The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received more than 12,000 real estate fraud complaints last year, according to a new report. According to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR), in a story by Eliana Block, online real estate fraud climbed to $275M in 2025.
Cyber criminals stole more than $275 million through real estate-related fraud from at least 12,368 victims last year. Those figures are higher than 2024 and 2023—which saw 9,359 complaints totaling more than $173 million in losses and 9,521 complaints totaling about $145 million, respectively—but significantly less than 2022’s peak of 11,727 complaints and $397 million in losses.
IC3 considers financial loss from a real estate investment or fraud involving rental or timeshare property as “real estate fraud.”
The report explains how most everyone, regardless of age and real estate experience, can fall victim to these crimes, with people in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s submitting an equal amount of real estate-related fraud reports last year.
The report notes that total cybercrime losses have reached about $20.9 billion, emphasizing how AI is shaping fraud by helping schemers appear more convincing and thwarting victims by becoming harder to detect.
“AI technology enables the creation of convincing synthetic content, such as social media profiles and personalized conversations, often in mass quantities,” the report notes. “People have manipulated video and audio similarly for decades, but the widespread availability of this developing technology makes it possible to create high-quality content.”
