Protect Your Closing Funds
Wire Fraud Prevention
Real estate transactions are frequent targets of wire fraud. A few simple verification steps can help protect your funds before closing.
Understanding the Risk
How Real Estate Wire Fraud Happens
Criminals may impersonate a title company, closing agent, lender, real estate agent, buyer, or seller. They may use compromised email accounts, look-alike email addresses, or fraudulent documents to convince someone to send funds to an unauthorized account.
Fraudulent messages can appear to be part of a legitimate transaction, sometimes including accurate names, property information, and closing details.
Our policy is to have customers independently verify wiring instructions. Purvis & Company Title does not change previously verified wire instructions by ordinary email.
Three Essential Steps
Protect Your Funds Before Sending a Wire
01
Verify by Phone
Call our office using a telephone number you independently verified before receiving wiring instructions.
Do not rely on the phone number provided in an unexpected email.
02
Confirm Every Detail
Confirm the receiving bank, account information, intended recipient, and applicable instructions with authorized closing staff.
03
Question Every Change
Treat unexpected changes, unusual urgency, or requests to redirect closing funds as potential fraud.
Stop and independently verify before acting.
Common Warning Signs
- An unexpected email claims that wiring instructions have changed.
- A message asks you to send money to a different person, bank, or account.
- A sender uses an email address that closely resembles a known contact.
- You are told the closing will fail unless funds are wired immediately.
- Someone discourages you from calling the title company to verify information.
- Instructions arrive through an unfamiliar payment link, text message, or attachment.
Even a message appearing in an existing email conversation could be fraudulent if a participant's account has been compromised.
Before You Send Closing Funds
- Obtain wiring instructions through an approved, verified channel.
- Call our office at a previously verified phone number.
- Confirm the recipient, bank, and account details with authorized staff.
- Verify any unexpected instruction or change independently.
- Review the transaction details before authorizing the transfer.
- Keep a copy of the verified instructions and your bank confirmation.
Remember: A wire transfer may be difficult or impossible to reverse once funds have been sent.
Suspected Fraud
What to Do If You Sent Money to the Wrong Account
Act immediately. Recovery becomes more difficult as time passes.
- Contact your bank immediately. Explain that the transfer may be fraudulent and request an urgent wire recall or fraud intervention.
- Contact Purvis & Company Title. Use a previously verified telephone number, not a phone number from the suspicious message.
- Report the incident. You may report internet-enabled fraud to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).
- Preserve evidence. Save emails, messages, transfer confirmations, and any suspicious instructions.
- Follow your bank's instructions. Your bank may request additional information to investigate and seek recovery.
Reporting an incident promptly does not guarantee recovery of funds.
Secure Communication Matters
Protecting your transaction involves more than wire instructions.
Do not send Social Security numbers, employer identification numbers, passwords, or financial account credentials through general website chat or ordinary email.
Use the secure form or communication method provided for your transaction. If you are unsure how to transmit information safely, contact our office through a verified channel.
For privacy inquiries, email notice@purvisco.com. Do not include sensitive credentials in that message.
