Resources · October 2026
A wire fraud callback checklist for title and settlement companies
Real estate closings are a favorite target for email fraud: someone gets into a mailbox, watches the file, and sends “updated” wire instructions at the last minute. The defense is simple and boring, and it works only if it happens on every wire. Here is a checklist you can print and use.
Before every outgoing wire
- Get the payee’s phone number from a source you found yourself: your file from an earlier, verified contact, the lender’s or payoff company’s official website, or a directory. Never use a number from the email, PDF or letter that delivered the instructions.
- Call that number and ask the payee to read the account details back to you. Don’t read them out yourself and ask “is that right?”
- Confirm the bank name, routing number, account number, account name and the amount.
- Confirm with a second person in your office before releasing the wire, so no one sends a wire alone.
- Use multi-factor authentication on your email and your bank’s wire portal, so a stolen password alone can’t change instructions or release funds.
Red flags that mean stop and verify again
- Instructions that change late, especially by email the day before or the day of closing
- A request to wire to a person when you expected a company, or to a bank in a different state than the payee
- An email address that’s almost right: an extra letter, a swapped character, a different domain ending
- Pressure: “urgent,” “the lender needs it in the next hour,” “don’t call, I’m in a meeting”
- A payoff letter that doesn’t match the format or contact details of earlier letters from the same lender
- A seller who wants proceeds sent somewhere new, or split between accounts
What to write down for each callback
A callback you can’t prove didn’t happen, as far as an underwriter or auditor is concerned. Record:
- The file number and payee
- Who made the call, and the date and time
- The number you called and where you got it
- Who answered and confirmed the details
- Whether the details matched, and who approved the release
Leave the account number out of the log. You only need to record that it matched.
Tell your customers early
Put a wire fraud warning in your first email, your engagement letter and your email signature: your office will never change wire instructions by email, and buyers should call a number they already have before sending money. Repeat it the week of closing.
If money goes to the wrong account
- Call your bank right away and ask it to recall the wire and contact the receiving bank. Minutes matter.
- Report it to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov.
- Tell your underwriter and follow your written incident response procedure.
- Preserve the emails, headers and call records. Don’t delete anything.
- Change passwords and review email forwarding rules on the account that was involved.
Keep the log without the paperwork
Closing Desk’s wire callback log records who called, which number, where it came from and who confirmed, on the file itself, and never stores account numbers. It feeds the ALTA Best Practices report too.
This is general guidance, not legal advice. Follow your underwriter’s and lenders’ wire procedures and your own written policies.