The Expanded Qualia Shield: Every Wire Checked, Every Time, Automatically

When it comes to targeting the title & escrow industry, fraudsters exploit the lapses in process. The pressure cooker moments. The rush closings and end-of-month chaos when a well-meaning but stressed employee misses an optional step. Millions of dollars are stolen during these gaps created by complex processes every year. 

Today, we’re expanding Qualia Shield to close those gaps.

Shield is now the only wire fraud prevention solution for title & escrow that’s designed to automatically run verifications on every transaction. It can do that because it’s built directly into the title & escrow workflow without the need for point solution integrations. With Shield, protection isn’t optional. It’s integral to every step of every wire sent. 

“We’ve seen the wire fraud threat evolve from opportunistic to industrialized,” said Nate Baker, CEO and Co-Founder of Qualia. “Criminal networks have built operations specifically to target the real estate closing process. They know the pressure points. They know when teams are rushed. And they’ve become very good at exploiting the gaps that exist between disconnected systems. The only way to close those gaps is to make protection automatic and native to where the work happens.”

Shield is built on that premise. This blog covers its updated capabilities, the fraud trends driving the need for them, and how title & escrow firms are using Qualia Shield to stop fraud.

What’s new in Qualia Shield

For title & escrow companies, Shield’s expanded capabilities mean more identities verified, more wires insured, and more transactions protected automatically. They include:

• Shield runs wire risk verifications automatically. They’re triggered every time wire instructions are added or changed, with no manual steps required from settlement agents. That means every eligible transaction gets covered across wire, identity, and payoff types.
• Every wire type is assessable. Shield’s risk assessment coverage now extends to all wire types, including commissions, agent wires, and other categories that were previously outside its scope. No matter the transaction or disbursement type, each wire can be automatically verified or held for required approval. 
• Shield automatically identifies frequently used payees and marks their wires as Low Risk. This eliminates repetitive manual review without sacrificing protection. 
• AI-powered name matching reduces false positive “name mismatch” findings by approximately 70%. It does this by recognizing common formatting differences like initials, suffixes, and hyphenated last names for what they are.
• Verification now goes deeper. Shield verifies bank account ownership directly from the bank’s ownership records, covering all wire types and organization payees. Shield also cross-references submitted identity information against public records databases, flagging mismatches in name, address, Social Security number, date of birth, and other identifying details. Together, these checks add meaningful depth to the verification process, making it harder for fraudulent identities and accounts to go undetected.
• More wires are now potentially eligible for up to $2 million in insurance coverage. Every wire assessed as Low Risk in Shield is eligible for up to $2 million in wire fraud insurance coverage, backed by Lloyd’s of London.¹ About 99% of transactions closed through Qualia fall under that threshold, meaning the vast majority are potentially eligible for coverage when assessed as Low Risk. More accurate risk scoring means more transactions in line for that protection.
• Shield is backed by Qualia’s Fraud Recovery Service, which helps title & escrow companies take immediate action when wire fraud occurs. Seasoned experts guide time-critical recovery steps and coordinate across parties to maximize the chance of getting funds back. The service is available to all Qualia customers and reflects Qualia’s broader approach to fraud protection: layering defenses at every stage.

These capabilities didn’t emerge from a vacuum. They’re a direct response to a fraud environment that has grown more dangerous, and to a fundamental flaw in how most fraud prevention tools are built.

Why Disconnected Fraud Prevention Tools Leave Title & Escrow Exposed

To meet the responsibility of protecting what’s often the largest financial transaction in a person’s life, title & escrow companies need technology that’s made specifically for this industry and native to the operating system teams use every day. That fundamental design principle matters because genuine protection only works if it runs on every transaction. A fraud prevention tool that requires a separate activation and log in, along with optional manual steps, exposes its users to unnecessary risk. It’s a choice. Choices get overlooked. 

With Shield, fraud prevention is not a choice. Embedded into the Qualia platform teams use as their system of record every day, Qualia Shield is the only wire fraud prevention solution for title & escrow designed to run verifications automatically, every time. 

That’s needed now more than ever. Attacks from criminal networks are growing more sophisticated and the proliferation of AI is propelling cyber fraud that’s more frequent and more difficult to detect.  

Hard data emphasizes the threat. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, real estate-related cybercrime losses reached $275.1 million in 2025, a nearly 60% year-over-year increase. 

Title & escrow was in the crosshairs. Based on survey responses from more than 800 title & escrow professionals, Qualia’s just-released special report, Wire Fraud Trends in Title & Escrow, 2026: An Ever-Evolving Threat, shows that 80% of companies experienced a fraud attempt over the past year.

How real title & escrow firms are using Qualia Shield to stop fraud

Faced with this ongoing threat, title & escrow companies are increasingly turning to Qualia Shield to help protect their businesses and their clients. Certainly that’s the case for firms like Hanger Law and Universal Title. 

As fraud attempts mounted and became more sophisticated, leaders at Hanger Law were keen to back their dedicated teams with technology that bolstered protection. The Virginia-based firm chose Shield because it was already native to the Qualia platform it uses every day.  Combining Shield’s capabilities with proven internal protocols, Hanger Law has not been victimized by a fraud attack since adopting Shield.

Universal Title, a title & settlement company operating across Virginia, Maryland, Texas, Washington D.C., and Washington state, turned to Shield to address both security and efficiency. The firm began using Shield to collect seller wire instructions securely and sending wires to its bank, BankUnited, a Qualia Bank Partner Network member. It also started running identity assessments on every transaction. The results showed up quickly.

“We’re able to move much faster, more securely, in our day-to-day operations thanks to Qualia Shield,” says Jennifer Halsted, President, Universal Title. “To me, the game changer is getting secure verification within a single platform.”

To learn more about how Qualia Shield can help automate robust security protections on every closing, contact Qualia today.

1. A wire transfer relying on instructions that received a Low Risk score in Qualia Shield is eligible for up to $2M of coverage. See Policy and Claims Requirements for additional details. ↩︎