Online real estate fraud is rising again, and the numbers are getting harder to ignore.

I'm Kathy Fedke, and this is real estate news for investors.

This is Real Estate News with Kathy Fedke.

A new report from the FBI shows that cybercriminals stole more than $275 million through real estate-related

fraud in 2025. That impacted over 12,000 victims. It's a jump from the previous two years,

but still below the 2022 peak, when losses reached nearly $400 million. So what counts as real estate fraud? The FBI includes

scams tied to property investments, rental listings, and even timeshares. And here's what stands out.

It's not just happening to new investors. Victims span every age group from their 20s all the way to

their 50s. Experience level does not

seem to matter. There's a new layer making this worse, artificial intelligence. According to the FBI,

scammers are using AI to create highly convincing fake identities. That includes social media

profiles, emails, and even voice or video messages.

In other words, these scams are getting harder to detect.

One example is something called pig butchering.

It's a cryptocurrency scam where fraudsters build trust over time,

then slowly convince victims to invest more money into fake accounts.

At one point, this scheme alone led to $15 million in losses for about 60 real estate agents.

So what can investors and agents do?

The National Association of Realtors is urging brokers to step up training.

That includes wire fraud awareness and AI-related cybersecurity education,

because in many cases, a single email is all it takes. In one recent example, home buyers received

an email that looked like it came from their attorney. They wired over $449,000 to what they thought was the correct account.

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