By Lisa A. Tyler
National Escrow Administrator

Oh Lordy! Just when you thought it could not get any worse! Now the diverted wire transfer scam has taken a new twist. The criminals perpetrating the crime are posing as the listing agent and/or the property owner, and requesting the payoff statement be emailed for their review. Shortly thereafter, a new payoff arrives via fax from what appears to be the fax number of the payoff lender, but the bank wire instructions are altered. We shudder to wonder what they will think of next. Read "DIVERTED payoff wires" for more detailed information.

The article "ALL cash all gone" is a story about a real estate purchase in Scottsdale, Arizona, wherein an illegally diverted wire transfer almost derailed an entire transaction. This is a scary story with a happy ending.

Document signings for an insured transaction should be conducted in the presence of an authorized employee of the Company or a title policy issuing agent, regardless of who performs the actual notarization. In other words, an employee can supervise the signing without having to be the commissioned notary. The Company representative must require the production of proper identification and personally examine it to verify the identity of the signer. Read "SIGNING conducted by a title issuing agent" to find out how you can locate a title issuing agency approved by one or more of the Company's Underwriters. Sometimes it is the perfect solution for signers located in remote areas of the country.

Be sure to answer the monthly document execution question to make certain you understand the tips shared and to increase your "PROPER document execution for recording and insuring" knowledge.