BrokerVA
BrokerVA Team · October 27, 2026

The Human Check on Wire Fraud: Why Verification Still Starts With a Person

The Human Check on Wire Fraud: Why Verification Still Starts With a Person

Real estate fraud cost victims $275.1 million across 12,368 FBI complaints in 2025, and the most reliable defense against fraudulent wire instructions is still a person calling a number they already trust. Here is what the numbers show and how to build the check into funding, as part of our series on the human element in mortgage.

What Do the 2025 Numbers Show?

The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received 12,368 real estate fraud complaints and $275.1 million in reported losses in 2025, according to HousingWire's coverage of the report. That is up from roughly $174 million the year before, per American Banker.

Business email compromise, a scheme that frequently targets closings and wire transfers, ranked second in total losses across all industries at $3.04 billion across 24,768 complaints, HousingWire reports.

One caution matters: IC3's "real estate fraud" category is broader than closing wire fraud. RISMedia notes that IC3 counts losses from real estate investment fraud and fraud involving rental or timeshare property. So the $275.1 million shows the scale of the threat to real estate transactions, not the amount lost at loan closings. These are also reported complaints, not a full count.

How Does Wire Fraud Usually Work?

Through the communication channel, not the bank. Title insurer Old Republic Title describes it as fraudulent wiring instructions sent to real estate agents, title companies, and customers. A criminal who has compromised or imitated a trusted party's email sends altered instructions at the moment money is about to move. The email can look entirely legitimate, which is why the defense can't rely on spotting a bad-looking message.

The FBI's report also notes AI-assisted tactics. American Banker reports IC3 documented 115 real estate complaints involving AI tools, with about $2.7 million in losses, and warned of AI voice cloning used to induce wire transfers. The numbers are small, but they matter for how you verify.

Why Does a Person Calling Work?

Because it uses a different channel from the one the criminal controls. The standard guidance from the title industry is consistent: verify wiring instructions in person or by phone, using a number you already have, according to the American Land Title Association's consumer resource. Old Republic Title adds that you should call the real person, not the alleged sender, and never use contact information from the message that contained the instructions.

Those sources are title industry bodies and insurers, who have an interest in fraud prevention, but the advice is widely repeated and aligned with the FBI's reporting guidance.

With voice cloning in the picture, our view is that the phone number matters more than the voice. Call a number you already trust, and don't treat a familiar-sounding voice on an inbound call as proof.

How Should You Build a Verification Routine?

These steps are our recommendations, built on the guidance above.

  1. Start from a verified source. Take instructions from the party in person, or from a contact you have independently verified, not from a forwarded email.
  2. Call back on a number you already have. Not the number in the email.
  3. Confirm the details, including the bank name, routing number, account number, and the name on the account.
  4. Treat any change as a red flag, and verify it again from scratch.
  5. Separate roles. One person prepares the wire summary, another reviews it, and a third authorizes funding.
  6. Record it. Capture who verified what, through which channel, and when.
  7. Protect the email itself. ALTA's guidance includes multi-factor authentication on email accounts.

See Mortgage Funding Day Checklist for the full funding sequence, and How to Add AI Without Losing the Human Check for why records matter.

What If a Wire Goes to the Wrong Place?

Act immediately. ALTA's guidance is to ask your bank to request a wire recall and contact the receiving bank, then file a complaint at IC3.gov with full transaction details. Speed matters. HousingWire reports that IC3's Financial Fraud Kill Chain recovery team initiated 3,900 incidents in 2025, freezing $679 million of $1.16 billion in attempted thefts, a 58% success rate. That describes cases the team handled, not every fraud, and results vary.

Where Does Technology Fit?

It supports the human check, but doesn't replace it. Secure portals and email authentication reduce the chance of a compromised channel, and tools can flag unusual patterns. The decision to release money still belongs to a person who has verified the instructions. That's why wire verification is one of the checkpoints in our stage-by-stage map.

How Does BrokerVA Fit?

Funding is one of our five stage-based roles. Our Funding Specialists review finalized loan packages for completeness and accuracy, prepare wire summaries and verify final figures, balance figures with title companies prior to disbursement, submit documents to warehouse banks for approval, and coordinate wire transfers and issue funding authorization. We don't claim to prevent fraud or errors, and accountability for the loan stays with you and your licensed people.

Our goal is to lower your cost to originate. Every client gets a dedicated Coach for a 6-week implementation, who learns your processes, workflows, SOPs, and expectations, including your funding procedures and your lender's and warehouse bank's requirements, so your verification steps are part of how the work is done. Support continues through ongoing coaching and regular check-ins. We can't promise a specific saving, since it depends on your operation. On a call, we'll walk through your numbers and show you our cost calculator live. Pricing is customized to your volume and the roles you need. See how BrokerVA works.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you verify wire instructions? Take them from a verified source, then call the party back on a number you already have, never the one in the message, and confirm the bank name, routing number, account number, and name on the account.

What is business email compromise? A scheme where a criminal compromises or imitates a trusted party's email to redirect payments. The FBI reported about $3 billion in losses across industries in 2025.

What should you do if you sent a wire to a fraudster? Contact your bank immediately to request a wire recall, contact the receiving bank, and file a complaint with the FBI's IC3, with full transaction details. Speed matters.

Is the FBI's $275.1 million all closing wire fraud? No. IC3's real estate fraud category also includes real estate investment fraud and rental or timeshare fraud, so it shows the scale of the threat, not closing wire losses specifically.

Sources

Want to see how your funding stage could be supported? Book a call with BrokerVA and we'll walk through your numbers and show you our cost calculator.

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