Real Estate Scheme Costs a Couple Life Savings

A fraudster posing as a real estate agent sent a couple an email asking for cash. Now, the couple may lose their entire life's savings. 

The Browns, anxious to move into their new home, received an email that appeared to be from their real estate agent and title company. The message asked them to wire the funds. "We were so eager to get everything done in a hurry so we could move," Anne Brown said. 

The Browns went to their credit union and followed the instructions they received in the fraudulent e-mail. The transaction went unnoticed for a few days until the real title company asked the couple's real estate agent, Carrie Butterfield, why she had told the Browns the incorrect amount of the wire transfer. "My response was, I never told the Browns to send a wire," said Butterfield.

Police and the FBI are investigating where the wired cash went and if it can be recovered. "We see the view of our dream home slipping away," said Anne. But the couple is sharing the lesson they've learned. "We don't want it to happen to anybody else, if we can help in a way. So, we're willing to swallow our pride," Brown said.