Charlson & Wilson Bonded Abstracters, Inc.

With a history dating back over 100 years, Charlson & Wilson takes pride in providing high-quality service to its customers. As one of the premier title and escrow servicing companies in Kansas, Charlson & Wilson strives to continue on this path of impeccable service.

The Charlson & Wilson Story

Charlson & Wilson have not directly experienced a wire fraud but found themselves entangled in this issue when a title company they were working with reached out about concerns it had fallen victim to a wire fraud scam. As if pulled from a textbook on wire fraud, this fraud event followed the most common outline for wire fraud in real estate.

The buyer had been informed he needed to get wire instructions directly from someone in the title company's office. Being the president of a local bank, the buyer knew that wire fraud was a problem and that he needed to be extremely careful.

However, while emailing back and forth about transaction details for his purchase of a residential property, the buyer received an email from a fraudster telling him he did not need to worry about the wire. The message told him to "Call this number instead. I'm in jury duty the rest of the week."

The buyer called the phone number from that email and was given a fraudulent set of wiring instructions. He then utilized those instructions to transfer his funds, unknowingly wiring his life savings to a fraudulent account. Within a day, the title company and the buyer had realized the transaction had not closed, and the buyer's funds were gone.

After seeing this fraud unfold at a title company worked with often, Charlson & Wilson knew they needed more protection for its business and clients.

It wasn’t us, but we might not be far behind.
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Tammi Stewart, Director of Operations at Charlson & Wilson Bonded Abstracters, Inc.

They had heard good things about CertifID's wire fraud solution via their underwriter. Tammi Stewart of Charlson & Wilson said that after this "eye-opening" experience, they decided it was time to take proactive steps toward wire fraud prevention.

After a quick demo, training, and onboarding process, Charlson & Wilson was up and running on CertifID, securely sharing and receiving wiring instructions. Tammi said, "It seemed like a no-brainer to us. The few dollars we spend per transaction to secure our clients and operation is well worth it."

I love it when you put a product in, and it just works!
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Tammi Stewart, Director of Operations at Charlson & Wilson Bonded Abstracters, Inc.

Today, Charlson & Wilson continue to utilize CertifID to verify identity and securely share wiring instructions on all their transactions requiring a wire. Its clients have stated that they truly appreciate the added security because, "This is our life savings. We can't afford to lose it." Charlson & Wilson's referral partners have also shown appreciation for this extra step toward protection and security, providing Charlson & Wilson with additional business. In its first two years partnered with CertifID, Charlson & Wilson protected over $400 million from wire fraud.