FBI: Real estate cyberfraud rises with more AI, crypto scams

Losses from real estate cybercrimes soared last year as criminals utilized more artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency scams, the Federal Bureau of Investigation reported.

The industry's cybercrime losses topped $275 million in 2025, a 59% increase from approximately $174 million in real estate-related losses in 2024, according to the bureau's Internet Crime Complaint Center. That was a fraction of the $20.8 billion in total cybercrime losses last year. Across the over 1 million complaints in 2025 was an average loss of $20,699. 

There were 12,368 cybercrime reports related to real estate transactions. That included hundreds of incidents of cryptocurrency and AI scams related to real estate fraud that the IC3 defines as loss of funds deriving from investments, rentals or timeshares.

The industry's cybercrime losses have risen for two consecutive years, although last year's figure trails the massive dollar amounts lost during the refinance boom. 

The American Land Title Association, in commenting on the findings Friday, suggested that the rising losses necessitate keeping safeguards in real estate transactions. The trade group has emphasized its industry's importance as the government-sponsored enterprises and lenders explore alternatives to title insurer reviews.

"Title professionals are not simply processing paperwork," said Chris Morton, CEO of ALTA, in a press release Friday. "They help protect consumers and property rights against costly fraud, forgery and other hidden risks tied to property ownership."

Where cybercrime is rising

Within real estate, the FBI reported 115 crimes related to AI, accounting for $2.7 million in losses. While AI tools can facilitate scams like ubiquitous business email compromise, the report also warned of AI voice cloning to induce wire transfers. Industry experts have raised additional concerns about generative AI's potential to permeate other areas, such as expense account fraud.

There were even more complaints around cryptocurrency, with 715 reported incidents in real estate equating to $25.1 million in losses. The bureau said those crimes typically involve bad actors, usually organized crime, deceiving victims into buying into fraudulent investments. The elevated incidents come as more independent mortgage banks launch crypto-funded products.

Phishing and spoofing complaints more than doubled the next-highest complaint, extortion, while business email compromise was the ninth-most frequent incident. Business email compromise, which overwhelmingly occurred in wire transfer and Automated Clearing House transactions, still accounted for over $3 billion in total losses. 

The data breach factor

The seeming onslaught of data breaches at mortgage players is still a fraction of the hacks hitting businesses nationwide. 

The IC3 last year received over 3,600 complaints of ransomware alone, incidents resulting in combined losses of over $32 million. Not all data breaches are the result of a ransomware attack, and combined breaches accounted for $435 million in total losses.

The FBI also noted that the ransomware loss figure is artificially low, as some companies don't report any loss amount. Very few mortgage companies have publicly acknowledged the financial impact to their business from a hack, and even fewer say how many of their customers were impacted, let alone how the incident occurred.