THE MONEY GOES TO A NAMED HOLDER IN TRUST, AND THE WIRE IS CONFIRMED BY PHONE, NOT EMAIL.

Under the Colorado contract, earnest money is payable to and held by a named earnest money holder, typically the title company or a brokerage named in the contract, in its trust account on behalf of both seller and buyer (Section 4.3, VERIFIED). It is not paid to the seller. A buyer who validly terminates under one of the contract's own rights, such as the inspection, loan or title deadlines, is owed the earnest money back under the contract; outside that, the dispute provision has the holder release the money only on written mutual instructions signed by both buyer and seller, or through an interpleader to a court, so neither side can take it alone (PROBABLE, read on the 2019 form).

The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center warns that business email compromise scammers target every participant in a real estate transaction, monitor the deal by email and time a fraudulent request to change the payment type or destination; its core recommendation is to verify all requests for a change in payment through a secondary channel, not by replying to the email (IC3, VERIFIED). The title industry's sample warnings tell buyers to call the escrow officer immediately using previously known contact information and not information provided in the email (ALTA, VERIFIED). The CFPB adds: identify two trusted individuals before closing to confirm the process and the payment instructions, and never confirm wiring instructions from a link or a phone number inside an email (VERIFIED).

The CFPB says to contact your bank or wire transfer company immediately and ask for a wire recall (VERIFIED). IC3 says to file a complaint at ic3.gov regardless of the amount lost, then contact the local FBI field office about the transfer (VERIFIED). Neither source promises recovery; both say the odds fall with every hour.