Wire Fraud During Real Estate Closings: What to Know

Wire Fraud Is the Fastest-Growing Real Estate Crime

Wire fraud during real estate closings has become one of the most devastating financial crimes affecting home buyers in the DFW metro and across the country. The scheme is straightforward but effective: criminals hack into email accounts of real estate agents, title companies, or mortgage lenders, monitor communications for upcoming closings, and then send the buyer spoofed wiring instructions that route the down payment to a criminal-controlled account. The FBI reports that real estate wire fraud losses exceeded $446 million nationally in 2025. In DFW alone, the North Texas Real Estate Information Systems (NTREIS) has documented dozens of cases where buyers lost their entire down payment, typically $30,000 to $100,000 or more. What makes this crime particularly cruel is that once a wire transfer is sent to the wrong account, the money is usually moved within minutes and is almost never recovered. Victims are left without their life savings and still owe the full purchase amount.

Be alert for these signs that wire instructions may be fraudulent:

• Wiring instructions arrive via email, especially with urgency to send immediately
• The bank name, routing number, or account number differs from what was previously provided
• Instructions include a last-minute change to a different bank or account
• The email address is slightly different from the known contact (e.g., one letter changed)
• You receive a phone call confirming wiring instructions you did not request
• The message pressures you to complete the transfer before end of business or the deal falls through
• Instructions ask you to wire to a personal account rather than a business account
• The title company or lender does not confirm instructions when you call their published number

How These Attacks Work in Practice

Wire fraud attacks targeting DFW closings typically begin weeks before the scheduled closing date. Criminals use phishing emails or credential-stuffing attacks to gain access to email accounts at real estate brokerages, title companies, or lenders. Once inside, they silently monitor email threads related to upcoming transactions. They note the closing date, down payment amount, and the names of all parties involved. On the day of closing, or one to two days before, the criminal sends an email that appears to come from the title company, providing new wiring instructions. The email often includes the correct transaction details, the right names, and even the exact dollar amount, making it nearly indistinguishable from a legitimate communication. A couple in McKinney nearly lost $87,000 when they received instructions from what appeared to be their title company email. The only thing that saved them was calling the title company directly using the phone number from the company website, not the number in the email, and discovering the instructions were fraudulent.

Protecting Your Down Payment

Take these precautions to prevent wire fraud during your closing:

• Never accept wiring instructions solely by email, regardless of who it appears to come from
• Call your title company using the phone number from their official website to verbally confirm all wire details
• Ask your title company and agent to enable multi-factor authentication on their email accounts
• Request that your title company use a secure portal for transmitting wire instructions
• Verify the recipient bank name, account number, and routing number matches the title company name
• If anything changes at the last minute, stop and verify by phone before sending any money
• Consider using a cashier's check as an alternative to wiring for closing funds
• Report suspicious emails immediately to your agent, title company, and the FBI's IC3 at ic3.gov

If you are buying a home in DFW, use TruReport to verify the property details before closing. Our TruVerified system cross-references county records, tax data, and listing information so you can confirm you are buying a real property from the actual owner. While we cannot verify wire instructions directly, confirming the property and ownership details is an important layer of protection in any real estate transaction.