The Federal Trade Commission and the National Association of REALTORS® issued a warning to consumers to be mindful of a growing mortgage closing phishing scam that could leave buyers with no down payment.
In the warning, FTC and NAR say that scammers are hacking into the e-mail accounts of consumers and real estate professionals in order to access information about the closing date. The hackers will then send an e-mail to the buyer and pose as the real estate professional or title company. In the e-mail, hackers will say there’s been a “last minute change” to the wiring instructions for the funds for closing. They will then instruct the buyers to send the funds to a different account, which really belongs to them.