Tag Archives: wire fraud

Season 4, Episode 1

February 17, 2025Episodeidentity theft, wire fraudcbowness

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We kicked off the new season of Title Nerds with a deep-dive into wire fraud with our special guests John Gavigan, CEO of WireVault, which provides wire fraud prevention software, and Kinny Chan, Chief Commercial Officer of Trust Stamp, an identity verification company. Co-hosts Mike O’Donnell and Bethany Abele discussed with John and Kinny the growing experience of lawyers and real estate professionals who are fending off fraudsters trying to intercept bank instructions and redirect payments to themselves.

John and Kinny shared some of the common scenarios that cyber criminals exploit, such as taking advantage of bank instructions being shared using outdated and insecure methods including email, texts, PDF forms, and unverified phone verifications, and being saved in vulnerable locations such as email folders, Excel files, and outdated software systems. They discussed how cyber criminals exploit these workflows and technologies through phishing, social engineering, email spoofing, and advanced AI tools, making traditional verification methods unsafe.

Next Bethany and Mike interviewed Riker Danzig Commercial Litigation Partner Jorge Sanchez and Counsel Ron Ahrens about both preventing wire fraud and recovering fraudulently transferred funds, with tips about verifying information, calling a known number, recognizing information that looks “off,” not assuming someone else has verified the information, and being suspect of last-minute change requests. They cautioned to verify receipt of funds immediately after sending so you can address promptly if there has been fraud. They advised not to rely only on law enforcement but to engage an attorney to shepherd you through the process if you suspect that you have been a victim of wire fraud.

The podcast concluded with a roundtable discussion among all the speakers sharing additional tips

Key Takeaways From This Episode

How do you ensure that you’re dealing with the intended recipient of funds?
How do you confirm that the banking instructions haven’t been altered?
It is crucial to employ additional factors of identity verification.
No technology is 100% infallible, but the point is to increase the guardrails to prevent criminals from exploiting the technology.

Note: Riker Danzig is not endorsing the services of WireVault or Trust Stamp.

Season 2, Episode 2

February 9, 2023Episodeaffordable housing, American Land Title Association, complete defense rule, conflict of interest, Findlay v Chicago Title Ins. Co., Illinois Appellate Court, title insurance fraud protection, title monitoring services, wire fraudcbowness

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For our second episode of the new season, Title Nerds co-hosts Mike O’Donnell and Bethany Abele interviewed Steve Gottheim, General Counsel of the American Land Title Association (“ALTA”). Steve discussed some of the primary issues of concern to ALTA and its members, including housing recession possibilities, public policy issues around increased access to affordable housing and, generating the most conversation, real estate and wire fraud. Steve noted that ALTA is deeply involved in providing education and assistance to title insurance and real estate professionals to help avoid scams and to identify money laundering scenarios. In addition, ALTA provides a host of educational materials about avoiding wire fraud for consumers and real estate agents. Steve also touched on the proliferation of title monitoring services, and the need for home buyers to consider enhanced homeowners policies with title insurance fraud protection.

Bethany then interviewed Riker Danzig associate Jim Mazewski about the complex title insurance coverage matter Findlay v Chicago Title Ins. Co., 2022 IL App (1st) 210889 (2022). Therein, the Illinois Appellate Court, First Division, adopted the reasoning of other outside jurisdictions and held that title insurance claims were exempt from Illinois’ “complete defense rule,” which requires that an insurer provide a defense on all claims raised against an insured even if only one of the claims is covered.

In this matter, landlocked homeowners were able for years to easily access the Lake Michigan beach via a beach easement across a portion of a neighboring lot, Lot 5. However, when Lot 5 was purchased by a new owner, the new owner objected to neighbors cutting across his property and filed a lawsuit to prevent them from doing so. The landlocked homeowners sought a declaratory judgment, implying that an ingress-egress easement existed on Lot 5. The new owner of Lot 5 won that suit, and then sued Chicago Title, which had received claims from both parties to the first lawsuit as they were both insured by Chicago Title. The plaintiff’s suit against Chicago Title alleged conflict of interest, failing to provide coverage for all counts of the earlier litigation, and failing to approve of the plaintiff’s retention of a new attorney. Failing at trial on all claims, the plaintiff appealed.

In a decision in line with a growing body of caselaw, the appellate court found title insurance companies are not subject to the “complete defense rule.” The Court also found that Chicago Title had the right to select counsel of its choosing, not the insured’s. Tune in to the podcast for an in-depth discussion of the Appellate Court’s consideration of the plaintiff’s claims leading to the decision.

Season 1, Episode 6

January 4, 2022Episodeadverse use, Colorado Supreme Court, independent nationwide title agent, issuances of policies, LLC v. Woodbridge Condo. Ass’n, Lo Viento Blanco, Madison Title Agency, prescriptive easement, title searchers, wire fraudcbowness

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Title Nerds hosts Mike O’Donnell and Bethany Abele welcome title insurance industry professional Sam Shiel to the podcast for Episode Six. Sam Shiel of Madison Title Agency has a conversation with Mike about his early interest in title insurance and how he got started in the industry, and what is required of a title agent. Sam explains what it really means to be an independent nationwide title agent, as well as differences in markets, and then talks about the services beyond title searches and issuances of policies that may be provided by some title agents. The conversation also moves into how good title agents safeguard against wire fraud, the evolution of the title industry and what may be coming in the future. Of great interest to our listeners is that it was determined during the episode that a prescriptive easement was at the heart of the feud between the Capulets and Montagues in the Romeo and Juliet tragedy!

Taking that theme, Bethany then speaks with Riker Danzig attorney Desiree McDonald about a recent prescriptive easement case decided by the Colorado Supreme Court. In Lo Viento Blanco, LLC v. Woodbridge Condo. Ass’n, Inc., 489 P.3d 735 (Colo. 2021), L.R. Foy Construction (“Foy Construction”) conveyed a large parcel of land with condominiums to the Woodbridge Condominium Association, but did not convey a smaller parcel of land that sat between the conveyed parcel and a gravel road. Woodbridge then used this smaller parcel of land over a period of decades for different purposes and maintained it, and, in 1991, offered Foy Construction $10,000 for the smaller parcel. Without replying to Woodbridge, Foy Construction subsequently sold the disputed parcel in 2010 to Lo Viento Blanco LLC, who presented Woodbridge with a plan to build on the disputed parcel. Woodbridge objected and filed suit to establish that it owned the disputed parcel or, in the alternative, that it had acquired a prescriptive easement over it. The Colorado Supreme Court agreed with the Court of Appeals, noting that a prescriptive easement claimant that shows that it has possessed the easement for more than the statutory period is entitled to a presumption of adverse use.