Payment security · Time-critical response
How to avoid mortgage closing wire fraud
A convincing message can use real transaction details and still redirect closing funds. Build the verification channel before the urgent request arrives.
The short answer
Treat every new or changed closing-payment instruction as unverified until you confirm it through a trusted channel established independently of the message. Never use that message's links, reply address, attachment, or phone number to verify itself. If a suspected fraudulent transfer was sent, contact the sending bank and legitimate settlement party immediately, request an attempted recall or hold, preserve evidence, and report it promptly.
01 · Impersonation
The fraudulent message may look like part of the real transaction
CFPB and FBI guidance describes criminals impersonating real-estate, settlement, title, or legal participants and sending last-minute payment changes. A mailbox may be compromised, or a similar-looking address may be used. Correct names, property details, signatures, and timing do not prove that the destination account belongs to the legitimate recipient.
02 · Prepare before closing
Record trusted contact details before wiring instructions arrive
Identify the people authorized to confirm payment details and save their phone numbers from an independent source—such as an in-person meeting, signed engagement document, or verified official website. Ask how genuine instructions will be delivered, whether changes are ever made by email, and whether the parties can use a prearranged code phrase.
03 · Stop on change
Urgency and changed destinations require fresh verification
Stop if an email or call changes the bank, account, payment method, recipient, amount, or timing. Do not reply, click, open an attachment, or call a number supplied in that communication. Start a separate contact using the trusted number already recorded and ask the legitimate party to read back the complete instructions.
A criminal with mailbox access may reply inside a genuine conversation. Verification must leave the potentially compromised channel.
04 · Before release
Match the recipient, account, amount, and settlement calculation
Compare the requested amount with the final cash-to-close calculation and verify the beneficiary's legal name and every bank detail. Ask the bank what confirmation and fraud contacts are available. After sending, contact the legitimate settlement agent through the trusted channel and confirm actual receipt; a transfer confirmation proves sending, not receipt by the intended party.
- Trusted settlement-agent and real-estate contacts recorded before closing
- Recipient legal name, bank name, routing number, account number, and reference
- Payment amount and the matching final cash-to-close calculation
- Whether any instruction changed and who independently confirmed the change
- The independently sourced phone number used for confirmation
- A verbal read-back of the complete destination and amount
- The bank's fraud contact and cutoff time before money is sent
- Written transfer confirmation and settlement-agent receipt confirmation
05 · Time-critical response
If money was sent, contact the financial institution immediately
Tell the sending bank or wire company that the transfer may be fraudulent and ask it to attempt a recall, hold, or contact with the receiving bank. Obtain a case number and follow its instructions. Notify the legitimate title or settlement party through the trusted channel, then submit a report to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center and follow applicable local law-enforcement and regulator guidance. Do not wait for email confirmation.
06 · Preserve the trail
Save records without continuing the suspicious conversation
Preserve the original messages, headers, attachments, transfer details, call notes, and complaint numbers. Avoid forwarding or editing the only copy if that may strip metadata. Give sensitive evidence only through a channel provided by the bank, law enforcement, counsel, or another verified recipient—not through contact details in the suspicious message.
- Original and changed instructions with full message headers where available
- Names, phone numbers, dates, times, and notes from every verification call
- Bank transfer receipt, confirmation number, and beneficiary details
- Final Closing Disclosure and settlement statement
- Bank fraud-case, recall, or hold reference number
- FBI IC3 complaint confirmation and other law-enforcement report numbers
- Related emails, texts, voicemails, attachments, and screenshots preserved without alteration
07 · Recovery limits
A recall request is urgent, but recovery is not guaranteed
Electronic transfers can move quickly and may be difficult to reverse. Neither a report nor a recall request guarantees that funds will return. The prevention step is therefore operational: establish trusted contacts, independently verify every instruction and change, and confirm receipt. This guide is general fraud-prevention information, not legal advice.
08 · Official guidance