It’s no longer possible to deny how vital it is for settlement services professionals to defend their operations from wire fraud, data theft and business compromise. However, according to Identity Theft Resource Center President and CEO Eva Velasquez, the threats themselves have evolved.
“The threat has really shifted,” Velasquez said during a recent two-part episode of the Keys to Real Estate podcast. “There’s so much more than just technical exploits. The psychology, the manipulation and the fact that it’s now really at scale.”
Artificial intelligence (AI) has accelerated that evolution by making impersonation faster, less expensive and significantly more convincing. But Velasquez cautioned against viewing AI as the beginning of the problem.
“We were on that trajectory before AI even came onto the scene,” she said.
For title and settlement professionals, the implication is clear. Technical safeguards remain critical, but organizations also need to understand how criminals increasingly exploit human behavior rather than system vulnerabilities.
Technical controls remain essential, but they are no longer enough
For years, the industry has trained employees to verify wiring instructions, inspect email domains, recognize phishing attempts and strengthen cybersecurity practices.
“Please don’t stop,” Velasquez said of those efforts.
But she believes organizations need to broaden their approach because fraudsters increasingly target predictable human behaviors such as urgency, familiarity and authority.
“Why would a bad guy hack a system, which is really hard to get into, when he can just hack my brain, which is pretty easy to get into?” she said.
That shift helps explain why impersonation scams continue to grow. Criminals are no longer simply forging emails. They are creating increasingly convincing identities, conversations and scenarios designed to earn a victim’s trust.
“We have an identity problem when it comes to scams and fraud,” Velasquez said. “That’s the bottom line.”
Modern fraud is designed to fool careful people
Velasquez also challenged a common assumption that sophisticated fraud primarily succeeds because victims are careless or uninformed.
“The fraud that we’re seeing right now is specifically designed to fool very smart people, careful people,” she said.
That perspective changes how organizations should think about prevention. Consumer education remains important, but education alone cannot eliminate risk when criminals continually refine their tactics.
Instead of assuming fraud happens only to the uninformed, organizations should recognize that today’s social engineering attacks are specifically engineered to exploit normal human behavior during complex, high-value transactions.
Trust is changing, not disappearing
The second podcast episode featuring Velasquez shifted from fraud tactics to a broader discussion about trust itself.
“I don’t think trust is dying,” Velasquez said. “The foundations of trust have fundamentally changed.”
For decades, professionals have relied on emails, phone calls, documents, signatures and even video meetings as evidence that someone is who they claim to be. Increasingly, AI-generated content and sophisticated impersonation techniques are making those signals less reliable.
“It’s more about the signals that we’ve relied on,” she said. “That’s just not how it works anymore.”
Rather than abandoning trust, Velasquez believes organizations need to rethink how they establish it. The conversation explored layered verification strategies and emerging approaches such as consent-based biometric verification as one component of a broader identity framework.
Sometimes slowing down improves security
As many industries continue pursuing faster and more seamless customer experiences, Velasquez argued that thoughtfully designed friction can actually improve security.
Whether it is an additional verification step or a brief delay before funds move, those moments can provide an opportunity to identify suspicious activity before money is lost.
“We need society to embrace more friction,” she said. “This friction is great. That means this organization is protecting you, not trying to inconvenience you.”
She added that customer education is part of that process. When consumers understand why additional verification exists, those safeguards become evidence that an organization is protecting them rather than creating unnecessary obstacles.
Fraud affects people long after the transaction
The conversations also explored an aspect of fraud that often receives less attention than financial losses. Victims often recover financially but continue struggling with feelings of violation, manipulation and diminished trust in themselves and the systems they believed would protect them.
Velasquez said organizations should also recognize the toll that fraud prevention can take on employees. The constant responsibility of evaluating transactions, identifying suspicious activity and remaining alert to evolving threats can create what she described as vigilance fatigue.
Additionally, when an incident does occur, employees who work closely with affected customers may also experience compassion fatigue or vicarious trauma.
“I think employees that are a part of this process ... are victims, too,” Velasquez said. “It impacts the staff who’s doing that every day.”
She encouraged employers to look at resources on compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma and consider how those principles can help support their own teams.
Preparing for what comes next
Although AI continues reshaping the fraud landscape, Velasquez remains optimistic.
“What gives me hope is that it’s people,” she said. “The human factor matters.”
As more interactions become automated and more communications become easier to imitate, she believes trusted relationships and thoughtful verification processes will become increasingly valuable.
For title and settlement professionals, the message is not that existing fraud prevention efforts have become obsolete. Technical safeguards remain an essential foundation. At the same time, organizations will need to continue adapting their verification practices, employee training and customer communication as fraud tactics continue to evolve.
You can view the entire episodes here and here.