Real Estate Wire Fraud: How Indiana Buyers Protect Their Closing Money

Of all the things that can go wrong in a home purchase, this is the one I warn every buyer about before they are even under contract.

Wire fraud does not look like a scam. It looks like a normal email from your title company, a day or two before closing, with updated wiring instructions and a polite note to send funds today.

Here is how it works, the red flags, and the simple habits that protect your money.

Why home buyers are a target

A home purchase brings together several things a criminal wants: a large sum of money, a deadline, a lot of emails between people who do not know each other well, and a buyer who has never done this before or has not done it in years.

The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center has warned that business email compromise schemes target every participant in real estate deals, including buyers, sellers, agents, attorneys, and title companies. Once someone gets into an email account involved in a sale, they can watch the conversation quietly and time a fake payment request for the moment it looks most natural.

That is why the timing feels so real. The criminal knows your closing date because they read the same emails you did.

How the scam usually unfolds

The pattern is familiar to anyone who works closings.

A buyer receives an email that appears to come from the title company, the lender, or their agent. The name is right, the logo is right, the tone is right. The message says the wiring instructions have changed, or provides instructions for the first time, often with a little urgency about getting funds in before a deadline.

The email address may differ by one letter from the real one. The phone number in the signature goes to the criminal. The bank account is controlled by someone who will move the money out within hours.

By the time the real title company asks where the funds are, the money may already be gone.

Red flags to watch for

• Any change to wiring instructions. Legitimate companies very rarely change their bank account in the middle of a transaction.
• Urgency. "Send today or the closing will be delayed" is pressure designed to stop you from checking.
• A slightly different email address. Look at the actual address, not just the display name. One swapped letter or a different domain ending is enough.
• A request to keep it quiet or to reply only by email.
• A phone number you have never seen before in the signature block.
• A receiving bank in a different state or a name on the account that does not match the title company.

Any one of these is a reason to stop and call before you send a dollar.

The verification habit that protects you

This is the single most important thing in this article. Before you wire any money, call the title company at a phone number you found yourself.

Use the number from the title company's official website, or from paperwork you received at the start of the transaction, or the number your agent gave you in person. Never use a phone number, link, or contact from the email that contains the instructions. If that email is fake, its phone number is fake too.

When you call, read the account and routing numbers back and confirm the amount. It takes five minutes, and it is the best five minutes of your whole closing.

I tell my buyers this at our first meeting, again when they deliver earnest money, and again the week of closing. Earnest money is often the first wire in a transaction, which is why I covered the same warning in earnest money in Indiana explained.

Other habits worth building

Ask about your title company's process early. Many title companies send instructions through a secure portal and state in writing that they will never change instructions by email. Know their process before closing week.

Confirm with your bank, too. When you initiate the wire, ask your bank whether the receiving account name matches the title company. Some banks can flag a mismatch.

Call to confirm receipt. After you send it, call the title company, again at a number you trust, and confirm the funds arrived.

Protect your own email. Use a strong, unique password and two-factor authentication on the account you use for your purchase. Do not send bank login details, account numbers, or copies of your ID by regular email.

Keep your circle small. Every person copied on closing emails is another inbox that could be compromised. Share details with family by phone instead.

Watch for it on the way out, too. If you are selling a home at the same time, your proceeds can be a target as well. Confirm by phone how and where your sale proceeds will be sent, and be suspicious of any email asking you to change the account.

What your agent and title company will and will not do

It helps to know the ground rules, because they make a fake request easier to spot.

I will never email you wiring instructions, and I will never ask you to send money to an account I chose. Instructions come from the title company, through the process they explained to you at the start. If an email that looks like it came from me asks you to wire funds, call me on the number you already have before you do anything.

A good title company will be glad you called to verify. If anyone on the other end of the phone seems annoyed that you are double-checking, that is one more reason to slow down.

If you are closing from out of state

Relocating buyers are in a tough spot here, because nearly everything happens by email and phone. That is fine, it just makes the verification habit even more important. If you are signing remotely, settle with your title company early on exactly how documents and funds will move, and confirm every step by phone. I walked through the process in closing remotely on an Indiana home.

If something already went wrong

If you think you sent money to the wrong account, act immediately. Minutes matter.

Call your bank first and ask them to recall the wire and contact the receiving bank about freezing the funds. Then call your title company and your agent. Then file a complaint with the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center, and contact local law enforcement.

Do not wait to see whether it sorts itself out, and do not feel embarrassed. These schemes fool careful, smart people every day, which is exactly why they keep happening.

Where this fits in your closing

Your closing funds are usually the largest single payment of the whole purchase. Knowing that amount ahead of time, from your closing disclosure, helps you spot anything unusual. I covered what goes into that number in closing costs for Indiana buyers, and what to expect on the day itself in what happens at closing in Indiana.

The local part

You can find listings anywhere. What you cannot get from a search result is an agent who knows the local title offices by name, knows how each one sends instructions, and will pick up the phone with you to double-check before you send your life savings. That local knowledge is what protects you in the last week of a purchase, when everyone is tired and in a hurry.

In Buy and Move Smart, the wire fraud conversation happens early and gets repeated on purpose. It is one of the simplest ways we keep buyers safe.

If you are getting ready to buy and want to talk through how closing funds will move, grab a time on my calendar. A real person reads every message. No pressure either way.