3 ms·

There was another story a few years ago, which I can't find right now, but I'm fairly certain I remember the details correct: Someone bought a new house to ret

by arp242 3y ago

There was another story a few years ago, which I can't find right now, but I'm fairly certain I remember the details correct: Someone bought a new house to retire with their life savings. Everything was arranged properly, and she transferred the money to the bank account the estate agents told them. But they never received the money. What had happened was that someone had hacked in to the real estate agent email and had sent a fraudulent email, so she transferred the tens of thousands of pounds to the wrong account. This was discovered a few days later. Bank said there's nothing they can do; "your life is destroyed but not our problem kthxfucketybye". Of course the real estate agents took no responsibility either (after all, we all know that the primary function of most people involved in the housing industry is to make everyone as miserable as possible). (I don't recall if things did end up being resolved after a few years; I'd appreciate it if someone remembers the article; IIRC it was in The Guardian).

TacticalCoder 3y ago
> What had happened was that someone had hacked in to the real estate agent email and had sent a fraudulent email, so she transferred the tens of thousands of pounds to the wrong account. This was discovered a few days later. That's why I always "warm" bank accounts. I first do a little transfer, then confirm with the person, on the phone, that the money was received. If that's not possible (for example for fully automated system which expect the exact amount), I make 100% sure the account is correct. Invoice from my car dealership asking me to wire 3 K EUR? I call them and ask the secretary to read me loud the bank account number. Note that what you mention is a famous scam in the cryptocurrencies world: replacing Bitcoin deposit addresses (say a Bitcoin deposit address belonging to an exchange like Kraken or Coinbase) with the attacker's address. There are even malware who modify the clipboard when they detect that a Bitcoin address is in the clipboard. Even "better": there are malware that do this while making sure the last four digits are the same as those on the legit address (so people only checking the last four digits and thinking they're good are owned). It's very hard to not get scammed in this mediocre world full of shitty insecure, constantly owned, OSes, phones, websites, etc.: nothing that appears on these shitty devices can be trusted. The problem is so bad people are using 2FA devices and are still getting scammed.
mminer237 3y ago
Wire fraud is quite a common problem. It's pretty standard practice at least where I am to require written wire instructions from the settlement agent, and then the bank will call them to verify that is indeed correct before sending funds. But if an email looks official and came from an official address, I can't imagine the settlement agent wouldn't be liable for the loss. (And often they now have cyber insurance to cover such losses.) I know some title companies are moving away from wiring funds out and only issuing checks to prevent having this problem themselves.

by arp242 3y ago

TacticalCoder 3y ago

> What had happened was that someone had hacked in to the real estate agent email and had sent a fraudulent email, so she transferred the tens of thousands of pounds to the wrong account. This was discovered a few days later. That's why I always "warm" bank accounts. I first do a little transfer, then confirm with the person, on the phone, that the money was received. If that's not possible (for example for fully automated system which expect the exact amount), I make 100% sure the account is correct. Invoice from my car dealership asking me to wire 3 K EUR? I call them and ask the secretary to read me loud the bank account number. Note that what you mention is a famous scam in the cryptocurrencies world: replacing Bitcoin deposit addresses (say a Bitcoin deposit address belonging to an exchange like Kraken or Coinbase) with the attacker's address. There are even malware who modify the clipboard when they detect that a Bitcoin address is in the clipboard. Even "better": there are malware that do this while making sure the last four digits are the same as those on the legit address (so people only checking the last four digits and thinking they're good are owned). It's very hard to not get scammed in this mediocre world full of shitty insecure, constantly owned, OSes, phones, websites, etc.: nothing that appears on these shitty devices can be trusted. The problem is so bad people are using 2FA devices and are still getting scammed.

mminer237 3y ago

Wire fraud is quite a common problem. It's pretty standard practice at least where I am to require written wire instructions from the settlement agent, and then the bank will call them to verify that is indeed correct before sending funds. But if an email looks official and came from an official address, I can't imagine the settlement agent wouldn't be liable for the loss. (And often they now have cyber insurance to cover such losses.) I know some title companies are moving away from wiring funds out and only issuing checks to prevent having this problem themselves.