Real estate agents have long dealt with the risk of physical threats during showings and open houses, but today, one of the most insidious dangers is entirely digital. And the latest cyberscam doesn’t target consumers—it goes after agents themselves.
According to the U.S. Secret Service, more than 60 real estate agents nationwide have lost a combined $15 million in cryptocurrency scams known as “pig butchering.” The name comes from the practice of scammers gaining trust and gradually encouraging victims to invest more and more money by showing fake profits to make them feel safe. Once you're “fattened up” and all in, the scammers disappear with everything.
Attendees of the REALTORS® Legislative Meetings held in Washington, D.C., in June received an early warning: “[Real estate professionals] are susceptible to these types of scams because they deal in transactions with large amounts of money. The scammers often find their targets through the MLS and agent websites,” Mark Edgren, a network intrusion forensic analyst with the Secret Service, warned attendees.
Cryptoscams often begin with a seemingly innocent contact, such as a wrong-number text or a social media message. Then the scammer builds a rapport, flaunts fake financial savvy, and directs the victim to a fraudulent cryptocurrency platform. The aim: Drain the victim’s bank account one transaction at a time.
Cryptocurrency is a type of digital currency. Bitcoin and Ether are the most well-known cryptocurrencies, but more are being created all the time. It’s even making its way into real estate finance. William Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, has directed Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to consider crypto as part of a buyer’s holdings, without requiring conversion to cash.
But cryptocurrencies are volatile and aren’t backed by any government—and the dynamism of the crypto market makes it ripe for scammers.
The Victims: Agents Share Their Stories
Teri Radcliff, a real estate agent of 11 years with Benchmark Realty LLC in Franklin, Tenn., says she was contacted about a real estate purchase by someone claiming to be a stockbroker. He claimed a budget of $3 million, possibly $5 million. Radcliff verified his crypto funds and sent listings.
He was friendly and persistent, and two weeks into the conversation, he began discussing crypto investing. She was receptive.
He persuaded her to invest. She opened a cryptocurrency wallet app and followed his instructions to a website. Although she had suspicions, she started with $1,000, and then, within two months, added $10,000. Because she could withdraw gains, it felt legitimate.
He then promised to match her investments. Radcliff invested $200,000. When he encouraged her to borrow $250,000 from the platform, she did so, and then she borrowed from her home equity line of credit to pay it off. He advised her to invest offshore, requiring a 10% security deposit to release what she believed was her $2.1 million frozen on the blockchain.
That’s when she turned to an investor friend. “He said, ‘This isn’t real.’ He sat with me and literally punched in some numbers on their website and said, I can make these numbers appear just like he did. I just want you to know you’re being scammed.”
Although she had video conversations with the supposed stockbroker, they never met. She now believes it may have been a deep fake or a very skilled impersonator. “If I could have recognized that this is AI... I would have done more digging and realized it could have been a deepfake or a very, very good actor.”
She contacted law enforcement, and the case is under investigation.
Heather Samuel of LPT Realty in Raleigh, N.C., is another victim. Her family lost $815,000. A man posturing as a lead from her brokerage wanted to view properties. They communicated via FaceTime daily for three weeks. He even sent unsolicited photos, which gave her pause, but they never met in person.
She later believed that he could have been a deepfake.
He claimed he would pay cash, with a $2.5 million budget.
“I said, ‘Oh, you must have a great career. You obviously are doing very well. Congrats. That’s awesome. Maybe one day I’ll get there.’ And he said he could teach me. He shared that he did trading and investments,” Samuel says.
After she explained she wasn’t a risk taker, he suggested starting small: Download an app, open a wallet.
“I said, ‘I want to make sure I’m not being scammed,’ and I actually laughed,” she says. “At this time, I didn’t even know this thing existed, right? I was just kind of making a joke.”
Samuel asked her team lead to run a background check, and they both concluded that the “buyer” seemed valid and that his price point checked out.
She used FOREWARN, a real estate industry tool for identity verification. When the name didn’t match the phone number, she questioned it—but unfortunately, she didn't act on that finding. Inconsistent information is a red flag and should be further investigated.
Samuel began with $500. After three months, she saw a 25%–30% profit. The scammer asked about her family, urging her to involve them too. Her parents and sisters were renovating homes. She successfully withdrew $500, from the app, then $10,000, which gave her confidence.
The family invested $815,000 total, taking out loans and withdrawing from their 401(k)s. When her parents wanted to withdraw $150,000, they were told to pay a security deposit of $200–$1,000. That’s when Samuel knew something was wrong.
She contacted local law enforcement and the FBI.
Both Samuel and Radcliff say they were initially discouraged by the police. Radcliff said the police told her to consider it a loss, and that there was no way to get the money back. She also reported the crime on the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center website (IC3).
In addition, both victims reached out to the Secret Service, which is now investigating. But even the Secret Service expert warned Samuel: “You know the chances of you getting your money back are slim to none. I don’t want you to get your hopes up.”
