Co-Op Buyer's Lawsuit: Online Scammers Hacked Into My Lawyer's Unsecure Email System, Then Used Information From Pilfered Communications To Hijack My $2 Million Purchase Deposit

In New York City, the New York Post reports:

• A former Lehman Brothers executive unwittingly wired a $2 million deposit for a $20 million Manhattan apartment to cyber criminals — and now he’s blaming his real estate attorney and her vulnerable AOL email address for the breach.
  
  Robert Millard, who was a managing director at Lehman and now runs the private investment firm Realm Partners, and his wife Bethany Millard hired Long Island lawyer Patricia Doran to help them buy a co-op last year.
  
  While in contract, Doran’s email was hacked and the cyber criminals intercepted communications about the purchase, according to the Millards’ Manhattan civil suit.
  
  Posing as Doran the hackers sent the Millards wire transfer instructions to a bank that purportedly belonged to the seller. They wired $1.938 million to the TD Bank account.
  
  Doran received a confirmation email from the “sellers’ attorney” that she forwarded to her clients, yet no one noticed that the lawyer’s name was spelled incorrectly, the suit says.
  
  TD Bank discovered the breach and Millards was eventually able to recover all but $200,000 of his deposit, the suit says. They blames Doran for the debacle, saying she didn’t use a “two factor identification” system to protect her email or switch to a more secure provider.
  
  They’re suing to recoup the $200,000 plus additional damages.

Source: My realtor’s email was hacked and I’m out $2M: exec’s suit.