Wire Fraud Is the Biggest Threat to Your Closing — Here's How to Stay Safe

If you're buying or selling a home, there's a threat you need to know about — and it has nothing to do with interest rates, inspections, or appraisals. Wire fraud targeting real estate transactions has become one of the fastest-growing forms of cybercrime in the country, costing victims hundreds of millions of dollars every year.

According to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center, real estate wire fraud accounted for over $446 million in reported losses in a single year. The average loss per victim exceeds $100,000 — often representing a family's life savings or the entire proceeds of a home sale. Texas is consistently among the most targeted states.

The most common scheme is called Business Email Compromise, or BEC. Here's how it works: a criminal gains access to the email account of someone involved in a real estate transaction — an agent, a lender, or an attorney. They monitor the conversation quietly, learning the details of an upcoming closing. Then, just before closing day, they send a convincing email with altered wiring instructions. The buyer, expecting to receive wiring details around that time, sends their funds to the criminal's account. Within hours, the money is moved offshore and is nearly impossible to recover.

Understanding how these scams work is the first step toward protecting yourself. The more familiar you are with the tactics criminals use, the better equipped you are to spot something that doesn't look right.

But the best defense starts with you. Always verify wiring instructions by calling your title company directly using a number from their website — not from the email you received. Never send funds based solely on emailed instructions. And if anything feels off — a last-minute change, a sense of urgency, a slightly different email address — stop and call. A legitimate title company will never pressure you to wire quickly.

We've put together a comprehensive Wire Fraud Prevention Guide that covers how these scams work, the red flags to watch for, and what to do if you suspect fraud. We encourage every buyer and seller to read it before their closing.