A member of Logix was in the process of buying their first home. They were excited that their hard work of saving and preparing was finally paying off. They received instructions by email from an escrow company on where to send their downpayment and closing funds.
To their shock, they were notified by our Fraud Risk Management (FRM) Department that it had detected suspicious activity and a possibly illegitimate recipient of these funds. It turned out the member’s email account had been compromised, and fraudsters had not only sent the payment instructions but also set up a bogus escrow company to make the instructions look more legitimate. FRM was quick in responding: it stopped the transfer, returned the funds to the member, and made sure they were ultimately sent to the correct recipient.
The member sent a message to our credit union stating they would have lost their entire life savings and had suicidal thoughts, not being able to imagine how their life would change from that loss. They were stilly crying and shaking, but this time from happiness and gratefulness. Fortunately, quick thinking and sound systems and process prevented this heartbreaking scenario.
This story was submitted by Daniel Tschopp, SVP of ERM, Logix Federal Credit Union.
