12/14/2025
🚨 URGENT WARNING: Protect Your Closing Funds from Wire Fraud!
As your dedicated mortgage broker, one of my most crucial responsibilities is helping you secure your home and your finances right up to the closing table.
The threat of wire fraud in real estate is very real and can be financially devastating.
📚 Please, read this entire post and commit this one best practice to memory: NEVER trust wire instructions received via email alone.
📧 The Deception: Spoofed Emails
Cybercriminals are highly sophisticated. They monitor real estate transactions, often hacking into the email accounts of a Realtor, lender, or closing attorney. They then use this information to send you an email that looks 100% legitimate.
They can "spoof" email addresses so the sender name looks correct, but the funds are directed to their account, not the attorney's. These emails often:
Contain subtle misspellings in the sender’s address like Gmal.com instead of .com).
Appear at the last minute, creating a sense of URGENCY.
Provide what look like the official wiring instructions for your down payment or closing costs.
📞 Your Best Defense: The Call-Back
The single most effective action you can take to prevent this scam is the Call-Back Verification to your attorney.
BEST PRACTICE:
If you receive any email with wire instructions, or an email notifying you of a change to existing instructions, ✋️ STOP.
DO NOT REPLY to that email.
Look up the closing attorney's or title company's phone number from a trusted source (their official website, a previous closing document, or your loan officer). Do NOT use a phone number provided in the suspicious email.
📲 Call your attorney's office directly and verbally confirm every detail:
The bank name.
The ABA Routing Number.
The Account Number.
The exact amount to be wired.
Comment "Best Practice" to get my free First-Time Homebuyers ebook.