By Lisa A. Tyler
National Escrow Administrator

The Company is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Being traded on the stock exchange means the Company is held to the highest standards and must ensure we have proper measures in place to protect Company funds and those on deposit in our trust accounts. The Sarbanes-Oxley Financial Modernization Act was put in place to help protect investors from fraudulent financial reporting by corporations describes minimum standards traded companies must adhere to, to avoid the mismanagement of accounts controlled by the Company. Our Company has had procedures in place for several years to help fight wire fraud. Read more about it in article titled "STEPS to prevent wire fraud."

Absentee owners of real property are often the target of criminals who pose as the owner offering the home or property for sale or as collateral for a new loan. These imposters sell the property and abscond with the sale proceeds or strip any equity in the property with a new loan. The real property owner has no idea their property is the subject of a real estate transaction. The scam is typically perpetrated on owners of vacant land. Find out how one escrow assistant prevented a landowner from becoming victim to the scam in the article titled "VACANT lot in austin."

"WHAT to do in a ransomware cyberattack" is this month's article on the topic of ransomware. Entities who are held ransom must first determine which computers and systems have been hacked and disconnect them from their network and power them off. Next, consult with the appropriate departments within their organization to determine what data has been compromised and whether it can be restored.