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 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 on this site.
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 one tends to show up.
What happens after closing →You own your home
Criminals research a home before they target it. The free Visibility Search shows what they can see about yours — equity, occupancy, and how easy you are to reach.
See what criminals can see →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 without a fight.
Family and caregiver guide →Something already happened
The first few hours matter more than anything else. Who to call, in what order, and the reporting offices for your state.
Get practical step-by-step guidance →Three checks you can run right now. Each one is free to use and does not require an account.
Message Scanner
Paste a suspicious email, text, or DM and get a plain-language read on what looks wrong before you click or move money.
Open the tool →Property Visibility Scanner
See what criminals can learn about your home from public records — ownership, equity, occupancy, and how findable your contact details are.
Open the tool →Contact Lookup
Check the phone number that called or texted you about your home before you call back or respond.
Open the tool →Three questions to ask any agent
It takes ninety seconds, and the answers tell you whether the agent has a fraud process or is improvising one.
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 and what to do about it. Most agents have never been asked this.
Who to contact in your state.
People lose hours calling offices that cannot help them. This sorts out who handles what, in all fifty states.
- Dedicated Arizona guideArizona Consumer GuideOur full free guide for Arizona homeowners, buyers, sellers, and renters→
- Arizona Department of Real EstateLicensee conduct and consumer fraud resources→
- Arizona Attorney GeneralConsumer fraud complaints and elder exploitation→
- Find your county recorderRecorded documents and deed alert enrollment→
- FBI Internet Crime Complaint CenterFederal reporting for wire and internet-enabled fraud→
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 your local FBI field office. 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 ↓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 downloads page.
Prefer to read online? Education Center covers the same ground in article form, free to read.
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 agencies, associations, and MLSsLinking, permissions, citation, 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
We produce co-branded versions of this page and the printed materials for state agencies, REALTOR associations, and MLSs at no cost. Your logo, your state's resources, hosted on your domain or ours. There is nothing to sign and no fee.
Request a co-branded versionContent reviewed August 2026. This page is reviewed and updated as fraud information changes.