Real Estate Wire Fraud in Cincinnati: How Buyers Get Scammed

You can do everything right—and still lose your entire down payment in minutes.

Across the country, homebuyers are wiring six-figure sums to what they believe are legitimate closing instructions, only to discover hours later that the money is gone forever. The emails look real. The timing makes sense. And by the time anyone realizes what happened, it’s too late.

Identity Theft Awareness Week takes place in January, and in real estate transactions, wire fraud remains one of the most financially devastating crimes affecting buyers and sellers in Southwest Ohio and Northern Kentucky.

Every year, buyers across the country lose life-changing sums—often their entire down payment—because a single fraudulent email looked legitimate enough in a moment of urgency. In one widely reported case, a Connecticut homebuyer lost nearly $600,000 after hackers intercepted closing emails and sent fake wiring instructions. National news outlets have repeatedly reported cases where buyers wired six-figure sums only to learn hours later that the funds were gone and could not be recovered.

How Real Estate Wire Fraud Actually Happens

Most real estate wire fraud follows a consistent pattern:

1.       A scammer gains access to an email account involved in the transaction (usually the buyer or Realtor, but sometimes the lender or attorney).

2.       The scammer silently monitors communications, learning names, timing, and tone.

3.       Just before closing, the buyer receives an email that appears to come from a trusted party.

4.       The email provides wiring instructions or claims the instructions have “changed.”

5.       The buyer wires funds to a fraudulent account—irreversibly.

Why These Scams Work

Wire fraud succeeds because it exploits:

·         Trust built over weeks of legitimate communication

·         Time pressure right before closing

·         Fear of delaying or “messing up” the transaction

It is mostly social engineering. Fraudsters do not rely on technical hacking alone—they rely on human behavior.

What TechneTitle Does Differently

At TechneTitle, wire-fraud prevention is built into the closing process itself:

·         Wiring instructions are never changed.

·         Any message claiming “updated” or “corrected” instructions is automatically suspicious.

·         Wiring instructions are delivered only through a secure portal (ClosingLock).

·         TechneTitle does not send wiring instructions by unsecured email.

·         Clients are instructed to independently verify wiring instructions.

·         Verification must occur using a known, trusted phone number, not one provided in an email.

·         These safeguards are designed to stop fraud before money moves, not after.

The Non-Negotiable Rule for Anyone Wiring Funds

No matter who appears to be sending instructions: Always independently verify wiring instructions before sending funds. Legitimate title companies expect—and encourage—this step.

Final Takeaway

Wire fraud does not happen because buyers are careless. It happens because criminals are sophisticated. The safest transactions are those where process, verification, and secure delivery are treated as mandatory—not optional.