Fraud Busters: How Near North Title Group is Fighting Fraud with Laughter, Storytelling, and a Little Bit of Theater

Wire fraud doesn’t care about ZIP codes, population size, or where your office sits. Across the country, fraudsters are hard at work finding new ways to exploit real estate closings. But at Near North Title Group, led by Alex Grundhoffer, Allison Rabin, and Pam Butler, that threat is being met with something unexpected: creativity, humor, and a company-wide standing ovation.

Yes, really.

While most title companies conduct annual fraud training or circulate email bulletins when something suspicious happens, Near North has created a recurring event called “Fraud Busters.” Part internal investigation, part creative writing session, and part fifth-grade theater production, this unique initiative turns real fraud attempts into Hollywood-style scripts, complete with character names, dramatic plots, and applause-worthy endings.

Here’s how it works: When a fraud attempt is spotted through technology or by a team member, whether it’s an impersonated seller, a spoofed email, or a suspicious request for wire changes, it gets logged in an internal spreadsheet. But this is no ordinary spreadsheet. This one becomes a scriptwriting sandbox.

A title is created. Characters are cast. The plot is drafted. And during an all-staff meeting, the story is shared with everyone. Not just as a case study, but as a piece of team-driven performance art. Staff listen, laugh, and most importantly, learn.

Why does it work? Because creativity sticks. In a world of constant email alerts and ever-changing cyber threats, Near North’s approach cuts through the noise and keeps everyone engaged. Each fraudster becomes a caricature, each scam becomes a cautionary tale, and each employee walks away more fraud-aware than before.

“Effective fraud prevention requires more than protocols- it demands participation,” says Allison Rabin, Chief Operating Officer of Near North Title Group. “By transforming real incidents into engaging narratives, we ensure our team not only understands the risks but feels personally invested in stopping them.”

Here are just a few “Fraud Buster” titles that have hit the internal stage:

• It’s a Wonderful Lie: He’s 80. He’s FSBO. He’s a truck driver who can’t access a computer and doesn’t know where he’ll be from day to day. Yet somehow… he electronically signed the purchase contract? When the story doesn’t add up, we start asking: Who really signed that document? And what’s hiding behind the wheel of this cross-country con?
  
  
• Dumb and Dumbest: A FSBO deal with a massive earnest money deposit. Emails that sound like they were written by a bot or someone impersonating a human trying to sound like a bot. From beginning to end, this transaction raised red flags and drew belly laughs. But behind the comedy was a serious reminder: even the dumbest attempts can do real damage if we’re not paying attention.
• The Fault in Our Order: A seller undergoing chemo in Houston wins hearts with his warmth and resilience. But as his kindness tugs at our emotions, his physical absence from the transaction raises eyebrows. Is there more to the story than he's letting on? This emotional rollercoaster reminds us: not every heartfelt tale ends the way you’d expect.

“Most people believe scams only happen to others, but never to them.” says Pam Butler, Senior Manager and Application Support at Near North Title Group. “So using this format helps lay out the story and they suddenly realize it could have just as easily happened to them.” 

Each of these dramatizations helps make sense of real threats while fostering a culture where fraud prevention is everyone’s responsibility and nobody zones out during the training.

The ultimate result is a tight collaboration at the intersection of fraud prevention technology and human intuition. “CloseSimple provides the insights we need to finally get proactive in our efforts to combat fraud,” said Alex Grundhoffer, COO at Near North. “And our ability to document and surface fraud attempts early in the process helps our people trust their intuition when things feel off.  We make better decisions when we aren’t pressured near the end of the transaction.” 

Near North Title’s “Fraud Busters” isn’t just an entertaining concept; it’s a reminder that how we train matters just as much as what we teach. By bringing stories to life, they’re proving that the best way to stop fraud might just be with a little applause.

So… what’s your team doing to catch fraud before it catches you?