Information Security and Wire Transfer Fraud are critical topics for the land title insurance and settlement industry. Wire Transfer Fraud is a threat to every title operation regardless of size, location or years in business. ALTA’s priority is helping you protect your systems, plan for a rapid response in case of an incident, and prepare your employees, clients and customers to be aware and vigilant.
Industry Standard Policies and Tools
- ALTA Outgoing Wire Preparation Checklist: Use this checklist as a best practice for verifying outgoing wire information.
- ALTA Rapid Response Plan for Wire Fraud Incidents: Use this tool to customize your action plan when a wire fraud attempt occurs.
- Video: How To Complete an IC3 Report. Watch the video to see how easy it is to help law enforcement gather information.
- ALTA Cybersecurity Incident Response Plan: Use this tool to help your team to establish and maintain secure systems and be prepared to act quickly if an incident occurs. Leverage these resources to implement Step 1: Preparation:
- ALTA Cyber System Overview: Use this narrative to improve your understanding of a Cyber System Inventory, why it is important to Cybersecurity efforts, and how to create and maintain your company's inventory.
- ALTA Cyber System Inventory Workbook: Use this model workbook to create and customize your company's inventory.
- ALTA Business Impact Analysis: Use this guide to examine your software applications, determine which resources are critical to your operation, and discover when to add resources to minimize the business impact of downtime.
Employee Training and Awareness
- Monitor and Improve Employee Skills.
Consider a phishing security test for all of your employees. These companies can help: - Security Planner: https://securityplanner.org
- PhishMe: https://phishme.com/free
- KnowBe4: https://www.knowbe4.com/resources
- Webinars to Watch:
- Data Security Essentials: Strategies to Protect Non-public Personal Information (Download copy of presentation)
- Fortify Your Business: Lock Down Data and Protect Client Funds (Download copy of presentation)
- Safeguarding Escrow Trust Accounts
- Best Practices: Protecting Non-public Personal Information (Download copy of presentation)
- Fraud and Your Escrow/Trust Accounts (Download copy of presentation)
Resources for Your Clients and Consumers
- Wire Fraud Tips Video: Share this 1-minute video with homebuyers so they know how to protect their money.
- ALTA Wire Fraud Video: This 2-minute video provides four tips on how consumers can protect their money and offers advice on what to do if they have been targeted by a scam. Link to this video from your website, include in your email or share on social media.
- ALTA Wire Fraud Infographic: ALTA has produced this Rack Card explaining Wire Fraud. ALTA Members can brand the infographic with their own information at the ALTAprints website.
- ALTA Wire Fraud PowerPoint for Consumer Education: (Member-only content) Use this presentation to educate consumers about the dangers of phishing emails and wire transfer fraud. The presentation provides information on what to do if you’ve fallen victim to a scam and also highlights 10 tips to prevent wire fraud.
Get Information to Help Your Business and Your Customer Protect Closing Funds
Information Security Articles
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Why No One Needs a Free Donut from Dunkin: Real Estate & Wire Fraud in the Wake of COVID-19
Bill Svoboda, co-founder of title software solutions provider CloseSimple, takes a deep dive into wire fraud, how the pandemic is giving scammers more opportunities and the fight the title industry is waging against it. ALTA CEO Diane Tomb said "Our industry’s response to a pandemic has brought out the best and allowed us to shine during the closing process. We’re not going to let scammers take that away from our clients.”
Stewart Partners With CertifID
The partnership enables Stewart's direct operations and independent agencies in its Trusted Provider network the ability to securely connect and send wire instructions to customers through CertifID.
How Remote Working is Making Cyberattacks Easier to Pull Off
The unique conditions of 2020 mean businesses are more reliant on being digitally connected than ever before. Cyber criminals know this, which is why ransomware attacks have become even more pervasive – and effective during the course of this year. Part of the reason for the upswing in successful ransomware attacks is the huge growth of remote working as a result of the pandemic.
