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In mid-November, the Federal Bureau of Investigations<\/strong> released its 2022 Congressional report<\/a> on business email compromise (BEC) and real estate wire fraud. According to the report, in 2021, the Internet Crime Complaint Center <\/strong>(IC3) received BEC-related complaints with claimed losses exceeding $2.4 billion, far higher than the $360 million in claimed losses recorded in 2016. In comparison, the second highest dollar loss category reported to the IC3 in 2021 was investment fraud, with losses of approximately $1.45 billion. <\/p>\n In addition, the American Land Title Association<\/strong> expects the annual number of BECs to more than double in the next two years.<\/p>\n For the past several years, the FBI says BEC has consistently been the largest dollar loss by victims\u2019 crime typology reported to the IC3, as \u201ccriminals have been refining their exploitation of technology, especially the internet, to carry out financial crimes.\u201d According to a 2022 survey by ALTA, of all the reported wire fraud incidents that occur each year, only 17% of victims successfully recovered all of their funds, but 94% of respondents reported some amount of recovery.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have minutes to hours to act once you have knowledge that either your company sent money where it wasn\u2019t supposed to go or you\u2019ve got a buyer out there hanging because they sent $50,000 to a fraudster,\u201d Matt McBride, the vice president of risk management and compliance at Shaddock National Holdings<\/strong>, told attendees at last month\u2019s ALTA One conference<\/a>. \u201cIf it goes to 24 hours, your likelihood of recovery is 15%. If it goes to 48 hours, you are in the 2% range. If it goes to 72 hours, then it is gone. There is nothing anybody can do at that point.\u201d<\/p>\n ALTA said, the FBI report<\/a> was also spurred on by the trade organization\u2019s efforts of the past two years to get \u201clanguage included in various House and Senate appropriations reports directing respective agencies to report on efforts to combat and raise awareness of BEC and wire fraud, and collaborate with industry partners to address threats. ALTA is reviewing the report recommendations as part of ongoing advocacy efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n As the FBI looks to counter BEC and wire fraud threats, it says that it is working on providing \u201ccomprehensive training to FBI agents, analysts, and support staff focused on BEC schemes and money mules.\u201d In addition, the agency said that it is working to foster \u201cstrong relationships with its private sector partners,\u201d and \u201cfrequently provides training to financial institutions, the real estate industry, and technology company representatives on current financial crime trends.\u201d To assist in this education goal, the FBI has published a Money Mule Awareness Booklet<\/a><\/p>\n