'My heart sank': This Silicon Valley exec says she accidentally sent her $400,000 down payment to a scammer — now she has a warning for all house-hunting Americans

Rathbun Insurance describes how property wire transfer fraud like the one that hit Robillard can happen. It’s possible for fraudsters to hijack email addresses via passwords purchased off the dark web, or use phishing techniques to trick employees into entering login credentials. They can then comb through emails to find targets and set up a bogus transfer, either using an agent’s real email account or by spoofing it.

How you can protect yourself

Robillard’s story demonstrates how anybody can be sucked into the cybercrime vortex by increasingly resourceful thieves. No one, sadly, is completely safe. But there are simple steps that can provide strong measures of protection.

First and foremost, don’t simply wire money to anyone who requests it by email, even if the email’s address and contents look legitimate. Don’t click on any links that ask you to enter financial information, and when in doubt, call the person you’ve been doing business with to confirm the email is legitimate. When sums as large as Robillard’s are on the line, insist on completing the transaction in person or by other secure means set up by the broker’s company.

It’s also healthy to check your account activity regularly to ensure your finances are in order.

Two-factor authentication also bolsters your account security and can reduce the risk of identity theft by up to 99%, according to Gitnux, a market research platform.

As for passwords, change them regularly to protect yourself in the event of a data breach — or, even better, use a password manager.

And by all means, avoid any of the ten most common passwords on this list from Cybernews, with “123456” topping them all. Read backwards, it could be the ultimate countdown to money misery.