A buyer in a hurry to leave the platform
Someone keen to move to email, a phone call or a video call before signing anything, often with flattery or a deadline. The aim is to get the business's name, its figures or your personal details outside any agreement.
- What NextOwner does
- Phone numbers, email addresses, links and messenger names are hidden in messages, in both directions, until the seller approves the buyer's access. A buyer signs the NDA before they can ask for access, and the seller sees the buyer's profile before deciding.
- What you can do
- Keep the conversation on NextOwner until you have approved access. If someone keeps pushing, decline, block the conversation or report it.
An email asking for a “verification fee”
A message that claims to come from NextOwner, a lender or the other side's adviser, asking you to pay to verify a listing, unlock a buyer or release funds. It may ask for a wire, a gift card or cryptocurrency.
- What NextOwner does
- Buyers pay NextOwner nothing. The seller fees are the ones on our pricing, and we never ask for them by email, text or chat. A message on NextOwner that asks for money, bank details or a sign-in code is held back and never reaches the other person.
- What you can do
- Do not pay, and do not use the link in the message. Open NextOwner yourself and check your account there.
Changed wire instructions near closing
Just before closing, an email that seems to come from the attorney, the escrow agent or the other side says the bank details have changed. Money sent to a fraudster's account is very hard to get back.
- What NextOwner does
- NextOwner never holds, routes or releases purchase money, and never sends wire instructions. Any wire instructions that appear to come from NextOwner are fake.
- What you can do
- Before sending money, call your attorney or escrow agent on a phone number you already had, not one from the email, and confirm the account details out loud.
Attachments that carry malware
A file or a file-sharing link, described as financials, an NDA or a letter of intent, that installs something harmful or asks you to sign in before you can see it.
- What NextOwner does
- Messages on NextOwner cannot carry files. Documents are shared only through the data room. Uploads are checked as they arrive: photos are rebuilt from scratch, and PDFs that contain scripts or passwords are refused.
- What you can do
- Do not open deal documents that arrive by email. Ask for them in the data room instead.