Criminals know
when your money moves.
A home sale is a large payment on a schedule that is close to public. That is why this is one of the most targeted moments in ordinary life, and why so much of it lands on people who did nothing wrong. This page covers what they try, how to spot it, and who to call in Arizona if it has already happened.
Also on this site: Free Fraud Tools — every free check, one page, no account.
Where are you right now?
Pick whichever one fits. Each goes to a short guide on that situation, and most are also a printable notice.
Buying or selling right now
The closing wire is where most of the money gets lost. Three rules cover it, and they take about a minute to learn.
The three wire rules →You just bought or sold
Your sale becomes public record within days. Fourteen schemes follow that, and we can tell you roughly when each tends to show up.
What happens after closing →You own your home
Forged deeds, and liens nobody asked you about. Every Arizona county will alert you when something is filed against your address.
Set up your county alert →Looking for a rental
Fake listings are cheap to post and hard to spot. What to check before you send a deposit to someone you have never met.
Rental scams →An older family member
These schemes work by separating someone from the people who would talk them out of it. What to watch for, and how to raise it.
Family and caregiver guide →Something already happened
The first few hours matter more than anything else. Who to call in Arizona, and in what order.
Get practical step-by-step guidance →Three checks you can run right now.
Each is free to use and does not require an account.
Arizona county recorders will tell you when something is filed under your name.
Every county recorder in Arizona runs a free alert program. When a deed, lien, or mortgage records under your name, they email or text you the same business day. Enrollment takes about five minutes and costs nothing, ever.
It will not stop a fraudulent filing. What it does is tell you one arrived, and these get harder to unwind with every week that passes.
Three questions to ask any agent
It takes ninety seconds and it tells you almost everything.
You are listening for a yes with a description attached. An agent with a system can tell you what is in it and when it goes out.
A trained agent answers immediately and specifically, and the answer involves calling a number you looked up yourself rather than one in the message.
Recording a sale makes it public. A trained agent can tell you what tends to arrive afterward. Most agents have never been asked this one.
Who to contact, and what each one handles.
People lose hours calling offices that cannot help them. Every link goes to that office's own website.
If money has already moved
Call your bank's fraud department and ask for a wire recall due to fraud. Then call the bank that received the money and ask them to freeze the account. Then call your own bank back and make sure the recall was actually sent, not just written down.
File at ic3.gov and call the FBI field office nearest you. Getting money back is far more likely inside the first 72 hours than after.
The full first 72 hoursPrint it, save it, hand it to someone.
Every one of these is a PDF. No email address, no account. Agencies and associations are welcome to host these files on their own sites.
Fraud Awareness Notice
This notice supplements existing wire fraud advisories by providing clear, real-time safety rules for consumers who are contacted about moving or wiring money during a real estate transaction.
Download ↓After You Close
What starts arriving once a sale hits public record, in the order it tends to show up — and the two free protections to switch on now.
Download ↓Three Questions to Ask Any Agent
Ninety seconds of questions before you sign a listing agreement or a buyer representation agreement.
Download ↓The First 72 Hours
What to do when money has already moved. Who to call, in what order, and what to write down.
Download ↓The downloadable notices carry no agent branding. A real estate agent can send you a version with their name on it at the start of a transaction, and can confirm you received it. An agent who has completed our fraud course receives updates every month as schemes change, and is usually the first person you would call if something looks wrong during your transaction. It is a fair thing to ask about before you decide who to work with. All documents, with revision history, are listed on the downloads page.
Who publishes this, and what we are not.
None of this costs anything, and it will not later. Real estate professionals pay us for fraud education and client materials for their clients. That is what funds the free side.
For Arizona agencies, associations, and MLSsLinking, permissions, citation, corrections, and co-branded versions
- Link to this page from your website, newsletter, or bulletin
- Quote any part of it, with attribution
- Print and distribute it, in full or in part
- Host our PDFs on your own site rather than linking out
- Reproduce the three questions card in your own materials
- Keep the attribution line when you reproduce something
- Do not alter the content of a notice and keep our name on it
If anything about your office is out of date on this page, tell us and we will fix it the same week. County programs and enrollment processes change and we would rather hear it from you than from a consumer.
We also produce co-branded versions of this page and the printed materials for state agencies, REALTOR associations, and MLSs at no cost. Your logo, your resources, hosted on your domain or ours. There is nothing to sign and no fee.
Send a correction or request a co-branded versionHome Fraud Defense holds Arizona real estate school license S25-0019. That approval applies to our education courses and does not extend to the content of this page.
This page is educational. It is not legal advice, not financial advice, and not a determination about any transaction, person, or communication. Home Fraud Defense does not confirm wire instructions and does not act as verifier of record on any wire transfer. Home Fraud Defense does not refer consumers to specific real estate licensees and receives no compensation for any consumer contacting any agent. Reporting processes, county programs, and agency responsibilities change over time. Content reviewed August 2026.
© 2026 Home Fraud Defense, LLC. Home Fraud Defense is a trademark of Home Fraud Defense, LLC.