According to the FBI, business email compromise is one of the top financial crimes that’s been perpetrated in the past three years, and it’s growing by the year. So how can we protect against business email compromise?
Verbal Confirmation
The strongest and most effective way to validate the legitimacy of a wire funds transfer is via verbal confirmation.
Call back the sender for any new or last-minute wire change requests. And you have to call a known number for the sender because another tactic that fraudsters use is they will often include a different (fake) phone number to call with questions. A common excuse will be that the person is on vacation and can only be reached by this new number.
Always Be Wary of Emails
As legitimate as an email may sound or look, the fraudster has often taken over the email and has learned how to emulate the wording, cadence, and vernacular to try and trick you.
The reason that business email compromise is so effective is that the fraudster doesn’t have to compromise the bank online session, they just need to compromise the human in the middle and the human does all the work for them.
Commercial Partners Title Company
The experts at Commercial Partners have decades of experience facilitating real estate transactions for taxpayers throughout Minnesota and across the country. We can help you through all the details of your transaction. Reach out to us today at our Minneapolis office to learn more about our services!