Treat the phone number as the control
Wire fraud succeeds when a familiar email thread is the only thing confirming where money should go. The defense is not a better email banner. It is a callback to a number the settlement team already had on file, made by a person who is not reading the new instructions while dialing.
Write the rule in the closing file before a wire is ever requested: the assistant may compare account details, but only the closing manager or a designated disbursement owner may confirm them. That separation keeps the person who receives a suspicious message from also being the person who clears it.
Capture the instruction without acting on it
When wiring instructions arrive, the assistant saves the message, the attachment, and the envelope details into the transaction record. Record the sender address, the time received, the stated bank, the routing number, the account number, and the beneficiary name exactly as written. Do not retype from a screenshot when the original attachment is available.
Flag any change from a prior instruction set. A new bank, a new account holder, a revised routing number, or a sudden urgency note all move the item out of routine processing. The flag should name what changed and who was notified, not simply say review needed.
Run the callback with a fixed script
The caller dials the number stored in the title file or the number printed on the lender's own verified documentation, never a number supplied in the suspicious message. The script asks the bank or sender to confirm the beneficiary name, the last four digits of the account, and whether the instruction was issued on the date shown.
Log the call time, the number dialed, the name of the person who answered, and the answers given. If the call goes to voicemail, the verification is incomplete. A voicemail greeting is not a confirmation, and a returned call to an unknown number does not repair the gap.
Handle a mismatch without improvising
If the name, account, or date does not match, stop the disbursement and preserve the original message. Notify the closing manager and the lender contact through a separate channel. Do not ask the sender to explain the discrepancy by replying to the same email, because that reply may reach the same compromised mailbox.
A mismatch is not resolved by a second email that looks more official. It is resolved by an independent confirmation from the institution that holds the account, or by holding funds until the parties provide instructions through a verified process.
Attach the evidence to the file
The completed callback record belongs beside the disbursement entry, not in a personal folder. Include the instruction copy, the verification log, the identity of the verifier, and the date the funds were released. If the instruction was later corrected, keep both versions and note which one governed the transfer.
A reviewer should be able to answer three questions from the file alone: what was requested, how it was verified, and who approved the release. If any answer requires asking the person who did the work, the record is not finished.
Review callbacks as a weekly sample
Pull a small sample of completed wires each week and check that the dialed number came from an approved source, that the log was completed before release, and that any exception has an owner. Look for patterns such as repeated voicemail confirmations or instructions that arrived outside normal channels.
The measure that matters is not how many wires closed. It is how many releases had an independent verification recorded before funds moved, and how quickly a flagged instruction reached a person with authority to stop it.
Questions
Can the assistant confirm wiring instructions directly with the bank?
The assistant can place the callback and document the answers when the settlement team has approved that step and the number comes from a verified source. Authority to release funds stays with the designated disbursement owner.
What if the sender insists the old number is disconnected?
That urgency is a reason to slow down. Confirm through the lender or bank using contact details already in the file, and hold the disbursement until the institution independently confirms the account.
How long should callback records be kept?
Follow the brokerage or title agency retention schedule and the lender's requirements. The practical minimum is the life of the transaction plus the period the agency can be asked to defend the disbursement.