Protect Your Closing Money From Wire Fraud
RETURN TO BLOG
Real estate wire fraud targets buyers and sellers at the moment large funds move. A message can look like the title company’s email and still send money to a criminal account.
A Southern Maryland closing may involve a buyer, lender, title company, agents and a seller coordinating from several places. That creates legitimate email traffic, which is exactly what a scammer hopes to imitate. The safest rule is wonderfully unglamorous: verify wire instructions using a trusted phone number obtained before the urgent email arrives.
Dawn’s rule: Separate verified facts from assumptions. Then send each unresolved question to the professional or agency that controls the answer. A good contract strategy does not blur those roles.
Start with the property-specific question
Real estate wire fraud targets buyers and sellers at the moment large funds move. A message can look like the title company’s email and still send money to a criminal account. That distinction matters because buyers and sellers often hear a shorthand answer and treat it as final. A listing description, seller memory, online map or contractor opinion can be useful, but none automatically controls title, financing, insurance, permitting or legal rights.
A Southern Maryland closing may involve a buyer, lender, title company, agents and a seller coordinating from several places. That creates legitimate email traffic, which is exactly what a scammer hopes to imitate. The safest rule is wonderfully unglamorous: verify wire instructions using a trusted phone number obtained before the urgent email arrives. Dawn begins by writing down the client’s intended use, the evidence already available and the deadline for a reliable answer. That prevents research from becoming an open-ended project and keeps the parties focused on what could change price, terms or willingness to proceed.
Records buyers and sellers should collect
Documents usually reveal more than reassurance. Collect the following records early, preserve the original file names and note the source and date. If a record is missing, label it missing. Do not replace it with an assumption.
- Title company engagement and trusted contact list
- Written wire policy obtained through a verified channel
- Closing Disclosure and verified cash-to-close amount
- Bank wire confirmation and reference number
- Copies of suspicious messages and headers if fraud is attempted
- Immediate contact details for the bank, title company, FBI IC3 and local law enforcement
These records should be read together. A permit without a final inspection, a survey without the referenced easement, or an estimate without a defined scope can create false confidence. Dawn builds one shared checklist and tracks who requested each item, when it arrived and which professional still needs to review it.
Local warning signs that deserve a closer look
- An email announces last-minute wire changes
- The sender address differs by one letter or punctuation mark
- The message creates secrecy or extreme urgency
- Instructions direct funds to an unfamiliar name or location
- A phone number appears only inside the suspicious email
- Someone requests financial documents through ordinary email
A warning sign is not proof of a defect, denial or legal violation. It is a reason to slow down and ask a narrower question. The strongest due diligence says, “Here is what we observed, here is the controlling document or agency, and here is the answer we need before this date.”
In Calvert County, rural land, waterfront, private systems and community restrictions often overlap. One professional cannot answer every layer. A contractor may estimate a repair but cannot guarantee lender acceptance. A county employee may explain permits but not interpret a private contract. A Realtor can organize the transaction but does not replace legal, engineering, insurance or tax advice.
Verified rules and practical limits
- CFPB warns that scammers impersonate agents and settlement professionals
- CFPB recommends confirming instructions through trusted contacts and not using email links or numbers
- A Closing Disclosure generally must be received three business days before closing for covered transactions
- Fast contact with the sending bank can improve the chance of a wire recall
- FBI IC3 accepts business-email-compromise reports
- Real estate professionals should use secure systems for sensitive data
These are starting points, not a substitute for a property-specific decision. Programs, forms and underwriting requirements can change. Dawn verifies the current rule with the controlling professional and keeps the written answer with the transaction file.
A practical buyer checklist
- Step 1: Create the trusted contact list before closing week. Put the result in the transaction file and decide whether it changes affordability, intended use or the offer.
- Step 2: Confirm the amount and instructions by calling a known number. Put the result in the transaction file and decide whether it changes affordability, intended use or the offer.
