Book a demo
All guides

Guide · For Real estate agents

The call that sounds like your lender

September 30, 20265 min read

How voice-cloning scams target your buyers' closing money, and five habits that stop them

A couple in West Michigan was a few days away from closing on a condo. First came an email that looked like it was from their mortgage professional. Then their phone rang, from a number that matched a familiar contact, and the voice sounded like the lender they'd been working with. On that call they went over the wiring details, and they sent $66,000.

The money went to a criminal. The title company found out on closing day. A fraud-prevention firm that looked at the case says the scheme involved a cloned voice and spoofed communications.

If you work with buyers, this is one of the scams to know about right now.

How big is this?

The FBI's 2025 Internet Crime Report counted 12,368 real estate fraud complaints and about $275 million in losses, up from about $174 million the year before. Those are only the cases people reported.

Wire fraud around closings isn't new. The phone call is. For years the advice was "don't trust an email with new wiring instructions, call to confirm." Now scammers fake the call too. The FBI's report says it directly: voice cloning can be used to request wire payments.

How the scam works

  1. They get into the email thread. A stolen password or a look-alike address lets them follow the deal, so they know the names, the property and the closing date.
  2. They wait for the right moment. Usually a day or two before closing, when your buyer expects to wire money and is juggling a dozen tasks.
  3. They send "updated" wiring instructions, often with a reason: the title company changed banks, an account was flagged, a deadline moved.
  4. They call to make it believable. Caller ID can be faked to show a familiar number, and a short clip of someone's voice, from a video or even a voicemail greeting, can be enough to imitate it.

The usual target isn't you. It's your buyer, who trusts everyone around the deal, including you.

Five habits that stop it

1. Say the rule out loud, and put it in writing. At your first meeting, tell buyers: "We will never send you new wiring instructions by email, text or phone. If anyone does, even someone who sounds like us, stop and call the title company at the number on this sheet." A buyer who has heard it from you is far more likely to pause when it happens.

2. Hand over a verified number early. Give buyers the title company's phone number on paper or in your first packet, before any closing emails start. That's the number they call to confirm anything about money. Never a number from an email, and never one a caller gives them.

3. Agree on a code word for calls from you. A simple phrase you and your client both know makes a fake "agent" call easy to spot. For anyone else who calls about money, such as the "lender" or the "title company", the rule is simpler: hang up and call the title company back on the number you gave them.

4. Remind them the week of closing. One short text: "Reminder: we will never send new wiring instructions. Call [title company] at [number] before you wire anything." This is the week scammers strike, and the week buyers are most distracted.

5. Confirm the money arrived. After wiring, the buyer calls the title company on the verified number to confirm receipt. If something is wrong, every hour counts.

If it happens

One more gap: your own phone line

Scammers can also call your office, pretending to be the title company or a lender, and ask whoever answers to pass new instructions along to your client. Whoever answers your phone, whether that's you, an assistant or an AI answering service, needs the same rule: never give, confirm or pass on wiring or payment details. Send the caller to the title company's known number, and flag the call to you.

That one rule, followed every time, closes a door criminals are actively trying to open.

Flogenta sets up AI assistants that answer calls for real estate agents. Ours are set up to refuse wiring and payment requests and send callers to the title company. Questions? hello@flogenta.com

Sources

Back to all guides