Wire fraud is an increasing risk in the real estate industry. According to the American Land Title Association, a third of all real estate and mortgage transactions in 2020 included targeted wire fraud scams. Being vigilant when interacting with clients is key to ensuring the proper instructions are followed, and money goes to the right …Read more
A business’ sustainability is becoming increasingly important to today’s investors and customers. While overall sustainability incorporates environmental, social and governance factors, in honor of Earth Day, let’s concentrate on environmental sustainability in the workplace and explore examples of positive environmental business practices. These suggestions will not only appeal to potential clients who seek environmentally savvy …Read more
Today I want to talk about five types of text-only emails. The majority of this form of phishing typically comes disguised as a link, attachment, or both. Text-only emails are frequently overlooked but can be just as dangerous as other phishing methods. The first text-only email is the decades-old “Nigerian prince” (1) scam most of …Read more
As we make our first steps into Women’s History Month, we want to take a moment to celebrate being part of an industry where women are empowered to succeed. Here at Stewart, women are 72% of our employees, and we are inspired each day by the ladies we work with, partner with, and our customers. …Read more
What a difference a year makes! In January 2020, New York City’s Marriott Marquis in Times Square was home to the industry’s last in-person mega conference, Inman Connect. Drawing thousands of visitors every year, Inman Connect New York general sessions are often standing room only. However, thanks to the global pandemic, thousands of agents, teams, …Read more
In simple terms, a 1031 exchange is a trade of one investment property for another that allows you to defer capital gains taxes. While potential tax reform could impact 1031 exchanges, we wanted to walk through what they can do for you today. This powerful tax strategy must be used carefully as there many moving …Read more
Our most favorite time of the year is coming, and many are watching and waiting for deep online discounts. It’s not only you. Experts predict that more than 80% of holiday shopping will be shifted online this year. Cybercriminals can’t be happier – more online shopping means more potential victims for them. Follow these simple …Read more
Image overlay is when a hacker creates a blurred image of a document that resembles a form you would recognize and overlays it with a login prompt. The image is designed to pique your interest or create a sense of importance or value. The concept of image overlay isn’t new, but today it has a …Read more
While cloud services like OneDrive, Box and Dropbox give us endless possibilities to share files, we sometimes still find ourselves sending and receiving ZIP attachments when multiple files are involved. ZIP files would be okay except sometimes they can be dangerous. You may be thinking, “What about password-protected ZIP files?” Well, cybercriminals most commonly send …Read more
Phishing emails meant to steal email credentials continues to get through our mailboxes. In our industry, anything to do with closing files gets the easy catch – familiar words used in subject lines, body copy, and attachments. Hackers know and use our timing to their advantage; they know the ends of the week and month …Read more