So You Think You are a Veteran of Many a Closing

Many experienced home buyers, sellers and investors are still surprised to learn of the new closing requirements concerning funding.   For years, the gold standard at closings was to bring funds by a “certified check”, “cashier’s check”, or other paper draft of a bank account.    Unfortunately, while these legitimate real estate moguls have been out there doing business honestly, the scammers have also been hard at work perfecting the craft of making counterfeits of all things paper.  That includes certified checks!

So don’t act surprised when you prepare for closing and find out that you must have proceeds wired to your settlement agent!

Hardly a day goes by that we don’t read about another scam perpetrated with paper and now with intercepting unencrypted emails, texts or other communications and making the slightest of alterations to addresses or wiring instructions.  In the latest article to come across our professional news feed, there is a tale of expert fraudsters who managed to steal millions of dollars from participants in closings who did not follow all necessary precautions.   This article is informative and gives some very easy to understand examples of how the bad guys can prey on you if you don’t keep your guard up.