Category: FraudAlert

Here’s one recently received by a resident who checked with me about this E-Mail she received. It is a fraud but it’s a fairly clever one. In PA if you leave money inactive in a bank account for a defied period of time the money must be turned over to the state. The state then enters the money in a database with the owners name. This database is searchable and if find money in it that is yours you can claim it. The important point here is that the state does not reach out to you.

Our resident received the E-Mail shown below. There are two parts to it. The first is the alleged amount of money they have discovered for her which she claims is not true. The second is the 15% fee they charge.

The first issue here is that you can go on the PA website and collect the money (if it exists) yourself at no charge. The second, and more significant part, is that you have to return the claim forms to them for submission. Those forms contain all the information scammers need for identity theft so don’t do it.

 

 

 

 

I hate to be the bearer of bad news — but there is yet another scheme con artists are using to swindle you out of money.

Here’s how it goes down.

You’re about to settle on a home. You get an e-mail from your real estate agent or from the title company, requesting funds to be wired to an account for settlement. The e-mail purports a last-minute change in wiring instructions.

You dutifuly wire the money using the new instructions.

Then, the call comes from the title company the day before settlement, asking why you have not sent your funds for settlement. This is the moment you learn that you have sent hundreds of thousands of dollars to a thief.

This scheme is not new. But a recent resurgence of wire fraud in the real estate industry, and the increase in its sophistication, prompted the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and many national title insurance companies to issue warning bulletins to the industry.

 

“We don’t have any hard numbers about how much buyers have lost, but we do have an increasing number of reports that it is happening,” said Katie Johnson, general counsel of the NAR.

According to Johnson, the hackers are monitoring e-mails and waiting patiently to determine what is the best scam. They realized that real estate transactions involve a large amount of money right before closing.

“The scammers are following information about transactions online on the MLS [multiple-listing service] or in the public records,” said Matthew Alegi, a partner at Potomac law firm Shulman Rogers. “It is only a matter of time before someone local gets hit with a six-figure cybertheft.”

Alegi and his staff foiled a recent attempt by a hacker to have proceeds of a property sale wired to the hacker’s account.

“We received an e-mail saying that the proceeds should be wired rather than mailed,” Alegi said. “Our title processor checked with the seller and learned that the e-mail had not come from him.”

According to Alegi, if you wire money to a wrong account, the bank will not reimburse you. “There is usually no recourse to get your money back,” Alegi said.

These schemes are getting harder to catch. The hackers have improved their grammar, and they obtain an almost identical e-mail address, making it very difficult to identify it as a scam.

Patrick Weed, broker of Patrick Realty Company in Kensington, and his buyer client also prevented a potential $20,000 loss.

“I received a call from my buyer asking why I e-mailed her asking for an additional deposit of $20,000 for her purchase in Olney,” Weed said. “She told me that she responded to my e-mail, and that I sent her an e-mail back.”

The e-mails stated that the money was necessary to ensure a smooth and easy transaction.

Weed said he never sent his client an e-mail asking for an additional $20,000. The hacker monitored his e-mail and was able to garner exact details about the transaction. The hacker provided wiring instructions to a bank in Texas.

 

Unfortunately, some people have fallen for this scheme and have lost money.

“Someone in Chicago recently lost $130,000, and in Texas there was a recent loss of $30,000,” said Johnson. “It is prevalent, and it is increasing.”

“We have to be more vigilant than ever,” Alegi said. “Consumers need to be aware. Brokers need to be aware. Title companies need to be aware.”

Here are some tips for buyers and sellers to protect themselves from becoming a victim to wire fraud:

· Never send any sensitive financial information via e-mail, including banking information, routing numbers or PINs.

· Prior to wiring any funds, you should contact the intended recipient via a verified telephone number and confirm that the wiring information is accurate. Do not rely on telephone numbers or Web site addresses provided within an unverified e-mail.

· Clean out your e-mail account on a regular basis. Your e-mails may establish patterns in your business practice over time that hackers can use against you.

· Change your usernames and passwords on a regular basis.

· Make sure to implement the most up-to-date firewall and anti-virus technologies on your server or computer.

· Report any fraudulent activity to the FBI via its Internet Crime Complaint Center.

·

· [Foreclosure crisis spawns a wave of rescue scams]

·

· [How to protect your personal data in a real estate transaction]

Thanks to the Washington Post

You might consider yourself quite ordinary but crooks are looking for you if you fit the following 

AGE: 55+ 

HOME: Where you live makes you a more desirable target. Fortunately, Florida seems to be the favorite state but don’t get too comfortable just yet. Many of us winter in Florida and not being #1 is not a big deal. Also, the reason Florida is number 1 is the concentration of older people who scammers target. 

