Real Estate & Title Wire Fraud Investigations
If you sent a closing or escrow wire to a fraudulent account, E3 Legacy Intel traces where the money went, identifies who is behind the fraud, and builds the evidence for recovery. We work for buyers, real estate agents, and title and escrow companies hit by business email compromise on a transaction. As licensed investigators (FL A-1400197), we follow the funds and name the actors. Act within the first 72 hours.
Closing wire fraud is the most common way home buyers and title companies lose money to a business email compromise. The instructions look real, the timing is perfect, and the money is gone in hours. When the same fraud hits an ordinary vendor payment through a changed bank account on an invoice, the work is a vendor invoice fraud investigation. Here is how the fraud works and what we do about it.
How Real Estate Wire Fraud Happens
A criminal compromises or spoofs the email of a title agent, closing attorney, realtor, or lender, watches for a pending closing, and sends the buyer fraudulent wiring instructions at the last moment, often changing only the account number. The buyer wires the funds straight to the criminal. By the time the missing money surfaces at closing, it has already moved through a mule account.
The First 72 Hours
Call both banks
Contact your bank and the receiving bank now and demand a recall of the wire as fraudulent. Ask them to initiate a SWIFT recall.
File at FBI IC3
Report at ic3.gov within 72 hours and flag it for the Recovery Asset Team, which can request a freeze on a qualifying domestic wire.
Preserve the emails
Save every message and full header from the transaction, especially the wiring instructions. Do not delete anything.
Call an investigator
Tracing the funds, identifying the accounts, and proving how the email was compromised is investigative work your bank will not do.
Follow the funds, find the breach
Follow the funds
We trace the wire from the receiving account through the mule network to where the money actually went, documenting each hop.
How the email was breached
We determine whether the closing email was compromised, spoofed, or the result of a look-alike domain, and preserve that proof.
Name the actors
We identify who is behind the fraudulent accounts and communications for recall, litigation, and law enforcement.
Buyers, agents, and title companies in the same wire
Home buyers
Buyers who wired a down payment or full closing to a fraudulent account.
Real estate agents
Agents and brokerages whose transaction or email was used to defraud a client.
Title & escrow
Title, escrow, and settlement companies facing a diverted closing and a policy claim.
Lenders
Lenders and mortgage brokers whose payoff or funding wire was diverted.
Closing attorneys
Real estate attorneys whose trust-account wire was targeted.
Stay Protected
Wire-instruction verification
An ongoing program that independently verifies closing and payoff wire details before funds move, killing the change-of-account fraud at the source.
Post-incident monitoring
After an engagement we monitor the compromised mailbox and environment for 90 days so the attacker cannot quietly return.
Frequently Asked Questions
I sent my down payment to a fake account. Can I get it back?
How does real estate wire fraud happen?
What should a title company do after a fraudulent wire?
Can you find who sent the fraudulent wiring instructions?
How fast do I need to act?
Two of our wire fraud matters are written up in full: a six figure wire, gone overseas, recovered in weeks, and a $500,000 loss and a partnership worth saving. More of our matters are collected on our case studies page.
Your Examiner
Matt Aubin, CDFE, FBCI
Managing Partner, E3 Legacy Intel · FL Licensed Investigator A-1400197
Every matter on this page is worked under a named, licensed examiner. Matt Aubin brings seventeen years in cybercrime and open source intelligence. He is a Certified Digital Forensics Examiner (CDFE), a Florida Board Certified Investigator (FBCI), and a Certified AI Agent Developer, and he has investigated cases jointly with the FBI, the SEC, the U.S. Secret Service, and the U.S. Marshals.
His work has been featured on ABC News, Spectrum News, and The Daily Beast, and in a television pilot for Netflix and MAC Pictures as a cybercrime expert. He keynotes nationally and serves on the Board of Directors of the Florida Association of Licensed Investigators (FALI). About Matt Aubin
LET’S TALK
Bring us the problem. We will tell you plainly whether investigation can help.
Fill out this form and set up a discovery call with us. From there we will analyze the issues you are having and determine your intelligence needs. Then we will develop a custom, no-obligation quote for our services, delivered in writing before you commit to anything.
Tell us what happened
A licensed examiner reads every inquiry. You get a written, flat fee quote before any work starts. Or call (877) 732-6648.