What to Expect When You’re Not Expecting (Wire Fraud) – Part 2

In Part 1, we covered the initial steps of what to do in the first few hours you discover that you or your company is the victim of wire fraud. In Part 2, we will cover what to expect during and after implementing the steps previously outlined.

First, understand again that the more promptly action the initial steps are taken after a wire fraud scheme is detected, the greater the chances that a recovery can be made.

If everyone you have contacted is engaged in the recovery process and you promptly contacted them, details should come quickly, but the money may still come back slowly. In a short period, you should have a good understanding of where your money is and the relative likelihood of recovery. It cannot be overstressed that you must keep up the air raid siren pressure until you get the answers to those questions.

How quickly funds will be physically returned to you, even if successfully recovered, will vary but may take substantial time. It depends on the nature of the wire fraud scheme, how far the funds have traveled from their original misdirected destination, the financial institutions involved, and other circumstances, so adjust your expectations of the timing of the return of funds accordingly. Be prepared to wait.

Be prepared to “indemnify” the bank returning the funds. Financial institutions by nature are typically slow moving and highly risk averse. Most banks will therefore require you to sign an indemnity agreement before they will return funds to you. The indemnity agreement will come from the bank that is returning the money to you, not the financial institution you used to send the money originally. The indemnity agreements vary by financial institution, and it is a good idea to have an attorney review the terms prior to signing, but typically the agreement states that the claim made by you is a bona fide (real) claim with a statement under penalty of perjury that you did not knowingly authorize the funds to be misdirected. It further requires the individual receiving the funds to indemnify the financial institution if they are sued by their account holder or an affected third party for returning the funds to you.

Don’t get fooled again by someone proactively reaching out to you about your fraud. As brazen as it may seem, fraudsters will often try to contact a victim again, posing as a helpful individual, to take steps to try and further delay the investigation and allow more time to move the money overseas and outside the reach of law enforcement. Remember that cyber criminals know when and where the money was sent. If you receive a call from someone identifying himself or herself as being from your financial institution, the FBI or any other entity he or she claims is working to help you recover, do not trust that claim. First verify and double-check the authenticity of the person’s identity. Otherwise, you may fall victim again when the cyber criminal lulls you into a false sense of security that everything is being handled when in fact they are just delaying your recovery.

Taking these steps will help you avoid becoming a further victim and also give you the best chance at a recovery of your stolen funds.