Why Real Estate Service Providers Are Racing to Bundle Scam Protection

Written by:

Steve Marcinuk

Date:

06 Jan 2026

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The real estate services industry is facing a sharp change in customer expectations around security. According to industry insiders, the debate is no longer about whether to offer scam protection, but how quickly companies can add it to their service packages.

James Harkins, head of business development at American Identity Group, a firm that partners with real estate service providers to embed identity-theft and scam-protection measures, says the market has changed rapidly. “When we started in the identity theft protection business 15 years ago, there were times that we had to explain what identity theft protection is,” Harkins recalls. “There’s no more explaining it. Everyone’s been hacked in some capacity. Everyone’s been approached with a scam.”

This widespread awareness is driving both opportunity and urgency for real estate service providers. Customers now expect identity theft and scam protection to be included with their transaction, not sold as an optional add-on.

Bundling as the New Standard

Harkins says the most effective approach is to embed these protections as standard services. “We are B to B to C,” he explains. “We partner with established businesses, and we are embedding ourselves in their service, with their contract. For example, with a Home Warranty contract, the consumer receives identity protection. That is the reason for a big part of our growth and our scale.”

This model applies to the real estate sector, where providers already have direct relationships with customers in significant financial transactions. Title companies, home warranty firms, and mortgage providers can add protection services at the point of transaction with little extra effort. The process is streamlined: instead of relying on customers to recognize risks and seek coverage, bundled services automatically provide protection.

“All of our programs are basically designed to be bolted on,” Harkins says. This integration means customers receive protection as a default part of their real estate transaction, eliminating the friction of separate sign-ups.

Financial Rationale for Providers

For real estate service providers considering whether to add protection, the cost argument is strong. Harkins emphasizes that when pitching potential partners, pricing is key. “When we approach a potential partner, we make the case that it would be a good idea to add this service along with your consumer service,” he explains. “Our message is that because of our scale, identity theft protection and scam programs are so inexpensive at the wholesale level, it’s a no-brainer to attach or bolt on to anyone’s consumer service.”

American Identity Group’s wholesale pricing is made possible by its operations across multiple industries—home warranty, auto finance, insurance, title, and reverse mortgage providers—enabling economies of scale that single providers cannot achieve. This broad reach allows them to offer low-cost protection services that providers can bundle without raising prices or losing competitiveness, while still delivering meaningful value to customers.

Risk Management Now Central

Aside from competitive positioning, risk management is now a core reason to offer bundled protection. If a customer is victimized by identity theft or a scam after working with a real estate provider, the provider may suffer reputational damage or lose trust, even if not legally responsible.

Harkins says this factor led the company to expand into scam protection. “We were pushed into looking at the scam space because, along with identity theft protection, there is a huge scam market,” he says. “So we developed a program and a service to address scams and help seniors avoid being scammed.”

Bundling identity theft and scam protection creates a two-pronged defense: identity theft protection helps clients recover from compromised information. In contrast, scam protection aims to prevent incidents in the first place. Together, these services address both the fallout from and the prevention of financial fraud, which is increasingly relevant as scams targeting real estate transactions grow more sophisticated.

Industry-Wide Adoption Patterns

The adoption of bundled protection services is spreading across multiple real estate-adjacent sectors. American Identity Group now works with home warranty firms, title companies, reverse mortgage providers, and fall alert companies serving seniors.

This range of partnerships suggests that bundled protection is quickly becoming an industry standard rather than a unique selling point. “Identity theft protection and scams are top of mind for anyone,” Harkins notes. Service providers who fail to offer protection may find themselves at a disadvantage as customers come to expect it as a basic service.

The company recently launched a new scam alert service specifically for seniors, designed to help stop scams in real time. Will Smith, National Sales Coordinator at American Identity Group, describes the service as a shift from reactive identity theft recovery to proactive scam prevention, reflecting the growing demand for real-time intervention.

Why Protection Is Now Expected

The urgency for real estate service providers to bundle protection is driven by the fact that nearly everyone has experienced some form of hacking or scam attempt. This reality has erased the need to educate consumers about the risks and raised the baseline for what customers expect from their service providers.

Whether bundled protection becomes universal will depend on how quickly major players respond to the new standard. In a market where security breaches and scams are commonplace, offering comprehensive protection is no longer optional—it is a requirement to maintain customer trust and remain competitive.