And you think you’re having a bad day.
Today FOX News tells the story of a Florida mom who lost all her life savings via a real estate scam.
After finally putting a down payment on her dream home, Patricia Verlino soon learned of a scheme hatched by an internet infiltrator.
After years of working multiple jobs to save up the $63,000 for a condo for her and her two daughters, Verlino moved in, and for two days felt she was settling into her new home.
"You think it’s over [saying], ‘that’s it – no more papers, I got the house,’" said Verlino.
When it came time to make the down payment, Verlino received an email that appeared to be from the title company she’d been working with. The email provided instructions on sending a wire transfer, which she did.
She soon realized the emails were fake, and that the title company had never received the down payment.
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Kevin Tacher is owner of Independence Title, the insurance company that is now helping Verlino recover her lost savings and perhaps allow her to keep her home. He explained to Fox News that someone likely hacked one of the email accounts at the real estate company and monitored its emails to watch for when a client was ready to make a down payment.
Hence whoever sent that email then had all the necessary information to hatch the scheme, including the real estate agent’s name, important dates, and the amount of the down payment due.
After reporting to the police, Verlino was able to recover $34,000 before the wire transfer was finalized. The rest of the money, however, may be gone for good.
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Rather than be completely defeated, Verlino is at least using this story as a cautionary tale. She provided all the emails to FOX News for this story.
Verlino’s family, who live in Argentina, have offered to help, but don’t have much extra money themselves.
A GoFundMe page titled, "Help Patricia's family to have a home" has been set up to try and replace her massive loss. As of Tuesday, the campaign has raised more than $20,000 for the family.
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