A YOUNG couple said nearly $800,000 disappeared from their bank account as they attempted to place a deposit for a home.

Nicole and Kevin Noar said they wired over the deposit for their home to who they thought was their escrow company on a special day.

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Nicole and Kevin Noar said they lost nearly $800,000Credit: WTKR

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The couple had attempted to put down a deposit for a homeCredit: WTKR

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The young couple said they thought the money had been sent to their escrow companyCredit: Gofundme/ Johnina Noar
The couple said they received an email with wire transfer instructions and they sent over $775,000 for their down payment.

This was 60% of the purchase price of the house they wanted to buy in Carlsbad, California, around 30 miles north of San Diego.

They received the email on Valentine’s Day in 2020 but later discovered their life’s savings had been sent to a scammer, according to CBS affiliate WTKR.

“We’re just devastated and shocked and how could this happen,” Nicole said.

The couple said a real employee from their escrow company had initially sent them an email with unsecured information and wire transfer instructions, which did not include an account number.

They said hackers were able to access these emails and duplicate them with a fake account number that led to a Bitcoin exchange.

“They just cut and pasted the same header, same art, same escrow title, all they had to do is take that, cut and paste it to us, and we could not determine it was fake,” Kevin said.

They also later realized the email had been sent from a “.corn” email instead of a “.com” one, according to NBC affiliate KNSD.

“The rn is almost identical to an m,” Kevin said.

“And it’s not bouncing back because they’ve created these fake emails.”

The Noars then complained that neither their escrow company nor their bank raised the alarm while they supposedly could have.

Firstly, they said they took the document to the bank but said staff should have noticed a red flag on the paper.

The paper said BittCross, which was a Bitcoin account.

“Now that we’ve done our research, we know that’s cyber currency which is a very, very high red flag for scams and fraud,” Nicole said.

Top tips on avoiding scams from a bank

As scams become more sophisticated with the use of artificial intelligence, it is important you know how to spot a scam and how to avoid them.

Be skeptical of online deals that seem too good to be true, especially on social media.
Scammers will often use tactics to make you panicked so you make quick decisions – be cautious if you are told to take immediate action and verify who has contacted you.
Chase Bank warns customers to “never return any unexpected funds without calling Chase first.”
Never send money to someone you have only spoken to online or by phone as this is likely a romance scam.
Unless you 100% know who you are talking to, never give someone remote access to your device.
Never accept help from strangers at an ATM and always be vigilant when making withdrawals.
Do not send money or click any links indicating that you have won a prize.

Source: Chase.com

The Noars also said the escrow company should have raised the alarm as the couple said they called them after the apparent wire transfer but the company had not sent them account details.

“They called back, they called to tell me what time the notary would be here the next day to sign our loan docs,” Nicole said.

The Noars said they immediately called the FBI when they realized they had been victims of a scam.

“We can’t sleep,” Nicole said.

They later discovered that their money appeared to have gone to an account in Singapore.

We’re just devastated and shocked and how could this happen?

Nicole NoarScam Victim
The couple and their young son moved in with their family in Solana Beach and set up a GoFundMe page that raised over $21,000.

Scams and cybercrime have become more sophisticated and The U.S. Sun has previously reported on more people who have lost huge sums of money.

A man in Oregon said he fell victim to an online scam that wiped $200,000 from his bank account.

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Nicole and Kevin Noar said their escrow company and bank should have spotted the scam