Adding to the stress, Radcliff and Samuel were later contacted by scam recovery cons pretending to help them recover their losses. Ironically, many crypto scammers are part of broader criminal operations that continue to bully victims.
The Experts: Tips to Help Avoid Financial Disaster
These cases exemplify how the powers of emotional manipulation, social engineering, realistic tech dupes and the appeal of a fast return can lure professionals who typically have sound instincts. The takeaway: If an investment opportunity is one you don’t understand or seems amiss, trust your gut.
Both Samuel and Radcliff downloaded legitimate apps. It was the fake websites they were directed to that masked the scam.
Samuel says, “It is a helpless feeling, because you are kind of ashamed. I can’t tell you how many people have said to me, ‘Well, how dumb are you? I would never give my money to somebody else.’” But she trusted the so-called investment platform. “I didn’t give my money to somebody else. I thought it was my wallet, my app,” she says.
Radcliff agrees. “I caught a lot of shame and despair. I was asked, ‘How could you give this sort of money to someone you don’t know?’ It sounds crazy and ludicrous. I should know better. I was in a vulnerable place personally and they knew how to hook me by manipulating me.”
Retired U.S. Air Force Col. Cedric Leighton is a CNN military analyst and co-founder of CYFORIX, a cybersecurity advisory firm. “Because pig-butchering schemes are often pitched to victims using a romantic (or personal) angle, it’s best to avoid potential entanglements with prospective customers or investment partners, which can be hard to do,” he says. “In essence, try to avoid mixing business with pleasure.”
Like a friendly and persistent client, con artists will work to convey honesty and trustworthiness, he says. “Remember, you’re in the business to make money for yourself and your family; you’re not in the business of making money for other people, especially ones who are presenting you with money-making schemes that seem like they’re too good to be true.”
The Law: Gaining Awareness
Charlie Lee, associate general counsel and vice president of association legal affairs for the National Association of REALTORS®, emphasizes the personal financial risk to professionals.
Unlike other real estate scams, which often target buyers, “as a general matter, pig-butchering scams are targeting real estate professionals to defraud those individuals. So, the legal risks are more personal to the real estate professional and the risk of losing their money,” Lee says.
NAR has new Window to the Law video on these scams, along with a NAR Cryptoscam Awareness Cryptoscam Awareness One Sheetpdf (PDF download) that outlines red flags and best practices.
Broker Leadership Safety Plan
Brokers should already have a risk reduction plan and regularly offer AI cybersecurity training for their agents and staff. Scheduling training to protect consumers from wire fraud should be a high priority. Now, brokers need to realize this same training can protect their agents from financial harm.
“At our brokerage, we prioritize constant vigilance,” says Scott Richard, CEO of Richard Realty and chair of NAR’s Emerging Business and Technology Forum. “We regularly discuss evolving scams and foster a culture where agents feel empowered to slow down, question unfamiliar individuals, and approach every interaction with professionalism before taking action.”
Richard says, “One of our core principles is simple: Never click, open or engage with links or attachments from any channel without first verifying the sender’s identity.”
He is creating tools to prevent these scams. “I’ve been developing AI tools designed to scan sender identities and cross-check requests against known scam patterns. Agents can be overly trusting in the pursuit of new business. The best defense right now is to slow down and question everything.”
Consider these educational resources from NAR:
- REALTOR® Magazine’s The Safety Series: How to Educate Clients About Real Estate Scams
- NAR’s Center for REALTOR® Development e-PRO certification course
The Call to Action: Educate. Verify. Report.
Agents must lead with safety—physical and digital—using tools like FOREWARN, Agent Alert Pro and Tether RE. In addition to having these types of tools in their toolbox, they must conduct due diligence and research on all clients.
Aleks Ring, CEO of Aegis Resolve Consulting, says: “Education and early verification are key.” He recommends agents create crypto forensics tool partnerships and use blockchain tracing tools like Breadcrumbs.app, Arkham Intelligence or Chainabuse to check addresses for scam flags.
These scams aren't going away; they're evolving. “Because of blockchain technologies, the money you invested is often difficult, if not impossible, to trace,” Leighton warns.
Agents should get in the habit of screening new clients across the board and on a consistent basis. Consistency not only helps protect against scams but also helps to avoid fair housing discrimination accusations when every client is screened equally.
- Require an in-person meeting when possible. Most scammers communicate via text message, email, WhatsApp, and sometimes phone.
- Get training to learn how to spot a deepfake video if the client requires a virtual meeting.
- Check app ratings and reviews and perform due diligence before investing.
- Consider adding a warning to your personal or brokerage website. For example, the Pennsylvania Association of REALTORS® advises that scams should be reported to Tiffany Loar with the U.S. Secret Service(CryptoFraud@usss.dhs.gov).
- Crimes must be reported to the FBI at the IC3 website.
And stay alert. Remember: What you don’t know can cost you everything.
