Fraud protection is essential in the title industry. Fraudulent wiring instructions have caused dramatic financial losses for title agents, realtors, homeownership, and homebuyers.

We want to keep you safe.

What we know:

• • Changes to wire instructions are not normal
  • Lender payoffs are being manipulated
  • Large losses are occurring in the industry
  • Payoff instructions are not verified

Safety Measures:

• • Question every single change to wire instructions, change requests are not normal and probably fraudulent
  • Do not reply directly to emails requesting the movement of money
  • Instead, use the “forward” option and type in the correct email address or select it from your email address book
  • Validate new payment instructions received via email—even if it is internal
  • Always verify the authenticity of each wire transfer request
  • Call, using a number you have previously called—not one from the current wire transfer request—to verify verbally
  • Verify payment instructions with any new vendor
  • Verify changes to payment instructions for an existing vendor
  • Verify pay-off account numbers before wiring funds

How can you avoid fraud?

• Establish a verification protocol
• Enforce the protocol with all employees
• Re-review on a regular basis
• Implement multi-factor authentication