Beware of Cybersecurity Risks When Teleworking from Hotels
Teleworking from a hotel could increase the potential of criminals stealing sensitive information. Hotels, predominantly in major U.S. cities, have begun to advertise daytime room reservations for guests seeking a quiet, distraction-free work environment. While this option may be appealing, the FBI warns that accessing sensitive information from hotel Wi-Fi poses an increased security risk over home networks. Read on for tips to minimize some of the risks associated with using hotel Wi-Fi.
Real Estate Wire Fraud is a Growing Cybercrime, but There are Ways to Prevent It
Real estate wire fraud is one of the fastest growing cybercrimes in the U.S., according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). NAR said about 11,300 people were victimized by wire fraud in the real estate and rental sector in 2018 -- a 17% jump from 2017 -- with attendant losses of more than $150 million. According to the FBI, consumers have been robbed of more than $220 million in wire fraud schemes thus far in 2020, a 13% increase from last year.
Tips for Secure Video Conferencing
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing requirements, organizations pivoted to widescale remote work and online collaboration. Video conferencing emerged as a tool for business continuity and sustained social connection. However, these tools opened the door to increased cyberattacks. Amid the unanticipated exponential growth and unprecedented popularity of these platforms, many video conferencing users have not implemented necessary security precautions—or might be unaware of the latent risks and vulnerabilities. Read on for principles and practices established by the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) that individuals and organizations can follow to enhance video conference security.
How One Family’s Nightmare Illustrates the Growing Threat of Real Estate Wire Fraud
Aaron Fisher wired $921,235.10, a number to this day he cannot forget, from his account at Bank of America. Two days later, the mortgage company called asking about the wire transfer. The company inquired where the money was wired to and Aaron nervously said, “Wells Fargo.” The California couple was hit by what is known as real estate wire fraud, an increasingly common crime. According to the FBI, consumers have lost more than $220 million in schemes like this thus far in 2020, a 13% increase from the same period last year.
How to Improve the Cybersecurity of Your Remote Workers
Among the respondents in the US, Ponemon Institute reported that 63% have witnessed an increase in phishing and social engineering, 52% noted a jump in credential theft, and 50% reported a rise in account takeovers. Other types of threats that have plagued organizations this year include general malware, Distributed Denial of Services (DDoS) attacks, web-based attacks, malicious insider attacks, compromised and stolen devices, and advanced malware and zero day attacks.
Avoid Being Hacked: Perform a Network Penetration Test
The the FBI has warned that fraudsters continue to take advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to steal money through business email compromise schemes. Want to protect your computer network from being hacked? Experts say companies should perform what’s called a “Penetration Test” to find any vulnerabilities in your network. Register for an upcoming webinar "Why You Need to Get Hacked," sponsored by FNF Family of Companies, to learn how a penetration test works and how to act on the results.
U.S. Secret Service Creates Cyber Fraud Task Force
In recognition of the growing convergence of cyber and traditional financial crimes, the U.S. Secret Service has merged two electronic and financial crimes unites into a single unified network that will focus on investigating cyber-enabled financial crimes, such as business email compromise schemes and ransomware attacks.
FBI Warns of Increased Fraud Risk
With more people using mobile banking applications during theCOVID-19 pandemic to transfer funds and cash checks, theFBI issued a warning thatcyber actors will exploit these platforms. These types of techniques an often lead to wire transfer fraud, so it’s important for title and settlement companies to educate customers about the dangers when buying a home or refinancing. Click here to access tools and resources developed by ALTA.
Louisiana Passes NAIC Model Data Security Bill
Louisiana became the latest state to pass legislation based off the model data security bill developed by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). In February, ALTA released its data privacy principles. The principles recommend the development of a single, national standard to help protect consumer private information uniformly and consistently while maintaining an efficient homebuying and selling experience.
Why Compliance is The 'Secret Sauce' for Fraud Prevention in Digital Marketplaces
When creating a fraud strategy, the top concern for many organizations accepting online payments is preventing payment fraud. This makes sense, but failing to consider other types of illicit activity can be costly. In fact, most marketplace fraud spending is not related to payment fraud, but rather other forms of illicit activity that includes collusion, trade base laundering, and transaction laundering. These result in economic losses, and worse in negative reputation impact.