Utah closings move fast and wires move faster. Learn how to verify wiring instructions, spot email scams, and what to do if a wire goes wrong.
You will not get a second chance to wire $400,000 to the right account. Once it is gone, recovery is a race against minutes, not days.
Wire fraud at closing is not sophisticated. Someone hacks an email account, watches the transaction, and sends you a very normal looking message that says wiring instructions have changed. Utah sellers and buyers lose proceeds and down payments this way every year because they were trying to be helpful and fast.
This is your verification protocol. Use it.
Buyers wire in funds. Sellers provide an account for proceeds. Title looks like a bank. Everyone is emailing. That combination is exactly what fraudsters want.
The federal guidance on closing is clear about one thing: you should understand your closing documents and your costs before you sign, and you should question last-minute changes. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau lays out what to expect at closing at Owning a Home: Close, and the FTC explains how mortgage and closing processes can be abused if you do not verify details in its mortgage FAQs. Neither agency will tell you your title company will never change instructions. Sometimes instructions do legitimately change. That is why you need a process that works even when change happens.
If you are selling without an agent, you have fewer buffers. That is not a bad thing, it just means you build your own checks. Our Utah FSBO guide has the rest of the sequence, but this part deserves its own checklist.
Treat any of these as a full stop until you have voice-verified:
A common Utah version: seller gets an email that looks like it is from title asking to confirm where to send seller proceeds. The link goes to a form that asks for bank login credentials. Title will not ask for your login.
Do this at the beginning and at the end. Do not skip steps when you are tired on closing day.
1. At the start of escrow, set known numbers and accounts.
When you choose a title company for a Utah FSBO sale, get the escrow officer’s direct phone number from their company website or main switchboard, not from an email signature. Save it. Call it. Say you want to confirm how they will send wiring instructions and how they will handle your proceeds. Write down what they tell you.
For sellers: if you want proceeds by wire, bring a voided check or bank letter to title in person if you can. If you must send instructions, send them through the title company’s secure portal, and then call your escrow officer at your known number to confirm receipt. Do not email account numbers in plain text.
For buyers: your lender and title will give you a Closing Disclosure to compare against your Loan Estimate. That review is part of catching switched numbers. Keep that routine separate from any wire email.
2. Before any wire, do a known-number callback.
You received wiring instructions? Great. Do not reply to that email. Call your escrow officer at the number you saved on day one. Ask them to read back the account number, routing number, and escrow file number. Read yours back to them. Both sides match, or you do not wire.
This applies to sellers receiving funds too. If title says they sent your proceeds, but you get an email saying the wire failed and you need to provide a new account, that is a callback moment.
3. Inside the title company, confirm their internal process.
Ask: Do you use a secure portal for wiring instructions? Will you ever change instructions by email? Who is authorized to change my seller proceeds instructions? The answers give you something to check against.
Your Utah FSBO closing-day checklist should including wiring verification as a line item, not an afterthought. Same with understanding Utah FSBO seller closing costs so you are not surprised by a number and pressured to rush.
Print this. Use it every time money moves.
Checklist
Script for the call
“Hi, this is [your name] on file [number] for [property address]. I am about to wire [amount]. I am calling the number I have had since we opened escrow. Can you please confirm the wiring instructions on your side, letter by letter? I will read back what I have.”
If they say “just follow the email,” politely insist. Real escrow officers expect this call. They want it.
There is no shame here. The emails look real because they are copied from real emails. What matters is speed.
Do not delete the fraudulent email. Forward it to your title officer and keep the original with full headers if you can.
One more thing: if you have already compared multiple FSBO offers and you are under contract under the Utah REPC, wire fraud does not change contract deadlines by itself. Tell the other party in writing about the delay, keep title in the loop, and document everything. You will need a paper trail.
For your file, add two notes today: the known-number callback number for title, and the method title will use for your seller proceeds. Put that note with your earnest money proof from where FSBO earnest money goes. Future you, on closing day with a moving truck in the driveway, will be grateful you did.
This is general information, not legal advice. Utah real estate rules and forms change, so verify current requirements with the Utah Division of Real Estate or a Utah real estate attorney.