Consumer complaint received 2023-12-22
Company: FIRST AMERICAN FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: WA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
On Thursday, XX/XX/XXXX, my husband and I were contacted via email by someone posing as First American Title Company to request funds for closing our home, which was scheduled for Friday, XX/XX/XXXX. They posed as XXXX from First American and included our real estate agent, XXXX, on the email chain as well. All email accounts were fraudulent but looked legit even including a photo of our real estate agent attached to the fraudulent email. During this back and forth communication with " XXXX '', our real estate agent " XXXX '' would chime in as well, which made this scam seem even more real. After receiving the request for funds, we even confirmed the requested amounts with our mortgage broker via a legit phone call. XXXX ( mortgage broker ) called the real XXXX at First American to confirm. At no point were we made aware by XXXX that we were not actually contacted by First American to request funds, which would have tipped us off on this scam. On Friday, XX/XX/XXXX I was contacted by " XXXX '' ( XXXX 's assistant ) via phone and text to discuss the funds we were to send. " XXXX '' stated he was assisting XXXX as she was in meetings for the rest of the day. " XXXX '' does not actually work at First American, which I was not aware of because they knew everything that was being discussed in the fraudulent email chain with XXXX, XXXX, and my husband XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX I drove to the bank and provided them with the wire instructions that were sent to me from this fraudulent email chain to wire the requested {$24000.00}. The wire instructions included First Americans name and contact info and a local XXXX XXXX  account to wire funds to. At the time, I was not suspicious of any fraudulent activity since they had the correct amount for us to wire, legit names of people involved in our home transaction, our new home address, and knowledge of us closing on our home within days of this request. The wire was sent and the scammers confirmed funds were received. On XX/XX/XXXX, I was contacted again by " XXXX '' stating we needed to send an additional {$2800.00} to ensure we would not be short on closing costs. This did not seem correct to me, but I thought he just miscalculated. I still did not expect fraud. Like before, I contacted our mortgage broker who asked me for " XXXXXXXX XXXX '' contact information to discuss the request. My mortgage broker called me back and stated he XXXX the phone number I sent him for " XXXX '' and the number was linked to an escort service in XXXX XXXX, CA. He then stated, he had no idea who XXXX was in relation to First American Title Company. During this call, we went through the email chain from one week prior where he confirmed that all email addresses used in the chain were not legit and that First American would never email their wire instructions. I called my bank, XXXX XXXX XXXX, to report the fraud, as well as First American Title Company, our real estate agent, and the local police department.

Company public response: Company believes complaint caused principally by actions of third party outside the control or direction of the company
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation