Alert: Spoofed Email Appears to Come from ALTA President

April 4, 2024

Screenshot 2024-04-04 141227ALTA is alerting its members of phishing emails with "ALTA" and the company name in the subject line.

Like title and settlement companies, email from ALTA leadership and staff can be spoofed. In the latest scheme, a phishing email appears to come from ALTA President Don Kennedy telling recipients that ALTA's regulatory department has made multiple attempts to contact them to deliver a notice that requires attention. Note the fraudulent email address in the image. This is a phishing email. ALTA’s system was not breached. Your information is safe.

Do not open the attachment, respond or click any links in the email. In addition, you should contact your IT department and block the domain of the email or the IP address that it is coming from. Once the scammers catch on, they will likely switch email domains.

It's recommended to take extra precaution when reviewing email on smart phones as it can be difficult to see the actual email address behind the sender's name.

ALTA will never contact you and ask for login/passwords, credentials, credit card information, or payments by phone or via email. If an ALTA member is ever concerned about whether a person contacting them by phone or email for any reason is employed by ALTA, they should end the communication or conversation and call ALTA at 800-787-2582 or email [email protected] for confirmation.

Tips to Protect Yourself

ALTA understands that phishing attempts can be very clever, but we encourage everyone to slow down. It’s always a good idea to:

  1. Carefully review all email headers to be sure that messages are coming from people or companies who are known to them; when in doubt, forward the message to the intended recipient to be sure that a reply does not end up in the wrong hands.
  2. Hover over any links in a message and see where a click will go – even links which appear to be a complete URL spelled out. Anything could be lurking beneath the that link.
What if You Fell for the Scam?
  1. Call your credit card company using the phone number on the actual card or on the card-issuer’s website.
    • Report fraud and review recent charges with a card-issuer representative.
    • Have the credit card canceled/replaced.
    • Consider freezing your credit if you provided additional non-public personal information while making the payment.
  2. Report the incident to your IT department.
    • Consider a scan of your computer for viruses or vulnerabilities if you used the computer to reply to the email or clicked on the URL in the body of the message.
    • Consider changing your login/password information, especially if it’s stored for ease of use.

Alert: Spoofed Email Appears to Come from ALTA

July 12, 2022

Spoofed Email- WL

ALTA is alerting its members to delete a phishing email with the subject line “ALTA Secure Closing Policy" 

Like title and settlement companies, email from ALTA staff can be spoofed. In the latest scheme, a phishing email appears to come from Whitney Larman, asking recipients to fill out the attached form, sign it and send it back. 

Do not open the attachment or click any links in the email. In addition, you should contact your IT department and block the domain of the email or the IP address that it is coming from. Once the scammers catch on, they will likely switch email domains.

It's recommended to use extra precaution when reviewing email on smart phones as it can be difficult to see the actual email address behind the sender's name.

You can be sure that your information is safe. This is a phishing email and our system was not breached.

Alert: Spoofed Email Appears to Come From ALTA

March 5, 2020

CaptureALTA is alerting its members to delete a phishing email that includes an attachment letter that needs to be certified. 

The email appears to come from Michelle Korsmo, ALTA’s former chief executive officer. Another red flag is that the email address is @alta-online.org. ALTA’s email domain is @alta.org.

ALTA encourages you delete the email. Do not open the PDF. In addition, you should block the domain of the email or the IP address that it is coming from. Once the scammers catch on, they will likely switch email domains. If you have replied to the email, the phisher may use the reply as an opportunity to send a malicious email.  If a reply was sent, do not open the email, attachments or links. If you have internal IT staff, consult with them if you have opened any attachments or links.   

You can be sure that your information is safe. This is a phishing email and ALTA's system was not breached. The email did not originate from ALTA or any of its systems. The domain was registered by the spoofer/ phisher through GoDaddy. A Google Business email account was used to send the email. The email originated from an IP address owned by Google. Google and GoDaddy have been informed of this spoofing attempt.

 

 

 

Alert: Spoofed Email Appears to Come from ALTA

November 5, 2019

Phishing emailALTA is alerting its members to delete a phishing email with the subject line “American Land Title Association.”

The email appears to come from Cande Fudge, ALTA’s membership and licensing manager. The email says ALTA is interested in doing an interview with the recipient and to review the attached document for more information.

ALTA encourages you delete the email. Do not open the PDF. In addition, you should block the domain of the email or the IP address that it is coming from. Once the scammers catch on, they will likely switch email domains.

You can be sure that your information is safe. This is a phishing email and our system was not breached.

Thank you,

The ALTA Staff