Real estate scam robs Florida mother of $63K in life savings

Real estate scam robs Florida mother of K in life savings

Patricia Verlino, a south Florida resident, thought she was making a down payment on her dream home, which she had spent years working and saving up for. Unfortunately for her, somebody had seemingly infiltrated the process and used an elaborate scheme to steal the money.

Verlino worked multiple jobs for years to save up the $63,000 to make a down payment on a condo for her and her daughters. When it came time to make the down payment, she received an email that appeared to be from the title company that provided instructions on sending a wire transfer. It wasn’t until after she had already moved into the condo when she learned the emails had been fake and that the title company had never received the down payment.

Kevin Tacher, the owner of title insurance company Independence Title, is working with Verlino to try and get the money back. While his company wasn’t the company initially involved in the sale of the house, he’s still working to help Verlino recover what she can and hopefully get to keep her condo.


Tacher explained that someone likely hacked one of the email accounts at the real estate company and monitored its emails to watch for when a client was ready to make a down payment. As a result, whoever sent the email had access to all of the necessary information, including the address, real estate agent’s name, all of the important dates, and how much the down payment was for.

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