Qualia Strengthens Protection Against Wire Fraud
February 20, 2025
Qualia bolstered its wire fraud detection solution with $1 million in insurance coverage backed by Lloyd’s of London for eligible, low-risk wire transfers. Additional enhancements to Qualia Shield include public records checks and the ability to detect suspicious emails.
The automated identity verification service analyzes extensive public records to confirm a person's existence and identifies potential risks. By checking an individual's digital footprint across various datasets, Qualia Shield helps title and escrow companies ensure they are working with real, legitimate people, without requiring clients to complete additional steps, like knowledge-based assessments (KBA).
“The increase in seller impersonation fraud and evolving fraud tactics has been alarming, but Shield has equipped us with the tools to stay ahead. It gives us peace of mind to know that we have proactive defense mechanisms to detect bad actors and prevent fraud before it can impact our transactions," said Christine White, assistant director of operations at KVS Title LLC.
In a recent Qualia survey, over 40% of title and escrow professionals said their companies receive at least one fraudulent email per employee per month with a request to change wire payoff instructions. In the same survey, 95% of respondents said that the frequency of wire fraud attacks on their business stayed the same or increased in the last year. In 2023 alone, real estate-related crimes resulted in over $145 million in losses.
Since ChatGPT launched in 2022, there has been a 4,151% surge in malicious phishing messages, according to a report from the cybersecurity provider SlashNext. Qualia said its platform helps mitigate the risks of these attacks (and BEC) by sending an alert when an email appears to be suspicious. The new email link feature allows title and escrow agents to see whether an incoming email to Gmail or Outlook is from a known or unknown email address, helping detect fraud before a wire is ever disbursed.
“Title and escrow professionals are acutely aware of the large sums of money and sensitive information that flow through their hands which make them particularly vulnerable to wire fraud,” said Charlotte Brown, vice president of product and design at Qualia. “We want to help the industry bolster its defenses in today’s evolving cybersecurity landscape. Shield offers multiple layers of protection against wire fraud and reduces vulnerable entry points for bad actors with built-in security features.”
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