Wire Fraud Protection

The riskiest moment of your closing is the wire.

Criminals target real estate closings on purpose. It’s the one day an ordinary person moves an extraordinary amount of money to someone they’ve mostly emailed with — and the thieves know the calendar as well as you do.

Wire fraud is common in real estate, and it works because the fake instructions look exactly like the real ones. So we treat wire security as part of the closing itself, not a disclaimer at the bottom of an email. Here’s precisely how the scam runs, and precisely how we stop it.

Know the pattern

How the scam actually works

There’s no hacking montage. Someone quietly reads the emails in a transaction — yours, your agent’s, your lender’s, anyone’s — and waits. They learn the names, the property address, the closing date, the way everyone writes. Then, at the exact right moment, they send one email that looks completely normal.

A familiar name, a fake mailbox. The message appears to come from your agent, your attorney, or us. The display name is right. The address underneath is off by a character, or the reply-to quietly points somewhere else.
Wiring instructions that "changed." New bank, new account number, same friendly tone. Often it arrives a day or two before closing — attached to a real thread, with real details, referencing your real property.
Pressure disguised as helpfulness. Send it today. The bank needs it before 3. We don't want to delay your closing. Urgency is the tool that stops people from picking up the phone.
Money that doesn't come back. A wire is not a check and not a credit card charge. Once it lands, it is pulled out and moved within hours. Recovery is possible sometimes, but only sometimes, and only if you move immediately.

Talk to us before you send anything

Your defense

Four steps that stop wire fraud

Half of this is on us. Half of it is on you, and it takes about ninety seconds. Do these four things and this crime becomes very hard to commit against your transaction.

Get your instructions from a person, not an inbox

We will walk you through your wiring instructions directly, and we'll tell you what to expect before closing week gets loud. If instructions reach you some other way — an unexpected email, a text, a PDF from a name you half-recognize — treat them as unverified until you've heard them from us.

Reach our team

Verify by phone, on a number you already had

Call us at (732) 895-5137 and read the account number back out loud, digit by digit. Use the number on this website or one you saved earlier — never the number printed in the email you're checking. A spoofed email comes with a spoofed phone number, and the person who answers will be very reassuring.

Never trust a change of instructions

This is the big one. Our wiring instructions do not change mid-transaction. If you receive an email announcing new banking details, a corrected account, or an updated routing number, it is a red flag every single time — no exceptions, no matter how convincing the thread looks. Stop and call us.

Confirm the money landed

After your bank sends the wire, call us and confirm we received it. Don't wait for someone to email you a thank-you. That one call closes the gap between "sent" and "safe," and if anything went wrong it buys you the hours that actually matter.

One rule

Call before you wire. Every time. No exceptions.

(732) 895-5137

Straight answers

Wire fraud questions we get every week

Can't find your question? Ask us directly — a real person answers.

I just got an email with changed wiring instructions. What do I do?

Don't reply, don't forward it to anyone else in the transaction, and don't send money. Call us at (732) 895-5137 using the number on this page.Assume it's fraudulent until we tell you otherwise — that's not paranoia, that's the correct default. Legitimate instruction changes essentially don't happen in our closings, and the cost of one phone call is nothing compared to the alternative.

Would SmoothTitle ever email me new wire instructions?

No. If you ever see an email that appears to be from us announcing updated banking details, new account numbers, or a different receiving bank, it did not come from us.Forward nothing, click nothing, and call us. We'd much rather field a false alarm than take that call after the money is gone.

I think I already sent a wire to the wrong place. How fast do I need to move?

Immediately — as in, right now, before you finish reading this.Call your bank first and ask them to initiate a wire recall or SWIFT indemnity request. Then call us. Then report it to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov and to your local police.Speed is the whole game. Funds are sometimes frozen when the fraud is caught within hours, and rarely when it's caught days later. Don't spend the morning being embarrassed — this scam fools careful, intelligent people constantly. Make the calls.

Is my personal information safe with you?

Yes, and we're deliberate about it. We limit what we collect to what a closing actually requires, we share your details only with the parties who need them to close your file, and we use secure channels rather than plain email for sensitive documents and numbers.We'll also never ask you for a Social Security number, a full account number, or a password over an email reply. If something claiming to be us asks for that, it isn't us.

Closing soon? Let's get your wire right.

Ninety seconds on the phone is the difference between a smooth closing and a very bad year. Call us before you send a dollar — we'd rather have that conversation ten times than miss it once. Chart the safe route with us and enjoy the day you've earned.

Call (732) 895-5137 Order Title