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Fraud Alert:
The Office of the Superintendent of Insurance Title Insurance Bureau has received information that persons purportedly from Canada are possibly attempting to submit fraudulent purchase agreements and earnest money funds to agents in New Mexico with the knowledge that the funds will not be honored. It is also our understanding that these persons are then requesting a return of the earnest money funds which may result in a loss to the agent.
Please let your staff know and ask them to be aware of this situation.
Thank You,
John J. Segura
Title Bureau Compliance Officer
Office of The Superintendent of Insurance
505-365-3894
Following is Additional Information from Gary Sandoval and Dale Rycraft at First American:
You may have received a Fraud Alert from John Segura of the New Mexico OSI
Title Insurance Bureau regarding a recently discovered active buyer impersonation
fraud being perpetrated in New Mexico. This information is intended to provide
further details that may help you identify the fraudulent transaction if one is sent
to your office.
The fraud package contains a fabricated purchase agreement and a purported
earnest money check drawn on SociaBank in Canada. If you receive a transaction
that includes an earnest money check from SociaBank and the check numbers
are in a series of 637XXX, then you can expect the checks are fake.
Emails received from the alleged buyer typically included a non-New Mexico phone
number for the seller. Calls to such numbers will be answered by a person who will
verify the transaction. Do not rely on a phone number provided in an email from the
alleged buyer. Instead, contact your listing agent directly for confirmation.
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