- Step 3: Do not accept changed instructions by email alone. Put the result in the transaction file and decide whether it changes affordability, intended use or the offer.
- Step 4: Review the account name and number verbally. Put the result in the transaction file and decide whether it changes affordability, intended use or the offer.
- Step 5: Save confirmation and notify the title company after sending. Put the result in the transaction file and decide whether it changes affordability, intended use or the offer.
- Step 6: If fraud is suspected, call the bank immediately and report it. Put the result in the transaction file and decide whether it changes affordability, intended use or the offer.
Buyers should prioritize questions that can end the purchase, change the monthly cost or make the planned use impossible. Cosmetic preferences can wait. Title, financing, insurance, safety, legal use and expensive physical conditions cannot. The contract should preserve enough time to receive real answers rather than merely submit requests.
A practical seller checklist
- Seller action 1: Verify how proceeds will be delivered. Early documentation protects credibility and gives the seller more choices.
- Seller action 2: Confirm changes using known contacts. Early documentation protects credibility and gives the seller more choices.
- Seller action 3: Protect email credentials with strong authentication. Early documentation protects credibility and gives the seller more choices.
- Seller action 4: Avoid sending bank information through ordinary email. Early documentation protects credibility and gives the seller more choices.
- Seller action 5: Review the settlement statement and proceeds account. Early documentation protects credibility and gives the seller more choices.
- Seller action 6: Report suspicious messages before responding. Early documentation protects credibility and gives the seller more choices.
Sellers gain leverage by solving uncertainty before a buyer turns it into a worst-case estimate. That does not mean repairing everything or agreeing with every concern. It means describing the property accurately, producing records quickly and understanding the likely cost and timing of any real issue before negotiating.
Related planning: Review When the Market Slows, Prepared Buyers Gain Negotiating Room; Review A 7% Mortgage Rate Does Not Erase Every Buyer Advantage; Review AI Can Clear the Clutter, but It Cannot Replace Your Realtor. These guides are designed to go live together, so the research, financing and negotiation questions connect.
How this issue can affect the transaction
| Area | Possible effect |
|---|---|
| Use | fraud prevention does not affect property use but protects the transaction. |
| Financing | stolen funds can prevent the buyer from closing. |
| Insurance | cyber or crime coverage varies and cannot be assumed. |
| Appraisal | unrelated, though closing delay can outlast appraisal validity. |
| Title | the title company coordinates legitimate settlement disbursement. |
| Marketability | a failed wire can delay or collapse an otherwise ready closing. |
| Seller net | redirected proceeds can cause severe loss and delay. |
| Deadlines | immediate action matters if money is sent incorrectly. |
Not every possible effect will apply. The purpose of the table is to prevent tunnel vision. A buyer may solve a physical concern and still have a lender problem. A seller may agree to a credit and still lack insurable title or carrier approval. Each lane must reach its own answer.
Who should answer each part?
| Professional | What that professional should answer |
|---|---|
| Dawn Riley and the real estate team | Organize documents, identify contract deadlines, coordinate questions, compare offer terms and keep advice from each licensed professional in the correct lane. |
| Title company or real estate attorney | Review recorded instruments, ownership, liens, deed language, settlement charges and legal questions. Only an attorney should give legal advice. |
| Lender and appraiser | Decide loan eligibility, underwriting treatment, valuation requirements and documentation. A real estate agent cannot approve financing or direct an appraisal result. |
| Inspector, engineer or specialty contractor | Evaluate physical conditions within the professional scope and explain repair options. A general home inspection does not replace engineering or environmental review. |
| Insurance producer | Confirm whether coverage is available, what it costs, which exclusions apply and what underwriting records are required. |
Dawn’s job is to make sure the correct question reaches the correct professional before the relevant decision date. She can explain the Maryland contract process, organize evidence and negotiate terms. She will not present a guess as a legal, underwriting, engineering, appraisal, insurance or tax conclusion.
