HOUSTON – A Harris County man is suing Stewart Title Co. and Wallgood, L.L.C. on allegations he was fraudulently instructed to wire about $250,000 to a third party.
In a lawsuit filed on Sept. 7 in the Harris County 234th District Court, Philippe Cras says that the funds in question were intended for the purchase of real estate located at 5126 Sycamore Creek Dr. in Kingwood, but unauthorized access of the defendants’ email accounts enabled the money to fall into the wrong hands.
Court papers further assert that the unidentified third party impersonated the agent involved in the transaction and “emailed Cras fraudulent wiring instructions shortly before the scheduled closing.”
“Cras, having no reason to believe that Stewart Title/ReMax’s emails had been hacked, wired approximately $250,000 – the purchase price of the real estate – to the third party’s account,” the suit says.
Cras and Stewart Title eventually realized that the plaintiff had been given dubious instructions. Cras’s situation was apparently the second time a hacker struck at the business’s computers.
The suit adds that the complainant was prompted to pay an additional $250,000 to the seller to consummate the sale of the real estate.
Consequently, Cras seeks unspecified monetary damages and a jury trial.
He is represented by Ashish Mahendru and Darren Braun of the law firm Mahendru, P.C. in Houston.
Harris County 234th District Court Case No. 2018-61213