Wire Transfer and Business Email Scams: Real Estate Closing Fraud

Some of the largest single losses happen in an instant, when a wire transfer goes to the wrong place. In these scams, criminals quietly take over or imitate an email account, then send realistic instructions that redirect a payment, often a home down payment or closing funds, straight into their own account. By the time anyone notices, the money is gone.

This matters most around big, one-time payments, which older adults often make when buying, selling, or downsizing a home. This guide explains how wire transfer and business email scams work, shows a real example, and gives you a plan to keep large payments safe.

What it is

This scam is often called business email compromise (BEC) or, for homebuyers, real estate wire fraud. A scammer gains access to or spoofs an email account, such as a real estate agent, title company, lawyer, or contractor, then sends payment instructions that look legitimate but route the money to the criminal.

The scam succeeds because it arrives inside a real transaction you are expecting. You are planning to wire money, so an email about where to send it does not seem suspicious.

How it works

1. Criminals monitor or break into an email account involved in a transaction, like a title company or real estate agent.
2. They learn the timing and details of an upcoming payment.
3. At just the right moment, they send realistic wiring instructions, or change existing ones, to redirect the funds.
4. The victim wires the money to the scammer’s account, and it is quickly moved beyond reach.

A common version targets homebuyers near closing, with an email that looks like the title company saying the wire details have “changed.” Another redirects payment of a routine invoice to a new account.

A real example

George and Helen, both in their 70s, are selling their longtime home and downsizing. Days before closing, they get an email that appears to come from their title company, with updated wiring instructions for their proceeds and a friendly note about a “new banking partner.” The email matches the company’s logo and signature. They forward the new details to their bank. The account belonged to a scammer who had been reading the title company’s email. The couple’s home-sale proceeds vanish, and recovering them becomes a race against time.

By the numbers

• Business email compromise is one of the costliest crimes tracked by the FBI, with billions in reported losses each year (FBI IC3).
• Real estate and wire fraud schemes drove about $275 million in reported losses in 2025 (FBI IC3).
• More than 58,000 people reported losing $1.3 billion to real estate fraud between 2019 and 2023 (FBI).

Red flags to watch for

• An email changing or “updating” wire instructions, especially close to a deadline.
• New banking details that differ from what you were originally given.
• Pressure to wire money quickly and confirm only by email.
• Small differences in an email address or domain you do not notice at a glance.
• A request to keep the change quiet or to skip a phone confirmation.

How to protect yourself

1. Always verify wire instructions by calling a known, trusted phone number, never a number from the email.
2. Be suspicious of any last-minute change to payment or wiring details.
3. Confirm in person or by phone before sending large sums, and ask your bank about same-day recall options.
4. Use established, verified professionals, and ask up front how they will communicate wiring details.
5. Reduce exposure of your plans and contacts. Scammers research targets using details from data-broker and people-search sites. Removing your information from those sites, which a privacy or data-removal service can do for you, gives them less to work with.
6. Involve a trusted family member in big transactions, so a second person can help verify before money moves.

If you are looking out for an aging parent, especially one living alone, you can lower their risk before a scammer ever gets through:

• Talk it through. Walk them through this scam in plain terms, and agree on one simple rule: pause and call you before sending money or sharing personal information.
• Reduce their exposure. Much of what scammers use comes from data-broker and people-search sites. A privacy or data-removal service can take their information down and make them harder to find and target.
• Build a safety net. Help them turn on account and transaction alerts, review statements together, and consider being a trusted contact so you can catch trouble early. For large payments like a home sale, ask to be a second set of eyes.

If you’ve already responded

Call your bank immediately and ask them to recall or freeze the wire; speed is everything. Then report it to the FBI at ic3.gov right away, as the FBI’s recovery efforts work best within the first 24 to 72 hours. Also notify the title company, agent, or business whose email was involved, and the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

In the news

• FBI: real estate fraud losses hit $275M in 2025 (HousingWire)
• FBI report: internet crime losses hit a record in 2025 (AARP)

Sources

• FBI: Business Email Compromise
• FTC: What To Know About Mortgage Closing Scams
• FBI IC3: file a report
• FBI IC3: Elder Fraud