In the days before closing, scammers send convincing emails that appear to come from your title company, your agent, or your lender — with new wire instructions. Buyers wire their down payment to a fraudulent account, and the money is gone within hours. The FBI tracked $446 million in real estate wire fraud last year. The crime is preventable in one phone call.
The Most Common Scam
Days before closing, you receive an email that looks like it's from your title company. The email has the right logos, mentions your file by name, and says "due to a banking change, please wire your funds to this new account." It includes account and routing numbers. You wire the money. It clears within hours into a fraudster's account, gets moved offshore, and is essentially unrecoverable.
The compromise is usually an earlier-stage email account hack — your agent's, your title company's, or even yours. The scammer reads your real emails and waits for the right moment to inject fraudulent instructions.
The One-Step Defense
Before sending ANY wire, pick up the phone and call the title company at a number you find INDEPENDENTLY — from their website, a previous voicemail, or your agent. Do NOT use the number from the email with the wire instructions. Confirm the account number, routing number, and amount over the phone. Five minutes of paranoia saves your entire down payment.
Other Red Flags
- Instructions arriving late in the process (week of closing)
- Urgency or pressure ("must wire today!")
- Slight email-address variations (titlcompany.com vs titlecompany.com)
- New wire instructions different from what you saw earlier
- Phone numbers in the email that you haven't used before
- Bank name or location that doesn't match the title company's region
If You Suspect Fraud
Speed matters. The first 24 hours after a fraudulent wire is when the FBI and your bank have any chance of recovering the money. Call your bank's fraud line immediately, file an FBI IC3 report at ic3.gov, and call the FBI's real estate wire fraud hotline. After 48–72 hours, the funds are usually gone for good.
Cashier's Check as Alternative
If your closing amount is under $50,000, ask whether the title company accepts a cashier's check instead of a wire. Many do. Cashier's checks are nearly as fast and eliminate the wire-fraud vector entirely. For larger amounts, wires are almost always required.
The single phone call to verify wire instructions — using an independent number — is the cheapest insurance policy in real estate. Never wire without that call. Never trust new instructions that arrive by email alone.
