The Day After November 21, 2023November 22, 2023 But first: A fellow investor wired $50,000 to help fund a private venture and — being appropriately cautious — first wired just $10 to be sure the wire instructions were correct. “Did you get the $10?” he emailed the company. “We did, thanks,” they emailed back. So he sent the other $49,990. When I reviewed the email chain some weeks later I noticed that the English in the email that accompanied the wire instructions was just a tiny bit off — only a stickler like me might have noticed — and the receiving bank was in . . . Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which bore no relation to the business of the venture. But my fellow investor was new to this company, and having had his $10 wire confirmed, what was there left to worry about? Everything, as you’ve doubtless guessed. Somehow, a Russian or Nigerian — or Louisianian — had hacked into the recipient’s email to the extent that he or she was able not merely to send the bogus wire instructions, to intercept the email asking whether the $10 had been received. For years, banks have warned people to “verify the wire instructions verbally” to avoid being scammed. I have generally ignored that advice. Not anymore! If you’re wiring to someone new, take the trouble to call and verify the numbers over the phone. (And be sure you’re calling the actual intended recipient, not a phone number in Baton Rouge set up for the purpose of scamming you.) And while we’re on the subject of scams, be careful when you buy fine art. I never have . . . I buy toilet paper by the case when it’s on sale . . . but I was at a fundraiser Sunday night hosted in a home filled with astonishing art . . . including what appeared to be, to even my untrained eye, an Old Master. “It that . . . a Rembrandt?” I asked. “It was a Rembrandt,” the host concurred. “It was a Rembrandt? You mean it turned out to be a fake?” “Yes. The buyer before me paid $2o million.” “And then it was discredited?” “Yes.” “Oh, wow.” “And I got it for $17,500.” Coulda fooled me. And now, having perhaps saved you $50,000 or even $20 million (how many websites can boast that without charging a subscription fee or serving up footwear ads?) something important: Jared Kushner, Arab and Israeli officials outline day-after solutions for the first time since the Oct. 7 attacks at Yale’s Middle East Peace Dialogue Worth reading in full.