As a premier real estate title company, Patten Title Company always strives to implement practical and innovative tools in its business practices. An anti-fraud solution known as CertifID allows us to drastically improve the security of our realty title services to protect our clients from wire fraud. CertifID fills a massive need within the escrow title space due to the industry’s rising frequency of fraudulent activity. According to the FBI Internet Crime Report of 2021, incidents of fraud have increased significantly in only the last few years and have cost clients tens of thousands in lost funds. CertifID is a software solution that can be integrated into other technologies used during real estate transactions. CertifID’s primary function is to facilitate safe and secure wire transfers. CertifID accomplishes this in several ways.

ALLOW SELLER’S REPS TO SEND WIRING INSTRUCTIONS SECURELY

CertifID provides a platform for sending wiring instructions to buyers and their representatives. This ensures that the wiring instructions are not intercepted or altered during transmission.

ENSURES INVOLVED PARTIES CAN COLLECT DETAILS FOR OUTGOING TRANSFERS

The CertifID platform allows buyers and their representatives to collect all details for outgoing transfers securely. This information will include the recipient’s name, account number and routing number.

AUTHENICATES IDENTITIES OF ALL INVOLVED PARTIES

Most importantly, CertifID notifies parties using the platform that the identities of the individuals they are communicating with have been verified. This eliminates any confusion during the transaction and prevents hackers from masquerading as members of the transaction in order to obtain funds fraudulently.

The simple answer is that CertifID protects everyone involved in a real estate transaction. Most notably, CertifID protects home buyers from falling victim to fraud by providing them with a secure platform for obtaining wire transfer information.

However, real estate wire transfer fraud creates a cascade effect that impacts the seller, escrow title company, real estate agents and others involved in the purchase process. All of these parties have a vested interest in the deal’s success and have devoted countless hours to facilitate the home purchase. CertifID assists all of these entities by decreasing the risk that the deal will fall through due to fraud.

CertifID helps Patten Title protect clients from an increasingly popular scheme referred to as “real estate wire fraud.” While the exact mechanisms by which real estate wire frauds are carried out may vary, the basic premise is the same.

A bad actor will contact a prospective home buyer using fraudulent credentials or a fictitious email account that appears legitimate. They will then provide wire transfer information and inform the buyer that they need to send them a specified amount of funds in order to secure the purchase of the home. This figure typically coincides with a legitimate down payment amount to make the request appear authentic.

Most defrauded home buyers never recoup all of their funds. In fact, only about 29% of those who are victimized by real estate wire transfers recover all of their money. In approximately 40% of cases, victims recover less than 10% of their funds.

These figures demonstrate why Patten Title Company took a proactive approach to wire fraud by adopting CertifID. Our goal is to protect our clients and their interests by managing all transactions on a secure platform.

We are one of the few title companies who have adopted CertifID because of the distinct benefits that it provides for both home buyers and our organization.

SEAMLESS IMPLEMENTATION

CertifID offers seamless integration with Patten’s existing solutions. This has streamlined the implementation process and allowed our title company to continue using the technology solutions that provide the best possible experience for our clients.

The effortless implementation of CertifID also increases client buy-in. Since CertifID is so easy to use, our team and partners gladly take advantage of its many benefits and protections.

ROBUST COVERAGE

CertifID is one of the most dynamic and effective wire fraud protection tools on the market. If an issue should arise, CertifID stands behind its product by offering up to $1 million of insurance per transaction. This insurance costs $10 or less per transaction, making it more affordable than ever before to protect our interests and those of our clients.

The $1 million insurance policy is provided directly by CertifID. This direct-to-client offer helps keep the cost of insurance low while streamlining the claims process should filing a claim be necessary. To date, no clients have had to file claims when facilitating wire transfers via CertifID.

ACCELERATES PROCESSING SPEEDS

While there are ways to guard against real estate wire transfer fraud without using CertifID, these processes are inefficient and do not offer nearly the same amount of protection. The most commonly used method involves engaging in callback procedures using on-file contact data for clients. Callbacks allow an escrow title company to verify a customer’s identity before proceeding with a wire transfer.

In addition to offering less protection than CertifID, callback procedures can be tedious and time-consuming. CertifID’s verification processes are three times as fast as callback procedures. This allows Patten Title Company to reduce the overall time to close while still maintaining optimal levels of fraud protection.

FACILITATES SECURE TRANSACTIONS

Most importantly, CertifID facilitates secure transactions for every real estate wire transfer. The CertifID platform validates the credentials and identities of all involved parties so that clients know exactly with whom they are communicating.