Scam One:  The Florida Land Title Association reports having been hit with a new fraud of a type that could easily catch any of us.  A couple left their closing with a check for their proceeds.  A couple of hours later, they returned to the closing office with the check and asked for a wire transfer instead.  The closer voided the check and processed the wire.  Unfortunately, the couple had used their smart phone and deposited the check before returning to the branch.

Even normal “Positive Pay” protections would not have caught this as the original check had already been approved for payment.

Scam Two:  Similar Scam could be used for closing, so beware:   Nigeria has extradited a man accused of scamming more than 80 law firms and lawyers out of $31 million in a debt collection ruse.

Nigeria’s anti-graft agency announced the extradition of Emmanuel Ekhator to the United States on Friday, the Associated Press reports. He is one of several people accused of participating in a fraud ring. Charging documents say the ring not only collected $31 million in the scam, it also tried without success to defraud 300 other lawyers and firms out of $100 million.

The scam worked this way: One scammer would contact a law firm for help collecting a debt. Another person posing as the debtor would send a fake check to the law firm, which would take its fee before sending the remainder to the client. If the scam goes according to plan, the so-called client gets the money before the fake check is discovered.

According to a superseding indictment (PDF), victims included several Pennsylvania law firms, a Canadian law firm and an Alabama law firm.