Overview
Wire fraud targets real estate closings specifically because large sums move at a predictable point in the transaction, making it one of the more costly scams buyers and sellers can fall for. Scammers impersonate your agent, lender, or title company using near-identical email addresses, then send convincing wire instructions diverting your closing funds to a fraudulent account. Knowing who's actually involved in your transaction, verifying instructions by phone before wiring anything, and treating "urgent" last-minute changes with suspicion are the core defenses.
How Wire Fraud Happens
Scammers target the email accounts of people involved in a real estate transaction and send convincing wire instruction emails, sometimes following up with a phone call pretending to need identity verification. Their goal is simple: redirect the funds you're about to wire into a fraudulent account instead.
The scammer typically claims to be your agent, lender, or title company, often using an email address that closely resembles the real one. In practice, your agent almost never sends wiring instructions directly — that typically comes from the lender or a third-party title company, which is worth knowing so you can spot an out-of-place request.
If you receive a suspicious email, don't click any links or reply directly. Call your agent, lender, or title company using a number you already have on file to confirm.
How to Spot and Avoid It
Know who's actually involved in your transaction — your agent, lender, and title company — and save their real contact information before you're deep into closing. This makes it much easier to spot something off.
Check the sending email address carefully. A scammer's address often looks nearly identical to the real one, with a subtle difference.
Example: The closing agent's real email might be janedoe@titleco.com. A fraudulent version might come from janedoe@gmail.com or janedoetitleco@gmail.com — small differences that are easy to miss at a glance.
Whenever you receive wire instructions, call to confirm them using a number from the company's official website or a contact you've already been communicating with — never a number provided in the email itself.
Be wary of any "urgent" last-minute pressure to act quickly and send money. Legitimate last-minute changes do happen in real estate closings, but they should come with advance notice from your agent, lender, or closing agent, not sudden pressure to wire funds immediately.
Scammers may also call directly requesting personal details, so keep the phone numbers of everyone involved in your transaction saved, and treat unfamiliar numbers claiming to be one of these parties with caution.
