Scammers target home buyers to steal big money

BOSTON — Preparing to buy or sell your property takes more than just a coat of paint these days.

Thanks to scammers, you need to protect your finances as well, or that hard earned nest egg could be wiped out.

It all starts with a misspelled email.

Realtor Betsy Conlon with Berkshire Hathaway Page Realty in Medfield, tells Boston 25 News industry colleagues have seen their emails hacked, putting the purchase of a client's dream home in jeopardy.

“Quite often people will hack into the email, and when you go to close, sometimes your money has been transferred… to who knows where,” said Conlon. “We're talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

The scam is known as Business Email Compromise, and according to the FBI, more than $676 million were lost in the United States last year alone.

“Scammers use malware or hack someone in the real estate process so they can target your email, but it's hard to track,” said FBI Special Agent Ethan Via.  “It could be realtor, the title company, the settlement agent, someone gets compromised along the way.”

The FBI says if your realtor uses the email jsmith@company.com.

Scammers could spoof the email by changing it to:

• j.smith@company.com
• jsmiith@company.com
• jsmith@company.com@email.net

If you don't spot the spoofed email and wire your money to the wrong place, the money could quickly bounce from bank to bank and out of the United States.

The FBI says you should read every exchange carefully, looking for errors.  If there's new wiring instructions, pick up the telephone, don't trust what's in your email.

Conlon's real estate firm now requires clients to sign a fraud prevention contract to make sure they're aware of the risks.

“It’s the biggest transaction of their life, the most important in many cases, life-transforming… you want to make sure no one's getting in the middle,” Conlon said.

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