Last year, Arizona REALTORS® made the Wire Fraud Advisory available for brokers so that a uniform document could be utilized to advise clients of wire fraud and its potentially devastating consequences. 

While the intent of the advisory was for brokers to use with clients, there are instances in which the advisory has been utilized with an unrepresented party so as to caution that party of the risks associated with wire fraud.  Because of this, the Wire Fraud Advisory has been revised at the bottom of the form where the undersigned acknowledges receipt of the advisory.  More specifically, the previous version of the advisory contained a line for the “Client” to write their name and date.  This has been revised and now contains two lines – one for the “Name” of the person signing the document and one for the “Signature” and date of the person signing the document. 

The reason for this change is because “Client” suggests that agency has been established with the person signing the advisory.  However, when a person is not represented by a broker, Arizona REALTORS® did not want the appearance of an agency relationship with the unrepresented party.

Additionally, a new link for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been added to the online resources in the Wire Fraud Advisory.  This new link brings the person to a blog article titled “Mortgage Closing Scams: How to protect yourself and your closing funds.”

The Wire Fraud Advisory is updated in all of Arizona REALTORS® forms provider platforms.  You may also find the newly updated Wire Fraud Advisory in PDF and Word format on Arizona REALTORS® website.