October 08 2018
Wire transfer scams continue to plague the real estate industry, but brokers are deploying countermeasures and collaborating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to catch these criminals. WAV Group was provided with an insider's overview of a recent victory by the FBI to shut down a huge ring of scammers. The story was amazing.
The first thing that you should know is that a lot of these crime rings are operating out of Ghana, Nigeria, and other African nations.
How many of you have gotten an email or a Facebook post that says something like, "I have millions of dollars or pounds of gold that I need to get out of Africa?" These scammers send out millions of these emails all of the time, and some idiots actually click on it. They also create fake profiles on dating sites in an effort to connect with a mule. They even operate fake non-profits!
When they catch a fool, they create a fake relationship with that person. In many cases, it's a guy posing as a woman. Once they have their hooks in them, they say that they are going to wire money into their account and then they need to wire the money to Ghana. In one case, scammers created a story that they were building a mansion in Africa and that they wanted to ship furniture, appliances, iPhones, and a bunch of other merchandise to the mule who would, in turn, fill a shipping container and send it to Africa.
These mules are located in the United States and think that they are doing a favor for their love interest. What they are really doing is laundering money and other goods.
A broker who did not get defrauded was able to help the FBI with a sting operation. Before the theft could occur, this unnamed broker contacted the FBI and worked with them. Thirteen indictments and 15 prosecutions were made. Four people have already pleaded guilty. Four other extradition packets are in the works.
Many of the mules are helping the FBI catch the thieves abroad. Here is story of the biggest sting operation.
Unless you have some business reason not to, a best practice is to block all IP addresses from those nations. According to the FBI, these criminals are not using exotic technology tools for masking their IP addresses. Avoid web-based free email accounts. Be careful when you post to social media, especially job duties and descriptions – hierarchal information and out of office details. By the way, email signatures are good to have, too, since they do not work with web-based email accounts.
Train your agents and clients. Wire transfer instructions should be handled carefully and always confirmed by telephone. Be suspicious of requests for secrecy or pressure to act quickly.
Special thanks to The Realty Alliance and to Crye-Leike Realtors for their incredible efforts to create industry collaboration and share best practices.
To view the original article, visit the WAV Group blog.