A Silicon Valley executive had $400,000 stolen by cybercriminals while buying a home. Here’s her warning

7 comments

1. After a yearlong search, Rana Robillard was elated to learn she’d beaten three other bidders for a [house](https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/19-El-Pulgar_Orinda_CA_94563_M18517-87256?from=srp-list-card) in the leafy California suburb of Orinda, just outside of San Francisco.

   So when Robillard, chief people officer at software startup [Tekion](https://tekion.com/), received an email in late January from her mortgage broker with directions to wire a $398,359.58 down payment to a [JPMorgan Chase](https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/JPM/) account, she wasted no time sending the money.

   After all, the email appeared to be a response to one Robillard had sent her broker asking about final steps before the closing, which was rapidly approaching.

   But on Jan. 30, the day after she’d sent the wire, Robillard got what looked like a duplicate request for the down payment, and it dawned on her that she had [fallen for a scam](https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/19/scammers-are-conning-home-buyers-out-of-their-down-payment.html) — one that would throw her life into turmoil for the next six months. To her horror, instead of sending a down payment for her future home to the title company, as she believed she had done, Robillard had been tricked into sending her life savings to a criminal.

   “That’s when I went into a full panic,” Robillard, 55, told CNBC, which verified the details of her story with the four banks involved.

   What happened to Robillard, a 25-year veteran of tech companies including cybersecurity firm [HackerOne](https://www.hackerone.com/), speaks to the increasingly [sophisticated nature of cybercrime](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/08/how-one-retired-woman-lost-her-life-savings-in-a-common-elder-fraud-scheme.html). Fraudsters are able to penetrate the email systems of mortgage brokers, real estate agents, lawyers or other advisors, waiting for the perfect [moment](https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/fy-2022-fbi-congressional-report-business-email-compromise-and-real-estate-wire-fraud-111422.pdf/view) to strike by sending emails or phone calls that appear to be from trusted parties.

   Real estate, with its large transaction sizes and frequent use of wire transfers, has proven to be an especially lucrative target for criminals. Wires are [faster](https://www.westernunion.com/blog/en/wire-transfer-vs-bank-transfer-whats-the-difference/) than other forms of payment, typically closing within 24 hours, can handle far larger sums and are often [irreversible](https://www.wellsfargo.com/privacy-security/fraud/articles/safety-tips-wire-transfers/#:~:text=Because%20wire%20transfers%20are%20typically,to%20get%20your%20money%20back.), making them ideal for fraud.

   Scams involving fake emails in real estate deals have exploded over the last decade, rising from less than $9 million in losses in 2015 to $446.1 million by 2022, according to FBI [data](https://www.ic3.gov/Media/Y2023/PSA230609).

   Read more: [https://www.cnbc.com/2024/07/23/wire-fraud-in-real-estate-silicon-valley-executive-warning.html](https://www.cnbc.com/2024/07/23/wire-fraud-in-real-estate-silicon-valley-executive-warning.html)

2. >To her horror, instead of sending a down payment for her future home to the title company, as she believed she had done, Robillard had been tricked into sending her life savings to a criminal.

   Wait a minute. “Life savings” ??

   We’re supposed to believe that a Silicon Valley executive who was buying a multi-million dollar home had only $400K in life savings?

   Why do writers feel the need to exaggerate like this?

3. This is such a common scam that I’m surprised anyone falls for it anymore.

4. I am in real estate and you would be shocked how often this happens. Our mortgage companies instruct customers and have a message on all of their emails that if ANYONE asks them for money they have to call the LO first and discuss.

5. She’s an executive at a cyber security firm and she fell for the most common money scam around? Yikes.

6. One detail missing in the article. Was the email legitimately from her mortgage broker? It seems to imply that it was but then they claim they were not hacked.

7. Buying 101, confirm all account details Before sending money.