How you can protect yourself from wire fraud.
Shopping for a home can be a vulnerable process. Not only are you searching for the perfect home for you and your family, but you’re also making the largest purchase you’ll ever make until you buy your next home. In today’s world of technology in all aspects of our lives, purchasing and closing on a home leaves you vulnerable to wire fraud, too. But don’t worry — with these five tips, you can keep your money and your new home protected from cybercrime.
Proceed with Caution
When you’re closing on your new home, it’s best to always be suspicious of wire fraud, especially, if you receive any change of wiring instructions or requests to wire it to a different account, call your agent to verify that this is correct.
Confirm Everything
It’s better to be safe than sorry when you’re closing and making transactions for your home. As we mentioned above, if you receive any new instructions — confirm it. Confirm the account number, name on the account, and address of the account before wiring your money anywhere.
Call Your Title Company
If you’re receiving any suspicious emails, call your title company to confirm everything. Cybercriminals will typically leave a phone number to call in the signature of their fraudulent emails, but absolutely do not call this number. Instead, find the business card of your title company and call them to make sure everything is accurate.
Create Secure Passwords
This step is simple, but it’s one that many people overlook. Creating secure passwords for each of your accounts is an easy way to make sure no hacking will happen to you. Avoid using the same password for all of your accounts, and don’t use passwords that are easy to guess, like your pet’s name or your children’s name. Use a variety of symbols and characters to create a strong password, and to keep cyber criminals away from your accounts.
Check Email Addresses
If you receive an email from an email address that looks like it might be your agent, double check the sending address. Oftentimes, cybercriminals will try to pose as your agent and change a few simple characters in their email address. Also check the account that the email is from. If it says anything other than the title company you’re working with, like Gmail or Yahoo, then it’s more than likely not from your title company.
Don’t leave yourself vulnerable. You can protect yourself from wire fraud. Contact Continental Title Company today to learn more about how you can protect yourself and have a successful closing in the process.