Real Estate Cybercrimes Up in Pa.

Pennsylvania residents lost more than $537 million from cybercrimes last year, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s 2025 IC3 report. Pennsylvania ranked sixth in the country, with more than 31,000 complaints filed. Losses for the state were up 34% compared to 2024.

Overall, internet crimes defrauded Americans across the country of nearly $21 billion, with cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence-related complaints among the costliest.

Nationwide, real estate crime complaints rose to 12,370 in 2025, up 32% from 9,359 in 2024. Real estate crimes resulted in more than $275 million in losses across the country, up nearly 62% from the previous year.

Last year in Pennsylvania, there were 424 real estate cybercrime victims, resulting in $7.249 million in victim losses, which is more than three times the losses in 2024.

“PAR receives more calls each year regarding a host of cybercrimes, like deed and title fraud, consumer wire fraud scams and vacant land listing scams,” says PAR Chief Legal Officer Hank Lerner.

“In addition, the State Real Estate Commission has recently issued sanctions in several cases where licensees were fooled by cybercriminals or did not follow appropriate procedures to protect the clients’ personal information,” Lerner says. “Agents have a responsibility to protect their clients’ information and educate them about the potential for wire fraud.”

According to the FBI, cryptocurrency crimes reported the highest losses, totaling more than $11 billion. “Costly tactics used by scammers also include compromised corporate emails, tech support fraud and personal data breaches,” the FBI noted in a release.