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| The Silicon Valley Association of Realtors (SILVAR) shares local housing data, sales trends and other real estate-related topics. This week’s column provides insights on how cyber crimes, particularly AI-generated deepfakes are impacting the real industry and what buyers and sellers should do to protect themselves. |
If you’re buying or selling a home, beware: The agent on your video call may not be real.
A growing number of scammers are using deepfakes — a form of artificial intelligence that can convincingly mimic a person’s face, voice or identity — to impersonate real estate agents, buyers, sellers and title officers. Their goal is to steal personal information and listing details or divert significant sums of money tied to a transaction.
As the homebuying process has shifted increasingly online, with digital documents and remote communication now the norm, it has also created new opportunities for fraud. What once involved fake emails posing as banks or title companies has evolved into far more sophisticated schemes using manipulated video and audio.
Deepfake scams, according to industry experts, are on the rise in Silicon Valley and nationwide.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, cyber-enabled fraud accounted for $13.7 billion in losses in 2024, up from $446.1 million in 2022. Among these crimes, deepfake scams are a rapidly growing concern, seeing a 40% year-over-year increase according to the 2026 Identity Fraud Report.
How to spot deepfakes
Synthetic content, or deepfakes, can mimic real people in videos, images or audio. They’re becoming easier to make and harder to spot. Here’s what to watch for:
Unnatural lighting: Shadows, colors or brightness that look off.
Weird visuals: Blurry or distorted faces, mismatched skin tones or unnatural expressions.
Odd movements: Eyes blinking too much or too little, awkward head or body positions.
Strange audio: Robotic voices, choppy sentencesor background noise that doesn’t fit.
Information from the Federal Bureau of Investigations
In many of these deepfake scams, people convincingly pose as a trusted professional in the deal and insert themselves into legitimate transactions. They may send updated wiring instructions and use AI-generated video or voice messages to “confirm” the change, directing closing funds into their own accounts. In other instances, deepfakes are used to manipulate property listings — altering photos, hiding defects or even promoting properties that don’t exist.
At the start of this year, California enacted new laws aimed at curbing the misuse of artificial intelligence in real estate and advertising. One measure requires clear disclosure when AI is used to alter property images, helping prevent misleading listings. Another restricts the use of a person’s voice or likeness for commercial purposes — including real estate marketing — without their consent. The laws also increase penalties for AI-driven impersonation and defamation.
The changes come as deepfake-related fraud continues to rise, including a widely reported case in which a California woman lost her home and life savings after being deceived by someone impersonating actor Steve Burton using AI-generated content.
Proactive steps
Real estate transactions are particularly vulnerable because they involve large financial transfers, multiple parties and tight timelines, often handled remotely, making it easier for scammers to impersonate trusted contacts — and harder for consumers to spot the difference.
The best defenses are often simple. The National Association of Realtors recommends that buyers and sellers should always verify wiring instructions using a known phone number rather than one provided in an email, and be wary of any last-minute changes. Working with trusted professionals, using secure communication channels and avoiding transactions where key details cannot be independently confirmed can also reduce risk.
How to protect yourself: A checklist
- Work with trusted professionals.
- Use a secure messaging system or encrypted emails (rather than a free email account) when communicating about a real estate transaction.
- Try to avoid entering into a transaction on a property you haven’t seen in person or with a buyer or seller who communicates only electronically.
- Independently verify property documents and ownership through title companies and trusted parties. Never rely solely on digital copies that could have been altered.
- Ask for multifactor authentication before transferring funds or signing important documents. Many companies are now using a third-party verification tool, such as CertifID.
- Invest in fraud-detection tools that can detect deepfakes by analyzing facial movements in videos, voice anomalies and inconsistencies in digital images.
- Consider investing in an owner’s title policy to safeguard against record fraud. The insurance protects you against forged deeds, fraudulent liens and fake owners.
- To verify instructions for wiring funds, always talk to the party who’s receiving the funds by phone on a known number, or meet in person. Any urgent change in instructions — whether delivered through an email, audio message or a video call — is a red flag.
– Information provided by the National Association of Realtors
Additional safeguards include verifying ownership and documents through a title company, using third-party verification services such as CertifID, and considering an owner’s title insurance policy to protect against fraudulent claims.
Above all, experts emphasize one rule: Always confirm wiring instructions directly with the recipient — by phone or in person — before sending money.If something feels off, act quickly. Contact your real estate agent, title company and lender, and report the incident to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.
Real Estate Editor Linda Taaffe contributed to this article.
Silicon Valley Association of Realtors (SILVAR) is a professional trade organization representing 5,000 Realtors and affiliate members engaged in the real estate business on the Peninsula and in the South Bay. SILVAR promotes the highest ethical standards of real estate practice, serves as an advocate for homeownership and homeowners, and represents the interests of property owners in Silicon Valley.
The term Realtor is a registered collective membership mark which identifies a real estate professional who is a member of the National Association of Realtors and who subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics.