Cybercrime Wave Impacts Housing

More homeowners may be vulnerable to cybercrime this year. Email security company Proofpoint finds that "business email compromise" scam attempts are 14 times more common in 2018. 

This type of scam occurs when a real estate professional's email account is hacked by a cyber criminal who then monitors the email account for upcoming transactions. Once the closing date grows near, the fraudster can use the professional's email account to email the buyer requesting that the down payment money be sent right before the closing date, and to a bank account billed as the seller's, but in fact belongs to the criminal and is typically overseas, untouchable to U.S. law enforcement, per CNBC. 

It's a nightmare scenario for any homebuyer: the day before closing, a scammer manages to trick you into wiring your down payment to an offshore account. You lose your hard-earned money and you lose the house, and there's no way you can get either one back. Ryan Kalember, senior vice president of cybersecurity strategy for email security company Proofpoint which tracks cybercrimes perpetrated over email, has observed attempts at this type of crime have risen to a level 14 times higher than last year. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has also warned several times this year that email compromise schemes are spiking, which includes this type of real estate fraud.

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