A realistic Southern Maryland transaction example
A buyer receives an email the evening before a Prince Frederick closing saying the wiring account changed. The logo and signature look familiar. Instead of replying, the buyer calls the title company using the number saved from the original engagement. The message is fraudulent. Five minutes of verification protects the buyer’s funds and everyone’s settlement schedule.
This example is illustrative, not a prediction. Property facts, contract language and professional decisions vary. What remains consistent is the method: identify the uncertainty, obtain the controlling evidence, calculate the effect and decide before leverage disappears.
How Dawn organizes the contract and negotiation strategy
Wire safety is not a negotiable courtesy. I establish the verification process early, repeat it before closing and never ask a client to trust changed instructions from an email. If a suspicious message appears, transaction speed becomes secondary to stopping the transfer and contacting the proper institutions.
Dawn Riley brings more than 25 years of Maryland real estate experience, detailed contract knowledge and Master Certified Negotiator training to that process. Her career includes 1,338+ sales and more than $532,653,786 in volume, with average sold-to-list statistics over 101%. Those numbers do not guarantee a result. They support a disciplined approach to pricing, documentation and negotiation.
Common mistakes to avoid
The first mistake is treating a verbal answer as a permanent fact. The second is asking the wrong professional to guarantee an outcome outside that person’s authority. The third is waiting until settlement week, when moving plans, rate locks and emotions make clear decisions harder.
Another mistake is assuming a credit cures everything. Money can address a known cost, but it does not create a permit, change a title right, make a lender approve the loan or force an insurer to issue coverage. The remedy must match the actual problem.
The Bottom Line
Real estate wire fraud targets buyers and sellers at the moment large funds move. A message can look like the title company’s email and still send money to a criminal account. Collect the records, identify the controlling authority, calculate the transaction impact and protect the deadline. Buyers deserve enough evidence to make an informed decision. Sellers deserve a strategy that does not discount the property simply because information was disorganized.
Frequently Asked Questions
Criminals spoof or compromise email and send false instructions that direct closing funds to an account they control.
Treat email as unverified. Confirm the instructions and account details through a trusted phone number or secure process established independently.
Stop. Do not send funds until the title company confirms the change through a known contact and secure procedure.
Review the Closing Disclosure and confirm the final amount with the lender and title company through trusted channels.
The settlement provider and financial institutions control wire instructions. Dawn can reinforce the safety process but should not replace their verification.
Keep the confirmation and contact the title company using the known number to confirm receipt.
Call the bank or wire-transfer service immediately and request a recall. Notify the title company and file a report with FBI IC3 and appropriate law enforcement.
Yes. Compromised accounts can make messages look authentic and include transaction details. That is why independent verification matters.
Yes. Criminals may target sale proceeds or send false change requests. Sellers should verify disbursement instructions and protect account information.
No last-minute change moves money until the responsible provider confirms it through a trusted channel established before the urgent request.
About Dawn Riley
Dawn Riley is an Associate Broker, Realtor, Master Certified Negotiator (MCNE) and Pricing Strategy Advisor (PSA) with The Riley Team at Deep Roots Real Estate in Huntingtown, Maryland. She has more than 25 years of real estate experience and additional negotiation coursework from Yale, Northwestern, UVA, Columbia and UC Davis. Dawn combines strategic pricing, advanced marketing and detailed Maryland contract knowledge for buyers and sellers throughout Calvert County and Southern Maryland.
Career results as of 2026: 1,338+ homes sold, $532,653,786+ in sales volume and average sold-to-list price statistics over 101%, per Bright MLS career production records. Past performance does not guarantee a specific result.
Dawn Riley
Associate Broker, Realtor, MCNE, PSA
The Riley Team at Deep Roots Real Estate
2425 Solomons Island Rd., Suite C, Huntingtown, MD 20639
410-414-2438
dawn@dawnriley.net
Schedule a consultation