Wire fraud red flags
Treat any change to wiring instructions as fraud until you have confirmed it by phone, at a number you already had. That habit stops business email compromise, the scheme behind $3.05 billion in losses reported to the FBI in 2025.
How big the problem is
The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center logged $3.05 billion in losses to business email compromise in 2025, from 24,768 complaints, the second-costliest category after investment fraud. Business email compromise is the scheme where a criminal poses as a boss, a vendor, a lawyer or a title company and asks for a wire. IC3 counts home-closing email fraud inside that figure, not under “real estate”.
FinCEN looked at real-estate email fraud reports from 2020 and 2021 and found 2,013 incidents worth $710 million. Criminals most often posed as realtors (23% of the dollars), then title and closing companies (21%). Individual homebuyers were hit out of proportion to their share of transactions.
The red flags
- New or "updated" wiring instructions by email. Especially close to a deadline, and especially when the bank or account name changes.
- An address that is almost right. One letter added, swapped or dropped from a domain you know.
- Urgency or secrecy. "Urgent", "confidential", or timing that leaves you no room to check.
- A known payee, a new account. Someone you have paid before suddenly wants the money somewhere else.
- Wire is "the only way". The FTC's short list: someone you never met in person, a caller claiming to be a government agency, a family emergency call, a prize with fees up front, or a rental deposit by wire.
- A check, then a wire back. You are asked to deposit a check and wire part of it to someone else. The check bounces after the wire has gone.
- A familiar voice asking for money. The FBI now reports AI-written emails that mimic executives and voice-cloned calls. A voice you recognize is not proof.
Before a closing
At the start of the deal, write down your agent’s, your settlement agent’s and your lender’s names and phone numbers. When wiring instructions arrive, call one of those numbers and read back the account name and number. Do not email your financial details. Expect the instructions not to change; if they do, assume fraud.
If you already sent it
- Call your bank’s fraud line now and ask for a wire recall. Have the confirmation with the reference number ready.
- File at ic3.gov the same day. The FBI’s Recovery Asset Team works with banks to freeze money in the receiving account, and speed is what makes that work.
- If you used a money transfer company, call it and ask for a reversal. The FTC lists these numbers: MoneyGram 1-800-926-9400, Western Union 1-800-448-1492, Ria 1-877-443-1399.
- Report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
Sources: FBI IC3 2025 Internet Crime Report; FinCEN, Business Email Compromise in the Real Estate Sector (2023); FinCEN Advisory FIN-2016-A003; FTC, What To Know Before You Wire Money; CFPB, Mortgage closing scams.
Questions people ask
Can a fraudulent wire be reversed?
Sometimes, if you move fast. Call your bank's fraud line and ask for a wire recall, then file at ic3.gov. The FBI says fast reporting gives its Recovery Asset Team the best chance to freeze the money before it moves on.
Is it safe to wire money to a title company?
The wire itself is safe; the instructions are the risk. Confirm the account number by phone, at a number you got at the start of the deal, before you send. Never use a number from the email that carries the instructions.