Stewart Insurance Partners with CertifID for additional wire fraud protection
In response to the wire fraud epidemic facing the US title and real estate industry, Stewart Insurance, a subsidiary of Stewart Title Company, has launched a new endorsement for select title professionals offering coverage up to $500,000 for all inbound and outbound wire funds transfers when CertifID is used to send and receive wiring instructions.
CertifID provides money transfer protection for all participants in real estate transactions.
According to the most recent Internet Crime Report from the FBI, Americans lost nearly $150 million to real estate wire fraud scams just last year, which represents more than a 1,000 percent increase since 2015. The level of sophistication and timing of these scams continues to threaten the home buying and mortgage closing process.
“Over the years, Stewart Insurance has led the way in influencing the evolution of coverage to benefit professionals in the title industry,” said Tom Carpentier, president of Stewart Insurance. “We look forward to encouraging the use of CertifID’s technology to help mitigate wire fraud risk and provide increased coverage for these situations.”
CertifID’s proprietary solution protects businesses and consumers from fraud by securely transferring bank account information. In addition to the new endorsement through Stewart Insurance, CertifID guarantees each wire up to $1 million after identities have been confirmed and wiring instructions securely shared. Since its launch two years ago, CertifID has safeguarded more than $10 billion in wire transfers and is protecting lenders, title companies, buyers and sellers nationwide.
“Founding CertifID was in direct response to a wire fraud that I experienced as a title agency owner,” said Tom Cronkright, CEO and co-founder of CertifID. “Since then, we’ve seen how education and adoption of technology can significantly reduce this risk of wire fraud. This new insurance endorsement by Stewart shows their commitment to providing coverage needed by their agents to be safe.”
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