Sophisticated Email Scam Targeting Home Buyers Ready To Close
PITTSBURGH (CBS) -- Home buyers are being targeted by an alarming and sophisticated email scam that can wipe out their life savings in an instant.
Experts say scammers are using realtors to unknowingly dupe their own clients.
Like most realtors, Kristina Solovieva frequently communicates with clients via email.
But last year, unknown to her, criminals hacked her Gmail account and monitored the correspondence between her and her clients. The scammers then waited for the perfect time to strike.
"The timing was impeccable, actually," said Solovieva. "It was time to send the remainder of the down payment to close escrow."
Using Solovieva's email account, the hackers sent a message to one of her clients, telling them to wire hundreds of thousands of dollars to a fraudulent account.
And this was not an isolated case.
Lawyer Matt Borden is suing a different real estate company on behalf of his client who lost $500,000 due to a similar fraudulent email from her realtor's account.
"She was crushed. This was her life savings," said Borden.
The National Association of Realtors and the FBI have issued warnings about these sophisticated email scams targeting the real estate industry.
- For more on this story, visit CBS San Francisco.
Realtors aren't the only ones being hacked.
"It can be the agent's email, it can be the title company, it can be a lender, it can be someone else, a transaction coordinator," said Matt Fuller, of the San Francisco Association of Realtors. "It's a nationwide phenomenon, unfortunately."
He says the hackers aim to impersonate someone involved in the real estate transaction by sending emails from the party's account, instructing buyers to wire money right when the buyer is expecting to make a payment.
"They'd been watching us all along and reading all of our correspondence," said Solovieva.
Luckily, her clients questioned the fake email after being tipped off by the fact the amount requested was slightly off.
"They called me asking, 'How did you come up with this amount?'" said Solovieva.
Realtors like Solovieva are now hoping the warnings about wire fraud don't get lost among the reams real estate paperwork and email overload their clients face.
The National Association of Realtors and the FBI advise everyone in the real estate market to verify any instructions they receive via email, either in person or on the phone.
Consumers are also advised to never wire money unless positive the instructions came from a reliable source.
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