Mortgage Wire Payoff Fraud Attempts Increase Five-fold

According to new research by CertifID, a newer leading wire fraud protection company, recently hit its one-year anniversary and reported that it protected over 150,000 transactions worth $37 billion through the use of its software, services, and insurance. 

The program, called PayoffProtect, is now used daily by hundreds of real estate firms and title agencies across the country, from local and regional providers to firms that operate nationally. 

Real estate wire fraud (REWF), a sub-category of business email compromise (BEC), represents one of the most financially damaging fraud schemes, and has become a major focus of the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) “due to its prevalence in the United States and the effect it can have on the individual victims.” 

By using PayoffProtect, real estate firms and title agencies can confirm the identity and authenticity of wire traffic to help ensure that payments are secure. According to CertifID, their product has delivered verification success in 96.5% of all transactions processed, typically instantly. This has enabled firms using CertifID to reduce fraud risk while saving an estimated over 38,000 employee hours in total. 

“PayoffProtect is being adopted across the board because of its ability to mitigate payments risk in the face of growing fraud in real estate,” said Tyler Adams, CEO at CertifID. “Since its release one year ago, transaction volumes have grown at an impressive clip, but what is truly remarkable is the improved security and efficiency our customers experience over legacy processes. All indications are that fraud will continue to climb, and having products like PayoffProtect will enable companies to bring on stronger measures to protect themselves.” 

“Stewart was pleased to be an early launch partner for PayoffProtect,” said Tara Smith, President of Agency Services at Stewart. “We’ve seen a positive impact for agencies of all sizes in terms of reduced claims, lower risk, and stronger operations by providing best in class technologies like CertifID to our customers.” 

“Mortgage payoff fraud has become a significant threat targeting title agencies of all sizes,” said Cheri Hipenbecker, General Counsel, Knight Barry Title Group. “That’s why we signed up for PayoffProtect. It’s the most comprehensive product that we’ve found, and built for us in title and real estate. It’s also turned out to be hugely popular with our team as we’ve given them time back, as well as the greatest gift of all: peace of mind.” 

To learn more about CertifID’s PayoffProtect, click here.