Days before closing, you get an email or text that looks like your title company, escrow officer, realtor, or lender. It says wiring instructions changed - new bank, new account number, “updated” ABA routing, or a rush to wire today or lose the rate lock. You send tens or hundreds of thousands from Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, or your credit union. The money leaves. The real escrow office never saw it.
This guide is fraud education only. It does not compare mortgage rates, lenders, or loan products. For reading the fees and cash-to-close on the official form, use How to read a Closing Disclosure. Broader money traps: Credit and debt scams. Email takeover patterns: Phishing and account takeover.
How the play works
| Step | What you see | What is going on |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Email from a look-alike domain (titleco-escrow.com vs the real firm) or a hacked realtor thread | Business email compromise or spoofing |
| 2 | “New wire instructions - ignore the prior PDF” | Attackers need you to overwrite the verified account |
| 3 | Urgency: same-day funding, “seller will walk,” “lock expires at 5 p.m.” | Pressure to skip a phone callback |
| 4 | You wire to the new account | Funds move fast; recalls often fail |
| 5 | Real title/escrow calls: money never arrived | Loss discovery |
Wires are treated like cash. Marketplace “wire me for the couch” cons are a smaller cousin: Fake Craigslist wire scams. Fake-check overpayment is a different instrument with the same irreversible-send ending: Fake overpayment check scams.
Hard rules before any closing wire
- Treat any change to wiring instructions as fraud until proven otherwise - especially last-minute changes.
- Call the title/escrow company using a number from the original engagement letter, Closing Disclosure package, or the firm’s official website - not a number in the suspicious email or text.
- Confirm account name, account number, routing number, and benefiting bank out of band (voice call you placed).
- Prefer in-person verification at the title office when your state and transaction allow it.
- Do not trust “updated” PDFs attached to email alone; attackers forge letterhead.
Mortgage escrow accounts that hold taxes and insurance after you own the home are a different topic: How escrow works for homeowners.
Worked example: the $87,400 “updated” wire
Priya is buying a condo. Two days before closing she emails her title officer at First American (or a local independent escrow) to confirm wiring details. That afternoon she gets a reply - same thread style - with a new Bank of America account and a note that the prior Wells Fargo instructions were “retired for security.” The message urges a same-day wire so funding clears.
Priya almost sends $87,400. Instead she hangs up on the email, googles the escrow firm’s main number, and calls. The real officer says instructions never changed. The “reply” came from a look-alike domain. Priya wires only after voice confirmation of the original account. No loss.
If she had trusted the email PDF, the wire recall window would likely have closed before anyone noticed.
If you already wired to a bad account
- Call your bank’s wire fraud / recall desk immediately (number on your statement or bank site). Ask for a recall and a fraud report number.
- Call the real title/escrow officer and your closing attorney or realtor so they document the attempt.
- File at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and consider an IC3.gov report for larger losses.
- Preserve the full email headers, PDFs, and text threads.
- If account logins or identity documents were also exposed, follow rebuild steps after identity theft and consider freezes at Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.
Checklist
- No closing wire goes out until you voice-verify instructions with a number you already trust.
- Last-minute “new account” emails are a default deny.
- Compare the CD cash-to-close figure to what you intend to send; unexplained jumps deserve a pause (Closing Disclosure reading guide).
- Never use contact details only from the suspect message.
- Report near-misses; title firms and banks use patterns to warn others.
After you own the home, a real servicing transfer still never requires gift cards or surprise wires - borrower notice and payment-routing basics: Mortgage servicing transfers.
Educational only. Not legal, real-estate, or fraud-recovery advice. Not mortgage or rate advice. Wire and escrow practices vary by state and firm; verify every instruction through official channels.