Buying a home is stressful enough, but now home buyers need to be aware of a new threat to their “happily ever after” story. Property buyers can be at risk of losing hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars if they’re not careful because hackers have now stepped into an unlikely area of finance: money transfers. Money Transfer Scams are now a real thing...and like any danger, knowing about the threat is half the battle.
Money Transfer Scams for Consumers
The scam begins much like other scams: with the bad guys getting access to your email account. A common consumer (non-business) attack starts when they then monitor your email and read the conversations between you and your real estate professionals -- in particular, your title agents. And right around the time a bank wire transfer is due, the scammers send a fake email with different bank wire instructions.
The victim sees the email, assumes it is legitimately sent from their title agent, and then sends the money to the scammer’s bank account. Once the money lands in the scammer’s account, it is often transferred immediately to other bank accounts to make recovery harder.
And just like that, with one little mistake, you’ve become a victim of a money transfer scam and handed over hundreds of thousands of dollars of your hard-earned money to some stranger, and your dream of owning a home withers away.
Money Transfer Scams for Businesses
The same kind of scam also affects business owners and financial executives who regularly transfer money via bank wire. According to Forbes.com, just as with the consumer scam, the bad guys will often hack into a vendor’s email to learn who their clients are. Then they send fake invoices or collection notices to real customers, with payment instructions to wire money to the scammer’s bank account.
Similarly, scammers will hack into a business email account (usually one belonging to an employee responsible for paying bills by bank wire), identify the kinds of bills he or she usually pays, and then send emails that look legitimate but aren’t.
How To Avoid Becoming a Transfer Scam Victim
The FBI is well aware of these money transfer scams and is trying to publicize some basic measures to help you avoid becoming a victim. Their first piece of advice is to call the receiving party before making any bank wire transfer. A quick call to your title officer or vendor can confirm whether the bank account information is legitimate.
The FBI also advises you to change your email, bank, and other passwords frequently. Use mismatched and uncommon characters to make your passwords harder to guess.
While that is good advice, it is seldom good enough to prevent your email account from being hacked. Thousands of people click on phishing emails every day and voluntarily give up even the most complex passwords. Once that happens, unusual login activity to email and other accounts happens quickly.
The best way to protect yourself from money transfer scams and hacks, or breaches, starts with complete cybersecurity training for you and your business. Knowing what hacks, scams and phishing threats look like can help tremendously. You should also have comprehensive cybersecurity measures installed on your business network, including malware detection, two-factor authentication, application whitelisting, behavior-based protection, and more.
For an analysis of your network’s current vulnerability, as well as an assessment of how to make your network truly secure, contact Digital Uppercut. We’re the experts in cybersecurity for small businesses like yours, whether internal or external. Every day, thousands of computers are attacked, networks are infiltrated, resources are stolen, and data is encrypted and held for ransom. Don’t let you and your company become a victim. Contact Digital Uppercut today by calling 213-398-8771 or contact us today here.
