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Personal Dealings
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By Lisa A. Tyler
National Escrow Administrator
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This edition of Fraud Insights contains the usual incredible stories that enlighten real estate industry professionals month after month, with one twist – in this edition we discuss the dangers of personal dealings between escrow and title company employees in the real estate market. Read "Personal Dealings" to find out how an escrow officer managed to lose a big client, not by exercising bad escrow practice, but by failing to uphold her personal agreements with a home builder.
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Since the implementation of our Document Execution Guidelines in 2005, the amount the Company has paid in forgery claims has dropped significantly. The change in policy coupled with tools such as the Notary ID Guides and the Fraud-Fighter™ machine have all been contributing factors in the decrease in fraud and forgery-related claims. As a matter of fact, fraud and forgery claims went from being the number one category from which claims were paid to the third category. The maker of the Fraud-Fighter™ machine updates Our Company annually with changes to the images that can be seen using black light on specific state-issued identification, such as drivers licenses. Discover the latest changes to identification cards by reading the "Black Light Update" article.
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Update! In the December 2009 edition of Fraud Insights we featured a story about an operation in Colorado that had received a counterfeit check from a Canadian Bank for a closing in the amount of $725,000. Since that time we have received reports of the same type of scam in the states of California, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah.
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Here is a sample of one we received in California:
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 Click on check to view larger image.
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This is just a reminder to demand funds be transmitted by wire transfer rather than deposit an out-of-country check even if it is written in U.S. Dollars. In the aforementioned story, entitled "Counterfeit Checks Plague Colorado," it took twenty days before the escrow branch was notified the item was counterfeit. That is valuable time wasted working on a file that won't close and valuable market time lost by the seller.
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Personal Dealings
FNF's policies are clear. Employees should avoid personal and business dealings that might pose a conflict of interest. Although a conflict is not necessarily fraudulent, it could still come with a heavy price.
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Black Light Update
Every year the folks over at UVeritech™, Inc. keep us up-to-date on which states include a UV ink image on drivers licenses. This year is no different. Here is the most recent list of UV images being utilized for state-issued drivers licenses.
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