CertifID’s Tyler Adams on deepfakes, fraud and protecting homebuyers

Cybercriminals are not inventing entirely new schemes in 2025. They are perfecting old ones.

According to Tyler Adams, CEO and co-founder of CertifID, fraudsters are combining artificial intelligence (AI) with patience, timing and realism to exploit real estate transactions in increasingly convincing ways. From AI-generated voice impersonations to email monitoring and highly targeted wire fraud, the landscape of threats continues to evolve.

In this Q&A with HousingWire, Adams discusses the latest cybersecurity developments, the rise of deepfakes, real-world fraud cases CertifID has helped stop or unwind, and what title and real estate companies must do now to protect consumers and themselves.

Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Jonathan Delozier: What are you seeing this year in terms of new wire fraud patterns or the evolution of what criminals are throwing at the title ecosystem?

Tyler Adams: In 2025, the biggest shift we saw was not necessarily brand-new fraud types, but more so criminals getting much better at timing, context and realism.

When deepfakes were discussed in 2023 or even 2024, legitimate usage in fraud tactics seemed really far away. But then in 2025, it just changed. We’ve received reported attacks of fraudsters successfully mimicking voices of real people involved in a transaction, often using short audio samples pulled from voicemail or LinkedIn.

It’s pretty crazy, and in several cases, the voice itself sounded convincing enough that the call passed what used to be considered a verification step.

At the same time all that’s going on, criminals are just getting better at timing and context. They’re involved at multiple steps — handling long, drawn-out cons, monitoring emails for weeks, and knowing exactly when to place phone calls or reinforce fraudulent messaging throughout the transaction.

They’re using AI but combining it with human patience, and that’s what makes this feel more intense and different today than ever before.

JD: What success stories or close calls have stood out to you this year where fraud was stopped or nearly became catastrophic?

TA: We’ve seen millions of transactions, and when signals are surfaced early, we’re consistently able to help avoid losses.

What’s interesting for us is that we get to look at two datasets: our core fraud prevention technology and all of the inbound calls that come into our fraud recovery team. When you look at those two datasets, you can find some really interesting correlations between the two.

This year, we crossed over $100 million in funds we were able to help recover for victims. I think the number is north of $120 million now. These are dollars that were actively sent to fraudsters, and we worked with our partners, including the United States Secret Service, to freeze accounts and try to recover funds.

We had a $12 million loss tied to mediation in a large commercial real estate deal. After mediation determined who was owed the money, the law firm handling it got tricked into sending the funds to the wrong place.

Just thinking through all those steps, they finally had closure and then suddenly they were defrauded. We were successful in returning those funds, but it’s a cautionary tale that fraudsters were likely tracking that deal long before the mediation phase.

JD: You mentioned that individual homebuyers are still heavily impacted. Why do those cases hit hardest?

TA: We always say the smallest amounts are the most painful. Two reasons: Smaller amounts typically don’t get recovered because financial institutions don’t slow them down, and for those buyers, it’s often all of their savings. That down payment might represent years of effort. Those are really, really sad situations.

JD: What verification practices are proving most effective at stopping fraud before closing?

TA: The most effective protections aren’t complicated, but they have to be consistent. That means confirming wiring instructions using trusted contact information established early — not whatever shows up in an email at the end of the deal — and using fraud prevention tools, point blank.

We see much better outcomes when companies use technology alongside layered verification — identity verification, device signaling, pattern tracking and human awareness when something feels off or out of whack. Those are getting harder to identify.

If a property was vacant land and the owner needed to sell it fast and below market value, those should be red flags where you’re able to slow down a deal, recognize that maybe something is off. The companies that make wire verification mandatory — no matter the deal size or who’s involved — are the ones really stopping fraud.

JD: What’s holding some companies back from making wire verification mandatory?

TA: We’ve come a really long way. A few years ago, leaders worried they’d lose employees if they added mandatory steps. Now people are actually appreciative of working for a company that protects them, because there’s a lot of guilt and shame when someone accidentally sends a fraudulent wire.

In some organizations that are run really well, they say it’s mandatory and operations follow really fast. Others say it’s mandatory and the operations have some lag to catch up. That’s where we try to help — we try to be that technology partner that isn’t just a tool. We want to help you adopt the tool.

JD: Deepfakes are becoming more accessible. How real is that threat today?

In response, Adams demonstrated a sobering example of evolving technology by sharing a presentation from a recent conference that replaced CertifID co-founder and executive chairman Tom Cronkright’s face with those of Adam Sandler and Dwayne Johnson.

TA: That cost me 10 bucks online to get a profile on that account and to be able to develop that — and I did it in, like, an afternoon. That was a single image of Tom, a single image of Adam Sandler and a single image of Dwayne Johnson.

I use that video to help customers understand just how easy it is for these technologies to be adapted and used. I mean, what we see there was nowhere near available a year ago.

Imagine how good this will be in three years, much less 12 months. It’s insane. This isn’t fear mongering — it’s education. We have to be aware of what we’re up against and what fraudsters will use.”

JD: What steps should companies take in 2025 to strengthen incident response, verification and training?

TA: Don’t delay setting up your security processes, and once you set them up, don’t waiver from them. Incidents are going to happen, so prepare for that reality. Companies need clear, written response plans and they need to practice them. Confusion and delays are the costliest parts of fraud.

Employees need to see what modern fraud really looks like — messaging that feels reasonable and familiar. Fraudsters won’t stop at a spoofed email. If they get into a deal, they’ll push every angle they can.

Companies need to think about fraud risk across the entire transaction — vendors, partners, real estate agents. Security in real estate is a shared responsibility. If you’re not looping in your real estate agent partners and getting them to think about fraud in the same way that you think about it, or at least share in, ‘Hey, it’s our responsibility to protect the consumers that are involved,’ then something’s going to break down.

Our goal is eventually bringing all the real estate agents into this fold. If we all band together, if we all have a similar message, that’s our only shot at really combating fraud over time.