Business email compromise – or BEC – is the biggest cybercrime threat to the real estate industry, according to FBI Special Agent Patrick Armor, who spoke to Realtors® at PAR’s Business Meetings in Harrisburg this week.
Business email compromise and email account compromise resulted in more than $92 million in losses in Pennsylvania last year, according to the FBI’s 2021 Internet Crime Complaint report.
Armor said BEC crimes include illegal access to email accounts, social engineering, urgent requests for action and hacking businesses’ servers.
Five red flags to watch for:
- Poor spelling or grammar.
- Sense of urgency to make an immediate payment.
- Request comes from slightly different email than usual address.
- Email marked as “secret” or “confidential.”
- Unexpected change to bank account details.
“Criminals know the real estate market has been hot,” Armor said. “They understand that clients and agents are moving quickly and they take advantage of it.”
The IC3 report showed real estate and rental internet crimes resulted in $7.5 million in losses in the commonwealth.
“It’s said the weakest link is us, the user. Be suspicious of everything,” he said. “Don’t open email attachments or embedded links from unfamiliar sources or addresses. The attachments are commonly the carriers of malware, allowing hackers to take important information from your computer and your client data.”
Armor advises:
- Stay alert and be suspicious.
- Educate everyone in the homebuying process.
- Avoid being a target by being careful on social media.
- Maintain password discipline – don’t use passwords for more than one site.
- Destroy, delete, shred any personal or sensitive information that’s no longer needed.
“It’s important to educate clients and have a plan for the real estate transaction to avoid potential scams,” he added. “Have a plan for any changes in the financial instructions or communications so everyone of what to do in the event of a change.”
Topics
Member Discussion
Recent Articles
-
Webinar Recap: Agreement of Sale Refresher
- July 11, 2025
- 8 min. read
PAR’s Legal Team provided an Agreement of Sale Refresher webinar focused on hot topics, ranging from deposits to possession, mortgage contingency to inspection contingency.
-
Buy Now, Pay Later Gaining Popularity
- July 10, 2025
- 2 min. read
As Americans face higher costs of living, the option to buy now and pay later is gaining popularity, seeing an estimated $125 billion in payment values by 2027.
-
Is an Open-Concept Floor Plan Right for You?
- July 9, 2025
- 3 min. read
Open-concept floor plans have been popular since the mid-20th century, but more people today are considering traditional layouts instead. Here are some pros and cons of open concepts.
Daily Emails
You’ll be the first to know about real estate trends and various legal happenings. Stay up-to-date by subscribing to JustListed.