Tips, guides, and insights about international money transfers and exchange rates.




**Real estate wire fraud** occurs when criminals intercept or impersonate communications between parties in a property closing and redirect the buyer's wire transfer to a fraudster-controlled bank account. The target could be your down payment, your earnest money deposit, or your entire settlement balance.

A romance scam is a confidence fraud in which a criminal creates a fake online identity, builds a fabricated romantic relationship over weeks or months, and then exploits that manufactured emotional bond to extract money, most commonly through international wire transfers, gift cards, or cryptocurrency.

This guide covers every major fraud type you need to know, how detection systems work, proven prevention strategies for consumers and businesses, and exactly what to do if fraud happens to you. For detailed scam-by-scam playbooks, see the companion wire transfer scams guide. For broader risk categories including cybersecurity, exchange rate, and operational risks, see the international money transfer risks overview.



- Most international transfers carry multiple layers of fees, not just one visible charge. - The **exchange rate markup** is often the single largest hidden cost, yet it never appears as a line item. - Banks charge anywhere from **$30 to $50** for outgoing wire transfers, plus additional fees on the receiving end. - SWIFT transfers can pass through two or three intermediary banks, each deducting their own fee. - Specialist transfer services like Wise, OFX, and Remitly typically offer significantly lower total costs than traditional banks. - You can calculate the true cost of any transfer using a simple formula: **sending fee + markup + receiving fee**. - The CFPB requires US-based providers to disclose all fees and exchange rates upfront before you confirm a remittance transfer.