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wo Indiana men, Titus Akindamini and Chidinma Akinyele, were sentenced for their roles in a wire fraud scheme targeting a Marfa property buyer and an Alpine escrow agent. Judge David Counts handed down 10-month and six-month prison terms, respectively, along with three years of supervised release and $60,000 in restitution each.

    The scam began when the email account of an Alpine escrow agent was breached in December 2020. The scammers sent a fake email to the buyer instructing them to transfer $60,000 via wire to an Indianapolis bank account. The buyer complied on December 16, and the scammers made withdrawals from the transferred funds.

    Akindamini and Akinyele were initially charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aiding and abetting wire fraud. However, the conspiracy charges were later dropped. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), real estate transactions are vulnerable to scams due to easily accessible listing data and high-stakes communications over email.

    The NAR describes the scam as a "business email compromise," where scammers gain access to an account and assume the identity of the agent to initiate a wire transfer. In 2020, nearly 14,000 people nationwide were victims of wire fraud, with losses estimated at over $213 million.

    To avoid such scams, the NAR advises keeping operating systems and security software up-to-date, being cautious about opening attachments or downloading files from emails, and never emailing financial information. They also stress the importance of confirming wiring instructions in person and verifying phone numbers before transferring funds.