In the last year, several states introduced, and some have passed, data privacy legislation. This year’s legislative session will include several more bills designed to protect consumers’ privacy. During this same period, wire fraud has more than doubled as fraudsters are getting more knowledgeable about whom to target in the real estate transaction.
Both issues significantly impact the escrow industry and two industry leaders will share their insights during the National Settlement Services Summit June 18-20 in Phoenix.
Heather Wyant, president, Arizona State Escrow Association, will be speaking on consumer data protection and wire fraud with Juliana Tu, president of the California Escrow Association. The session will discuss steps states are taking regarding consumer data privacy, including California’s Consumer Privacy Act and the Colorado Consumer Protection Act, as well as the impact of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). In addition, they will discuss ways industry members can help protect consumers from being the victims of wire fraud.
Wyant, an assistant vice president for Fidelity National Title Agency, noted that the corporate compliance education modules she completes includes a section on data privacy and that Fidelity has included Colorado’s new law in the data privacy implementation it requires.
“I’m also going to be speaking about wire fraud,” she said. “Being part of the American Escrow Association, we came back from D.C. about a week-and-a-half ago and we sat down with the FBI and the National Association of Realtors and discussed what we can do to bring this awareness to consumers. The average consumer, I don’t know even realizes that it’s out there. We were discussing how to get the word out there, whether we should use social media to pull in everybody, but then also do we do commercials or infomercials to really spread the word and to educate the consumer.”
Wyant said she also plans to provide scenarios and examples of how fraudsters are conducting their schemes, whether by calling buyers and sellers and impersonating escrow officers or changing wiring instructions to get the money diverted.
“I want to talk about some of the statistics that I can share and really hit it home with current stories of what is actually happening and how people in escrow are preventing some of these scenarios from occurring,” she said.
“I’m hoping that people will be able to take away some new ideas that they can start implementing right away to try to educate their buyers and sellers and agents on what to look for [in a wire fraud scheme],” Wyant continued. “With wire fraud, I think the more information that we spread out there, is only going to benefit others.”
For more information on the 2019 NS3, including the agenda and a list of speakers, click here. You can register for NS3 online or click here to get information on how to register via mail, fax or phone.