The latest mortgage fraud to affect the mortgage industry is being called wire fraud or down payment wire fraud. Each case tends to involve a combination of email hacking, identity fraud and wire fraud. A scammer hacks the sensitive data of an impending mortgage transaction, assumes the identity of a party involved (such as a real estate agent or title/closing professional), and attempts to convince another party to change the down payment wiring instructions so that the down payment is actually sent to the fraudster’s account. Sounds simple enough. Should be easy enough to quell, right?
Wrong.
The speed at which these scams are evolving, and the lengths scammers are willing to go to in order to fool us are at once impressive and terrifying. The latest iteration of wire fraud is one that will take an entire industry to stamp out.
