Before You eSign a Contract Online

We wanted to share a story so that our electronic signature customers are aware that scammers are attempting to defraud people. In no way do we condone fraud, so this post is to raise awareness in our community that scammers are using the DocuSign name to make their messages seem legitimate.

Recently, we received this in an email from an ActiveRain member:

I've been contacted by a 'cash-buyer' using the contact me button on ActiveRain. This buyer states that they want to buy a property in my area but rather than using a title company for escrow would like me to handle directly (which I can do under local law). Basically the scam would go down as follows - I get funds from his 'stockbroker' to close the deal. The buyer will probably request that the residual funds be wired back to him at close of escrow. Then at a later date the inbound funds from him will bounce and the residual funds that were sent out will be long-gone.

The very interesting part of this is that the scammer has specifically requested that we use DocuSign to complete the transaction.

Thank you to this ActiveRain member for bringing this to our attention. Scammers will use the name of a respected company or organization to make their message seem legitimate - know who you are dealing with in online transactions before you sign a contract online.