Wire fraud risk increases before long weekends: First American fraud bulletin

The Friday before a holiday weekend represents an exponentially higher risk for falling victim to wire fraud, according to a bulletin we received from First American. The bulletin goes on the say:

Criminals know our business and have learned to take advantage of a busy agents’ desire to provide great customer service and quickly move deals to conclusion before banks close for a long weekend.

Here are a few tips to help combat Wire Fraud:

• Wire and other disbursement instructions received by email should be confirmed by phone – or at a known or independently-confirmed phone number – NOT the telephone number included in the email you received.
• Be especially skeptical of any change in disbursement instructions.
• Consider providing YOUR wire instructions to your customers via hard copy only.