RURAL VS. URBAN 

Federal agencies have found that living in a rural area makes you more of a target 

EDUCATION 

A higher level of education won’t make you less of a target but gives you a better chance of avoiding the scam unless you are too smart for your own good 

LONELINESS 

People who live alone are a prime target, especially for telephone or on-line social group scammers. The key red flag here is when they ask you to leave the group site for a more intimate site.

 

Based on an AARP article

This is an oldie but baddie that never goes away which means it must still work.  

THE SCENARIO 

You’re sitting at your computer. Suddenly your screen turns blue but with a message saying DO NOT TURN YOUR MACHINE OFF. Simultaneously a voice comes through the speakers issuing a scary warning. 

The message on the blue screen gives an 800 number to call. When you do you will talk to a reassuring “technician”who will quote you a price to ship your computer to Microsoft for repair which will take some time or he can fix it remotely. A good tip-off here is that the price for a remote immediate repair is less than the shipped repair. 

At any rate, you supply your credit card, a charge is made and hopefully the problem goes away.However, the “tech” could leave you stranded but in any case he has your credit card number, expiration date and security code. At this point you might want to call your credit card provider and cancel and reissue a new card.This is especially true if you signed up for their “monthly monitoring service.” 

HOW DID THEY GET INTO YOUR COMPUTER IN THE FIRST PLACE? 

There are at least three ways: Hidden in a free download, malvertising or fraudulent websites. Let’s look at each. 

Download The popup software is hidden in or with your software download. 

Malvertising This is a piece of software that masks the ad you clicked on and displays the blue screen warning instead 

Fraudulent Website A scammer favorite. They simply register (buy) the names of favorite websites with a wrong letter. So lets say you type the web address as Americanexpres.com Instead of an error you will go to their fake website. Other names for this practice are domain squatting or typo squatting. 

HOW SUCCESSFUL IS THIS SCAM? 

Microsoft reports 80% of Americans had some contact with this fraud. 33% interacted with these sites and 20% lost money.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Download. Basically you download a free program. The popup software is hidden in or with your download

malvertising

One of the earliest scams (after swampland in Florida) were timeshare sales. But after years of complaints and convictions, timeshare purchases are pretty safe today.

Selling your timeshare, or escaping your annual maintenance fees are most certainly not.

Lets say you regret your purchase and want to sell it. So you post your timeshare on a timeshare sales website. At this point I’ll describe what two sisters experienced from the AARP article.

Initially all calls were from 800 numbers, but finally a call from a Florida area code. The young man told her the name of his company and said he had a Canadian couple who wanted to buy her unit. He provided their number and the woman validated everything the salesman said. The sisters received closing documents already signed by the buyer with a request for the company’s fee of $2,250 to be refunded at settlement.

There is a history to this scam. In the 2007 recession timeshasre sales declined very sharply putting a lot of timeshare salesmen out of work. In addition, many of the 9.2 million timeshare owners wanted to sell with no buyers. SHAZAM! Opportunity plus millions of victims called to scammer and they answered. A whole INDUSTRY was born so shutting down a few really doesn’t do anything to prevent this fraud from continuing.

But a question arises. If I put the charge on my credit card, can’t I get my money back? Normally you would be but scammers wouldn’t make any money if you could.So the scammers had another scheme for the Verification call.

To shorten the details, the salesman said you would receive a “Verification Call” which they said was legalese to complete the sale. They then coached the victims in how to answer. This usually worked because the buyers were desperate, but what the scammers needed was for them to say on the recorded line was that there was no buyer.Then the trick is to keep the sellers on the hook for 120 days so they can’t dispute the charge. Then they call and say the sale fell through. Even though the sellers are angry only 10% file a complaint. If they do, they are blocked by the recorded “Verification Call” recording that they made.

SUPPLY OF VICTIMS

There is a virtually free large supply of potential victims for the scammers. First, timeshare ownership records are public. Second, many victims will fall for the scam again.

During the summer scammers descend on neighborhoods during the summer selling security systems door-to-door, at times using deceptive business practices. When these scam artists see the ADT sign in your yard, they may falsely associate themselves with ADT to trick you into switching services.

After they leave, you’re on your own. There may be no local office to turn to for support and service and, what’s worse, your account may be sold to another company for monitoring.

