Franny Goes Phishing on a Flotilla in Florida

So I went to this class on wire fraud. It was taught by the FBI special agent in charge of cyber crimes in Arizona. I wasn't really interested in attending, but Sarah, my marketing rep was pushing hard for me to go. Besides, it was only an hour.

Here are a few take-aways from my hour for all'y'all.

1. The longer the password the better--a six character password can be cracked in 1 hour or less.

2. The Dark Web is a thing. If you want to visit it, you need to sign up for the correct browser. Anything you want, legal or otherwise, is there. Want to hire a hit man? Yep, that too. The FBI guy said it is popular among the criminal and Libertarian-types. 

3. Wire fraud is a HUGE deal. FNF Financial, one of the largest title ensurers is getting thousands of attempts each day. 

4. Phishers are targeting real estate agents and checking their e-mails to see when homes close. They will then contact their client with an e-mail that looks legit saying something like "New wiring instruction" and add a different bank account. 

5. If you get a ransomware, you can google the access key.

5.a. BACK UP YOUR COMPUTER ON A REGULAR BASIS

6. And I doubt this needs to be said, but don't open weird e-mails or suspicious e-mails.

7. Hackers can break into phones and tablets. I did not know this. 

And finally, to drive this point home, a story was told by one of Sarah's colleagues. This past Wednesday, a real estate agent, who was the one buying a home, signed all of her loan documents. She then went to the bank to have her funds wired to the title company. This way she would have her new home by Friday. 

On the way to the bank, an e-mail came to her saying, "new wiring instructions." The e-mail said it was from her title company, and it even had the same e-signature with a different phone number. Anyway, the e-mail said that she should wire the funds to a different bank account. And, if there were any questions, she could call the title rep (the one who allegedly sent the e-mail). The phone number, by the way, had been changed to a number in Florida. 

Seeing as the buyer had just been to the title company, she didn't think twice about this. So, she instructed her bank to wire $750,000 to the new bank account. Yep, she sent THREE QUARTERS OF A MILLION DOLLARS to a phsisher in Florida instead of to pay for the home she was moving into two days later. 

Fortunately, the wire transfer was caught in time and the person on the other end was arrested. The buyer will get her money back. Eventually. But maybe not in time to make the seller of this home happy. 

Another quick story: a seller waiting for his proceeds got a call from the title company. They had wired the seller's money over. However, this particular title company had gotten a "new wiring instructions" e-mail allegedly from the seller, asking for the money to go to a different bank account. The title company obliged and did not contact the seller to verify. 

The seller never saw the money. The title company (a small one in town) is saying, "whoops, sorry about that." And that is apparently all. I am sure there will be some legalities sorted out somewhere. But THAT seller was using the money they were expecting to close on the house they were buying. 

So, wire fraud is real. And it is a big business. Please be careful.