We have seen a significant uptick in wire fraud attempts in the past month. Corporate Settlement Solutions (CSS) has adopted CertifID, the nation’s leading wire prevention solution that confirms the identity of buyers and sellers in real time and allows us to securely send and confirm wiring instructions before funds move. Whenever we are unable to verify a buyer or seller’s identity in person by a notary, we utilize this solution to protect you and your customers from wire fraud up to $1,000,000 per wire.
Ways to prevent wire fraud
Advise your clients early in the process about the risks of wiring funds and warn them to never, ever follow wiring instructions that appear to come from your email account or over the phone.
If you are involved in a split closing and that title company is not using CertifID, you must ask how they are educating buyers and sellers on the issue of wire fraud and how they guarantee that the wiring instructions will not be tampered with. A fraud alert at the bottom of an email is not enough.
Wire fraud is no longer someone else's problem, so before you allow your customer to close with another title company, make sure you understand how identity is being verified, and critical information is being shared and stored. If there is a loss in a transaction, we will all be held accountable for our actions and possibly those of other partners involved. Here’s a video that walks you through how it works:
CertifID Introduction 2019 from CertifID LLC on Vimeo.
Thanks for your continued trust and support. We consider it an honor to do business with you and your customers.