Real Estate Wire Fraud Florida

How closing wire fraud actually happens

The scam is simple, which is why it keeps working. A criminal gets into an email account somewhere in the chain: the buyer's, the agent's, the lender's or the title company's. They read the thread quietly for days or weeks, learn the closing date and the amounts, then send a message at the right moment.

• The message looks like it came from the title company, sometimes from an address that differs by one letter.
• It says the wiring instructions have changed, often with a plausible reason: an audit, a new bank, a problem with the old account.
• It attaches a professional-looking PDF with a new account number.
• It creates urgency: wire today or the closing will be delayed.

Once the money lands in the criminal's account, it is usually moved again within hours. Banks can sometimes freeze or recall a wire, but only if they act fast and the money has not already moved.

The verification routine I give every buyer

This takes ten minutes and it is the only part of this page that really matters.

• Get wiring instructions early and in person if you can. At contract, ask the title company how they deliver instructions (secure portal, in-office, or a verbal confirmation process).
• Find the title company's number yourself. Use their official website, the contract, or a number your agent gave you at the start. Never use a phone number from the email containing the instructions.
• Call and read the account details back to them. Bank name, routing number, account number, and the beneficiary name. Confirm the amount.
• Treat any change as fraud until proven otherwise. Title companies almost never change wiring instructions mid-transaction. If you get a change notice, stop and call.
• Send a small test amount only if the title company agrees, then confirm by phone that it arrived before sending the rest.
• Call after the wire is sent to confirm receipt the same day.

I will never send you wiring instructions by email, and neither should your agent. If you get an email that appears to come from me with an account number, call me before doing anything.

Red flags in emails and texts

• Wiring instructions that arrive by email or text instead of through the title company's secure system.
• Any "updated" or "corrected" instructions, especially close to closing.
• Pressure to wire immediately, or a request to keep it confidential.
• A sender address, domain or signature that is slightly off, or a reply-to address that differs from the sender.
• Requests to wire to an individual rather than a title company or law firm escrow account.
• A beneficiary bank in a different state or country from the title company, with no explanation.
• Poor grammar in a message from someone who normally writes cleanly.

None of these is proof alone. Together they are a reason to pick up the phone.

Buyers from out of state and abroad are bigger targets

Many Florida buyers close remotely. Canadians, buyers from other states, and foreign buyers often never meet the title agent and handle everything by email and e-signature. That is normal and safe when the process is solid, but it gives fraudsters more room, because you cannot walk into the office to check.

• Agree on a verification method with the title company at the start, such as a call with a named closer, a portal login, or a video call.
• If you are wiring from a foreign bank, start early. International wires take longer, and you do not want a last-minute rush that makes you skip steps.
• Check whether your bank needs you in a branch or on the phone to approve a large wire, and when cut-off times are.
• Keep your own email secure: unique password, two-factor authentication, and no closing documents sent over public Wi-Fi.

The amounts are larger than many people realize. Statewide, Zillow's typical single-family value is $396,809, and in the costlier counties it is much higher: Miami-Dade at $523,240, Collier at $552,087, Monroe at $962,885. Cash buyers at those levels wire the full price.

If you think you wired money to a scammer

Minutes matter. Do these in this order, the same hour if possible:

• Call your bank's wire or fraud department and ask them to recall the wire and contact the receiving bank. Ask for a reference number.
• File a complaint with the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) and include the wire details. Law enforcement uses those reports to try to freeze funds.
• Call the title company using a number you know is real, so they can stop the closing and alert their underwriter.
• Call your agent and your lender.
• Report to local police and keep copies of every email, with full headers if possible.

Recovery is not guaranteed, and recovery chances fall quickly with time. That is why prevention is the whole game.

Seller impersonation and fake listings

Buyers can also be targeted from the other direction. Scammers impersonate the owner of a property they do not own, most often vacant land or a home owned free and clear by someone who lives elsewhere, and try to sell it. They often push for a fast cash closing, remote notarization and no contact with the agent who actually knows the owner.

• Close through a licensed Florida title company or real estate attorney who verifies the seller's identity.
• Be cautious with listings priced well below the area, with a seller who will not meet or speak on video, or who pressures you to skip an inspection.
• Buy an owner's title policy. It is your protection if the "seller" turns out not to be the owner.

What your title company and agent should already be doing

A good Florida title company will tell you at the start how wiring works, give you a verification phone number in writing, use a secure portal, and warn you that they will never change instructions by email. Ask about all of this when you choose the title company, and if the answers are vague, choose another.

Your agent should keep account numbers out of email entirely and repeat the warning before closing. When you start a search with me through the shortlist form, the wiring conversation happens before you ever see a contract, so nobody is rushing when the money moves.