The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is warning consumers and real estate professionals about sophisticated phishing scams through which closing costs and downpayments are diverted into fraudulent accounts.
According to the FBI, such attempts have risen 1,100 percent between 2015 and 2017. In 2017, the scams produced an estimated loss of nearly $1 billion in real estate transaction costs.
Read on for more details of the CFPB’s outreach.