ADT recommends

Follow these tips to prevent sales scams before they happen:

	ADT representatives will carry proper company-issued identification.
	To confirm a representative is really affiliated with ADT, ask to see their official identification. If they don’t show it, don’t believe them.
	When in doubt, call 800.ADT.ASAP, or go to ADT.com/verify, before you let them in your home.

ADT says that the following should be red flags:

We are here to upgrade your ADT system.

I’m with the company that manufactured your alarm system.

ADT just monitors your home; they do not service the equipment.

ADT is no longer covering your area.

Our company just bought ADT.

ADT is going out of business.

ADT systems are more vulnerable to burglaries.

f you are a victim of fraud, it’s important to understand that you can cancel the contract. The Federal Trade Commission’s Cooling-Off Rule gives you three business days to cancel the deal if you sign the contract in your home or at a location that is not the seller’s permanent place of business. You do not have to give a reason for canceling your purchase. You have a right to change your mind, even if the equipment has already been installed.

The salesperson must give you two copies of a cancellation form (one to keep and one to send back) and a copy of your contract. The contract must be dated, show the name and address of the seller, and explain your right to cancel. You may have additional consumer protection under state law. Check with your state attorney general, local consumer protection agency or the Better Business Bureau.

There are plenty of reputable contests and sweepstakes out there (including some from AARP). But there are also a lot of bad players looking to bilk you out of your money.

How It Works:

You’re told you’ve won a prize but:

You have to pay a fee to collect your winnings;
You have to wire money to a well-known company to insure delivery of the prize;
You have to deposit a check they have sent you;
Your notice was mailed by bulk rate; or
You have to attend a sales meeting to win.

What You Should Know:

You can’t win a contest you didn’t enter. Don’t believe claims that you were automatically entered.

What You Should Do:

Be vigilant. The Federal Trade Commission recommends looking up a contest or promoter in a search engine with the words “scam” or “complaint”.
Warn others. If you think you’ve been targeted by a prize scam, report it at www.ftc.gov/complaint and share on the Fraud Watch Network scam-tracking map.

When it comes to fraud, vigilance is our number one weapon. You have the power to protect yourself and your loved ones from scams. Please share this alert with friends and fami

This one isn’t actually a scam, but you may not like it but I at least wanted you to know about  it. What GOOGLE is doing is when you click on a link for a store they will have access to your credit card file to see if you shopped there. They claim they can’t see what you bought or how much you spent but of course they could. At this point you can’t do anything about it but you might want to write your Congressman.

From our friends at AARP,some tips to avoid being scammed by movers:

Don’t Bite On Low-ball Bids.

Rouge movers will try to trap you with unrealistically cheap prices.After putting your stuff in the truck, they hold your stuff demanding thousands more. These movers are known as Hostage Load movers who tend to advertise on Craig’s List or roadside signs.To avoid them check on the moving.org  (Industry Site) or protectyourmove.gov (Government Site.) website that will show licenses and complaints. Also, you can get a legitimate lower price by moving mid week or mid month in fall or winter. Note that costs are highest at month end in the summer.

Look for Scammer Clues

First, rule out any mover who bids site unseen. Second,avoid movers movers who answer the phone with “movers” rather than a company name. Third, rule out a company with no physical address or license information on their web site.Fourth, any company that asks for up front cash payments up say they’ll tell you the charges after they load your stuff. Finally, be alert if their truck has no company name on it.

Prevent ID Theft

When showing your house put all documents(taxes, passports, wills, birth certificates in a locked box. During the move,keep these items with you. Make sure any transported computers have strong passwords.

Know the Moving Paperwork

Retain a copy of everything they give you and anything you signed. Some items are a Bill of Lading which is your receipt from the over for your goods. Then there is the Order for Service which shows very important stuff like a description of the move, pick up and delivery dates, and an inventory which shows all your items and their condition.

Couple of Other Useful Items

Estimate There are two types, binding and non binding. With a non-binding estimate the mover can raise the price by 10%. Insurance Movers don’t typically provide enough or even any but before you buy, check your homeowners policy for coverage.The mover should supply you with two government booklets:Your Rights and Responsibility When You Move and Ready to Move.

From our neighbor Margaret Covatta we get this phony E-Mail of which she has received several.

Dear Client There are a number of invalid login attempts on your account We had to believe that there might be some security problems on your account So we have decided to put an extra verification ensure your identity and your account security. To restore your account please Click Here Your online…