Wire Fraud Prevention

How real estate wire fraud works

Cybercriminals compromise an email account somewhere in the closing chain — the buyer, the Realtor, the lender, or occasionally a title company employee. They sit in that inbox silently for weeks, learning the transaction details, closing date, and dollar amounts. At the critical moment, they send an email that looks exactly like it came from the title company, containing new or “updated” wire instructions. The fraudulent wire goes to the criminal's account, and the money is typically untraceable within 24–72 hours.

The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center reported over $446 million in real estate wire fraud losses in 2022 alone — and that figure is believed to represent less than half of actual losses, as many victims never report. The median individual loss was just over $50,000.

What we will never, ever do

• We will never send wire instructions by email. Ever. Period.
• We will never change wire instructions after they have been sent. If you get an email claiming we did, it is fraud.
• We will never ask you to wire funds to a personal account or any account not in the name of “SentryTitle” or an associated escrow account.
• We will never ask for your Social Security Number, date of birth, or banking credentials by email.
• We will never rush you to wire funds. Urgency is a fraud red flag. Legitimate closings have deadlines, but they do not require panic wires.

How to verify wire instructions safely

1. Always call our main number: (210) 555-1656 before initiating a wire. Use this number only — not any number contained in an email.
2. Ask to speak with your assigned escrow officer by name. Verify they are who they say they are.
3. Read the wire instructions back to them over the phone. Every digit.
4. If anything has changed from what you were given at the start of the transaction, assume fraud until proven otherwise.
5. After wiring, call us again to confirm receipt. Do not trust an email confirmation.

How we protect you

Our internal wire-fraud prevention protocols meet or exceed the ALTA Best Practices framework:

If you think you have been a victim

Time is everything. Take these steps within the first 24 hours:

1. Call your bank immediately and ask for a “Swift Recall.” If initiated within hours, wire recalls have a meaningful success rate.
2. Call SentryTitle at (210) 555-1656. If you are or were a client, we can help coordinate with banks and law enforcement.
3. File a report at the FBI's IC3: www.ic3.gov. This is the central database used to track and sometimes recover fraud losses.
4. File a report with local law enforcement and get a police report number — you will need it for any bank recall process.
5. Contact the Texas Attorney General's consumer protection division and the Federal Trade Commission.