A look at business email compromise scams involving US real estate, and the small Secret Service team that helped recover $244M+ in stolen BEC funds since 2019
For weeks, the Secret Service agent had been trying to identify the scammers moving millions of stolen dollars through banks around the New York tri-state area. Tweets: @amyokruk , @secretservice , @joelwebershow , @daniellesacks , @natalexisw , and @jeneps Tweets: Amy O'Kruk / @amyokruk : incredible investigation by @natalexisw. this is so beyond simple phishing — scammers are closely monitoring real estate transactions, mimicking title agents and real estate firms to strike just before deals close for $100K+ pay offs https://twitter.com/... @secretservice : Learn how a team of #SecretService agents is working to protect homebuyers being targeted by BEC scammers and helped recover more than $244 mil. in stolen funds. (via @Bloomberg) https://twitter.com/... Joel Weber / @joelwebershow : This is such a good story...and also A TOTAL NIGHTMARE! 👏👏👏, @natalexisw https://twitter.com/... Danielle Sacks / @daniellesacks : That horrifying moment when you realize you just sent your down payment for that new house to...hackers. Absolutely wild read in @BW by @natalexisw about this growing scam — and the Secret Service team trying to snuff out the money launderers #longreads https://www.bloomberg.com/... Natalie Wong / @natalexisw : Last fall, I learned about a terrifying scam where hackers tricked homebuyers into sending them their down payments. That's evolved into a wild story about a tiny secret service team racing to track down the stolen funds. Hope you'll give it a read! @BW https://www.bloomberg.com/... Jennifer Epstein / @jeneps : Eager homebuyers are being tricked into wiring their down payments to hackers. A small Secret Service team has helped recover $244 million from those and other business email compromises since 2019, @natalexisw reports. https://www.bloomberg.com/...