DAVID BRAUN | MORTGAGE MANIAC
Protect Your Closing Funds
A practical wire fraud prevention center for Chicago and Chicagoland homebuyers.
Practice spotting warning signs. Prepare your verification call. Print your checklist before sending money.
David Braun | Mortgage Loan Officer | NMLS #303007
Contact your bank or wire-transfer provider immediately using a trusted number. Explain that you suspect fraud and ask about stopping or recalling the transfer.
Report it to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center . Recovery is not guaranteed. Preserve the messages and transaction records.
The Moment to Slow Down
Closing often involves urgent deadlines, large transfers and messages from several professionals. A fraudulent message may imitate someone involved in your purchase and include convincing transaction details.
Familiar names, accurate information and professional formatting do not authenticate payment instructions.
Agree on a verification process with your settlement team in advance. Use a phone number obtained and confirmed through a separate trusted channel—not a number or link supplied in the payment message you are checking.
Practice: What Would You Check?
These are fictional training examples. Read each message, consider your next step, then open the explanation.
“Your closing is tomorrow. Our escrow account changed. Send your funds to the attached account today or your closing may be delayed.”
Show the warning signs and next step
A changed account plus time pressure deserves independent verification. Pause the transfer. Call your settlement contact using a previously verified number and confirm whether the message and instructions are authentic.
Do not use the contact details in the suspicious message.
“Hi! Here are your final instructions.” The message includes your address, closing date, title-company logo and names you recognize.
Show why familiar details are not enough
Accurate details and a familiar-looking email thread do not prove the sender is authentic. Verify payment instructions independently even if nothing looks obviously wrong.
A message does not become safe merely because it lacks spelling mistakes.
“Click here to confirm your wiring account. Then call the phone number below if you have questions.”
Show how to verify through a separate channel
The link and phone number are part of the message being evaluated. Do not use them as proof that the message is genuine.
Contact your settlement professional through an independently established channel and ask how to access any legitimate portal safely.
Your Verification Call Script
“I’m preparing to send funds for my closing. I’m calling the number I verified independently. Before I send anything, please confirm your approved payment process and help me verify the recipient, bank and account instructions through your established procedure.”
“I received a message about payment instructions or a change. Did your office send it? Please help me confirm it independently before I take action.”
Confirm details through your settlement provider’s approved process. This page does not accept, store or verify account numbers.
Do not enter bank information into comments or send it through an unsecured contact form.
Your Printable Closing-Funds Checklist
0 of 6 preparation items checked.
Checking these boxes records your preparation only. It does not authenticate instructions, certify a transaction or guarantee protection from fraud.
If Something Feels Wrong
- Before payment: Stop and independently contact your settlement team. Do not let a deadline replace verification.
- After payment: Immediately contact your bank or transfer provider and request help stopping or recalling the funds.
- Report and preserve: Report suspected fraud to IC3 and retain messages, instructions and payment records. Inform your settlement team through a verified channel.
Official Guidance
- CFPB: Beware of Mortgage Closing Scams
- CFPB: Printable Mortgage Closing Scam Warning
- FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center
Keep Planning Your Purchase
Prepare your documentation with the Illinois Mortgage Preapproval Checklist , then explore the Chicagoland Closing-Cost Planner .
Cost planning and payment verification serve different purposes; use both.
For Realtors and Community Educators
Share this page with buyers before closing week so they can prepare a verification process early. If you reference this educational tool on your website, link to its published address. No reciprocal link is required.
Explore David Braun’s Mortgage Blog