Annie Oakley decoder ring. We are talking about life- and career‑altering consequences. The settlement agent received copies of the IDs from the fraudster. Forget the fact that there was no verification or validation of the IDs. Forget that the fraudster/borrower sent them by facially anonymous means. Anyone who has seen NBC’s “To Catch a Predator” knows that anyone on the other side of the internet connection can pretend to be anyone. Reality is merely an arbitrary inconvenience to a cyber-criminal. The settlement agent received the refinance documents back from the borrower refinance imposter and disbursed the wire. After all, the agent had IDs, and the documents were notarized by someone who may be dead or alive; may or may not have a commission; may or may not have ever met the borrower to acknowledge the documents; or may or may not even know that the transaction took place. See where we are going here? There are many bank robbers that have shot people over $10,000 or less. Does anyone really believe that a criminal is going to draw the moral line at forging a notary’s signature? MAIL-AWAYS — KILL THEM BEFORE THEY KILL YOU When a nuclear weapon goes missing, they call it a “broken arrow.” This leaves us to wonder which is more disturbing: 1) the fact that a nuclear weapon is missing or 2) the fact that it is so common that we have a term for it. Mail-aways are a similar term. Is it more disturbing that: 1) people are transacting this type of business transaction without ever validating the people in the transaction or 2) that it is so common that we have a term for it, and everybody seems to do it? If you are handling a mail-away transaction, what protections do you have in place? Did the documents go to the property address or the tax address? Did you select or are you 13 WEST VIRGINIA BANKER
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