Utahns are losing millions in growing real estate scam

The Beehive State’s housing market is buzzing, but buyers, sellers and real estate agents aren’t the only ones in on the action.

Scammers are, too.

So much so, that the Utah Department of Commerce issued an alert and launched a public awareness campaign Monday, warning consumers and real estate agents of the burgeoning threat.

The basic scheme plays out like this: Hackers break into real estate agents’ email accounts and monitor their work. When an agent is poised to close a deal, a scammer sends an email from the account to the client requesting that money from the property transaction be wired to a bank account. Since the illegitimate accounts are often outside of the country, once the money is sent, it is gone forever.

The FBI estimates that Utahns lost more than $20 million to such scams in 2018.

Read more: https://www.sltrib.com/news/2019/06/24/utahns-losing-millions/
(Salt Lake Tribune)