§ 01The brief
Two days before closing, the couple received wiring instructions that looked exactly like their title company's. They sent $1,240,000. When the title company called asking where the money was, they called me.
§ 02What I did
- 1.
Had them call their bank's fraud line while I was on the call, and request a wire recall with the words the bank's process needs to hear.
- 2.
Filed an CCS complaint within two hours and gave the complaint number to both banks, which lets the receiving bank act faster.
- 3.
Sent the receiving bank a written evidence pack with the spoofed emails, headers and the genuine instructions for comparison.
§ 03The outcome
The receiving bank froze the account and returned $1,068,500. The rest had already been moved. The closing went ahead a week late.
“He knew exactly what to tell the bank. If we had waited until Monday, I don't think we would have seen any of it.”