The schemes that recur
Wire fraud during closings is among the most damaging: a hacked or spoofed email changes the wiring instructions, and the down payment or sale proceeds land in a criminal's account. Rental scams use copied listings to collect deposits for apartments the scammer does not control. Other disputes involve misrepresentation in a sale, where a seller or agent made false statements about the property's condition, permits, or history. New York generally expects buyers to investigate for themselves, so a seller's silence is usually not fraud on its own, but active concealment or a false statement can be. Title theft through a forged deed is a separate problem with its own process.
When money has just moved
If a closing wire went to the wrong account, call your bank immediately, ask it to recall the transfer and contact the receiving bank, and then report it to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center. Speed matters a great deal here, because funds can be moved onward quickly. Notify the title company, the attorneys, and the agents involved, using phone numbers you already have rather than any in the suspicious email. Keep the emails with full headers, the wiring instructions, and the transfer confirmation. For rental deposits, report to police and to the platform where the listing appeared, and save the listing and messages.
Who bears the loss
Once the urgent steps are done, the question becomes who should bear the loss and whether anyone can be recovered from. That may involve the receiving bank, a party whose email account was compromised, an insurance policy, or the person who made the misrepresentation, and each path turns on contracts and facts. Claims against sellers usually depend heavily on the contract of sale and the disclosures that were made. We review the transaction documents and communications and lay out which claims are realistic and which are not worth the cost.
