Man-in the-Middle; Hackers Stealing Home Buyers Down Payments

Courtesy of Salvatore Vuono

Black home buyers beware! In a frightening development hackers are now stealing home buyers down payments. It seems that hackers have struck the real estate industry, in this case First American Title.  The scheme, known in technical circles as the “man-in-the-middle attack” works like this;  hackers intercept emails from title agencies to home buyers.  The email contains information for the wire transfer of down payment funds for the purchase of a home. Hackers alter the information putting in their own bank account numbers then send it to the home buyer.  The home buyer, suspecting nothing, wires his hard earned down payment directly to the hacker’s account.   First American Title is aware of the scam and issued this statement;

“First American has been notified of a scheme in which potential purchasers/borrowers have received emails allegedly from a title agency providing wire information for use by the purchaser/borrower to transmit earnest money for an upcoming transaction.”

“The messages were actually emails that were intercepted by hackers who then altered the account information in the emails to cause the purchasers’/borrowers’ funds to be sent to the hacker’s own account. The emails appear to be genuine and contain the title agency’s email information and/or logos, etc. When the purchasers /borrowers transferred their funds pursuant to the altered instructions, their money was stolen with little chance of return. This scam appears to be somewhat similar to the email hacking scheme that came to light earlier this year that targeted real estate agents.”

“It is apparent in both scams that the hackers monitor the email traffic of the agency or the customer and are aware of the timing of upcoming transactions. While in the reported instances, a customer was induced to misdirect their own funds, an altered email could conceivably be used to cause misdirection of funds by any party in the transaction, including the title agent themselves.”

This type of attack reveals the importance of using two-factor authentication for email. Larger email services such as  Gmail.com, Hotmail and Yahoo! all now offer this form of authentication. If you do business via email you need to use this authentication method.  Other services like Dropbox, Facebook and Twitter all offer additional account security options beyond just encouraging users to implement powerful passwords.

But none of this means anything if additional security is defeated by a hacker who get inside a computer or network  using some form of malware. I urge computer users to clean up their PC by using the guidelines found on KrebsonSecurity Tools for a Safer PC primer.

Breaking It Down

First things first, I am really sorry if someone lost their down payment for a home. That had to be devastating  to their heart and soul. What we have is a clear indication that someone’s computer system is not as secure as it should be. Malware can and does open your computer up for attacks and this is one way. In this example malware probably infiltrated someone’s computer and revealed passwords. That’s all it takes. When a hacker can get into your computer you have almost no defense. Be extremely cautious about attachments and advertisements you see online. A lot of malware comes into your computer that way. And familiarize yourself with what is known as a drive by download. I’m not laying blame on anyone here but sound business IT practices are an absolute necessity nowadays.  If you are using email to exchange business information then you need to be hyper alert to what can happen. Man in the middle attacks are more common than you would think. If this scam works on one real estate company it certainly would work on others. So First American Title is not alone in its vulnerability.  I would suggest you use every authentication method possible when dealing with large sums of money. If you have to call the realtor and ask them to confirm the information before you transfer money then do it! Better still, hand carry the check to the bank or realtor. Do what you have to do but be certain your money goes where its supposed to and protect your dreams.