The median single-family home in Monterey County sold for $925,000 in September 2026. A deposit on a house like that is a big wire, and the instructions for it usually arrive by email. That's why criminals break into agent and escrow inboxes, wait for a closing, and send their own bank details. We've supported real estate offices and property managers from Ryan Ranch to Carmel since 2008, and our job is to make your email the hard target.
What Real Estate IT Has to Handle Here
Peninsula homes are expensive, and many of their owners are far away. In Carmel-by-the-Sea, about 45% of homes are held for seasonal or occasional use, according to Census estimates. In Pebble Beach it's about 37%. Many owners live somewhere else and do business by email.
Fraudsters have noticed. A 2026 survey by the American Land Title Association found that 59% of title firms had seen at least one seller impersonation attempt in the past year. Vacation homes were a target in about half of those cases. The scam is simple: someone poses as the owner of a house they don't own, lists it, and tries to collect the sale money. A second home in Carmel or Pebble Beach, with an owner who only writes by email, fits that pattern.
Local scammers also use public records. In August 2026 the City of Monterey warned that impostors were pulling project details from public planning agendas to demand fake permit fees. In July 2026 District Attorney Jeannine Pacioni warned about fake invoices and home title fraud. She told residents to verify any property document independently before acting on it.
Then there's paperwork. Carmel switched to numbered street addresses in September 2026 after more than a century without them. Listings, escrow files, insurance, and utility accounts all have to be updated, and mismatched addresses are where mistakes and fraud slip in.
Wire Fraud Is the Risk That Ends Careers
Nationally, the FBI counted $3.05 billion in business email compromise losses in 2025, and most closing wire fraud falls into that category. Its separate real estate fraud category reached $275 million, up from $174 million the year before. People over 60 reported $124 million of those real estate losses on their own. California reported more cybercrime losses than any other state.
Regulators have said what to do. In a November 2025 consumer alert, the California Department of Real Estate recommends multi-factor sign-in on every email account linked to a transaction. It also says to watch for small changes in email addresses. Its earlier alert says to collect phone numbers for agents and escrow at the start of the deal, and never to act on wiring changes sent by email.
Speed matters when something goes wrong. In one 2025 case the FBI describes, a buyer received a fake email from their attorneys and wired more than $449,000. They reported it fast, the FBI asked the bank to freeze it, and the full amount was still there.
We build all of that into your systems. Every agent and coordinator signs in with multi-factor sign-in for agent email. Email filtering that catches lookalike escrow addresses flags a message from a domain one letter off from your title company's. We set up the domain records that stop criminals from sending mail as your brokerage. And we alert on the rule fraudsters love most, the one that quietly hides replies from escrow.
We also hand you a one-page plan for a bad wire. Nobody should be looking up the bank's recall line while the money is still moving.
Records the DRE Expects You to Keep
California brokers have to keep transaction records for three years under Business and Professions Code section 10148. That includes listings, deposit receipts, canceled checks, and trust records. Records stored as electronic images have to be kept in a format that can't be changed. Trust fund records have to trace and reconcile.
Paperwork keeps growing, too.
Since August 2024, buyers sign a written agreement before touring a home. In California those agreements now run 90 days at most and can't renew on their own. Each renewal is another dated, signed document to keep.
That's a lot of e-signed files spread across agents' inboxes. We set retention rules so nothing gets deleted early, back up the brokerage's files to cloud storage you can restore transaction files from, and make sure an agent's mail stays with the broker when that agent leaves. This is general information, not legal advice. Your broker of record and attorney decide what you keep.
How We Support Brokerages and Property Managers
Agents live on their phones, and many use their own. Managing brokerage apps on agents' personal phones keeps client email and files in a protected space we can wipe without touching personal photos. Your accounts, shared mailboxes, and file permissions run through Microsoft 365 administration for brokerages, so a new agent is set up in a day and a departing one is closed out cleanly.
Property managers need a phone that always rings. Our rVoice cloud phones for property management offices send after-hours tenant calls to whoever is on call. That matters in Pacific Grove, where licensed vacation rentals must post a contact number that answers around the clock.
Cameras and smart locks at rental properties come with rules of their own. Airbnb banned indoor cameras in 2024. California law requires everyone's consent before recording a private conversation, so cameras that record audio need care. We help you choose and place equipment that fits those rules.
What to Expect
We start by reviewing how your office handles email, signatures, wires, and agent devices. You'll get a written list of fixes and a price before any work starts. Most brokerages can have multi-factor sign-in and email protection in place within days. Managed brokerages get that setup in the base plan. A critical problem during a closing gets a technician within 15 minutes, and our emergency line answers 24/7.
Real estate sits close to the professional practices we know best, and you can compare it with others in the full list of industries we support.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do we stop closing wire fraud?
Turn on multi-factor sign-in for every email account involved in a deal, and set up the domain records that stop impersonation. Then make a firm rule that wiring instructions are only confirmed by phone, using a number you collected at the start. We set up the technical side and help you put the rule in writing for your agents.
Can independent agents use their own phones and Gmail?
They can use their own phones, but brokerage business should run through brokerage email. A personal Gmail account is out of your control when an agent leaves, and it holds records you're required to keep. We set up phones so work and personal data stay apart.
What should we do if a client already sent a wire to a fraudster?
Call the sending bank's wire recall line right away. File a report at ic3.gov the same day, whatever the amount, and save the emails with their full headers. Then call us so we can find out how the attacker got in and shut it down.
Do you work with property managers and vacation rental companies?
Yes. We set up phones that reach the on-call manager and keep tenant files secure. Guest Wi-Fi is kept apart from your management devices, and lock codes get changed between stays.