If you prefer another method, get in the habit of Googling your property at least once a month to ensure there are no active listings for it.

Unsolicited buyers wanting off-market sales

Another major red flag to be aware of is unsolicited communication requesting information about your home or an all-cash offering. While cash buyers can be legitimate, some fraudsters may make sinister attempts to take advantage of a homeowner looking to sell their home for a good return.

This nefarious scheme offers a "too good to be true" cash buy-out option, sometimes presented to get relief on cumbersome mortgage payments. If you're unsure, it's much safer to contact your lender and inquire about any programs they might offer to help you.

This video shows the step-by-step process described in the video above, just in case you need it for extra guidance! You can also call us and we can set it up for you if you wish!

What we do to combat fraud

Always and forever, The Waldren Team is committed to doing everything necessary to protect our customers from becoming another statistic in the war against fraud. For starters, we use a third party application to perform background checks on any prospective leads, ensuring that everyone we do business with (and by extension everyone our customers work with) is real and legitimate. To further fortify this, we also cross-check IP addresses on electronic signatures; in other words, we use a special signature that detects where people are signing from. If the e-signature location is wildly different from what’s expected, we investigate further. And, of course, we wrangle up all the information needed to confirm title history and legitimacy. With widespread fraud certainly representing bad news, let our diligence be the good news.