Your Closing Could Be a Target: Inside the Surge of Real Estate Scams

Americans lost an estimated $275 million to real estate–related fraud in 2025, according to the FBI’s latest figures. Yet, behind those numbers are increasingly personal, sophisticated and devastating stories.

In this episode of Real Estate Today, we dig into how a routine home purchase can turn into a six-figure loss in a matter of hours. One case follows Raegan Bartlo, who wired $255,000 for a down payment after receiving what appeared to be legitimate instructions from a title company attorney. The emails were convincing, the timing was perfect, and the branding looked real.

But the money never arrived on closing day for her new home.

From there, we explore how real estate has become a prime target for cybercriminals exploiting high-dollar transactions and publicly available data—and how AI is making these scams harder to detect than ever. Deepfake voices, cloned emails and hyper-realistic impersonations are now part of the fraud playbook.

You’ll also hear from industry experts like Tom Cronkright of CertifID, along with brokers on the front lines, who are seeing weekly phishing attempts, fake leads and impersonation scams targeting both clients and agents.

Awareness is one piece of the puzzle—but prevention is what keeps you from becoming the next target.