The Taylor Weiner Team is a mortgage team based at 1650 Pacific Coast Highway in Seal Beach, California, serving Orange County, Los Angeles and borrowers throughout California. The team originates residential mortgage loans as part of Lower, LLC (NMLS ID# 1124061). This release uses Cybersecurity Awareness Month, the October campaign led by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), to summarize what the FBI's 2025 Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) report says about real estate and email-compromise fraud. It also sets out the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's five published steps for protecting closing funds.
Reported losses from real estate fraud rose 58% in 2025, according to the FBI's 2025 Internet Crime Report. The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center recorded 12,368 real estate fraud complaints and $275,110,419 in reported losses, up from 9,359 complaints and $173,586,820 in 2024. The report also documents a closing scam of the kind that targets homebuyers. In August 2025, buyers closing on a home received an email that impersonated their attorneys and wired more than $449,000 to a fraudulent account before the fraud was discovered. The Taylor Weiner Team says the defense against this kind of scam is a phone call placed before the wire is sent. It is publishing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) closing-scam steps for Orange County buyers during October, which the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) designates as Cybersecurity Awareness Month.
What does the FBI's 2025 report show about real estate fraud?
The FBI released the 2025 IC3 Annual Report in April 2026. It is based on 1,008,597 complaints of cyber-enabled crime and $20.877 billion in reported losses. The figures most relevant to homebuyers are:
- Real estate fraud: 12,368 complaints and $275,110,419 in losses in 2025, compared with 9,359 complaints and $173,586,820 in 2024. Losses rose 58% and complaints 32%.
- Complainants aged 60 and older: 2,473 real estate fraud complaints and $123,671,936 in losses, about 45% of the category's reported losses in 2025.
- Business email compromise (BEC): 24,768 complaints and $3,046,598,558 in losses in 2025. The FBI's worked example of an email-impersonation scam at a home closing is classed as "BEC/Real Estate".
- California: first among all states, with 116,414 complaints and $3,674,716,305 in reported losses across all crime types in 2025.
The IC3 defines its "real estate fraud" category as loss of funds from a real estate investment or fraud involving rental or timeshare property. Closing-fund diversion by email impersonation is typically reported as business email compromise, so the two figures should be read side by side rather than added together.
How do closing-fund scams work, and what can a buyer do?
According to the CFPB, days before a scheduled closing, scammers send an email that appears to come from the buyer's agent with "last-minute changes for wiring or electronically transferring your mortgage closing funds." The CFPB's guidance for homebuyers lists five steps:
- Identify two trusted individuals. Write down the primary contact information for your real estate and settlement agents, who can safely confirm payment and closing details, and consider a code phrase that only they know.
- Beware of last-minute changes to the closing process, especially changes that arrive by email.
- Avoid using phone numbers or links in an email. Confirm with your trusted representatives, using only the phone numbers you saved.
- Do not email financial information. The CFPB calls email "never a secure way to send sensitive financial or personal information."
- Be mindful of phone conversations. Callers may ask you to verify personal information, so always refer back to your trusted representatives.
If money has already been sent, the CFPB and the FBI both say timing is critical. Contact your bank or wire-transfer company immediately to request a recall, and file a complaint at ic3.gov. In the August 2025 case, the IC3 Recovery Asset Team asked the receiving bank to freeze the account. The bank reported that the full amount was still in the account and on hold.
How does the Taylor Weiner Team help buyers prepare for closing day?
The team's home-buying process and first-time homebuyer guide set out each stage from pre-approval to escrow and closing. The CFPB's first step fits into that sequence: buyers should record the phone numbers of their lender, agent and settlement agent when escrow opens, before any wiring instructions arrive. Buyers can check any mortgage professional's license on the NMLS Consumer Access portal and see the team's licensing on its Licensing page.
“The riskiest day in a home purchase is usually the day the money moves, not the day the offer is accepted," said Taylor Weiner, Senior Mortgage Advisor, the Taylor Weiner Team (NMLS 263090). "Save the numbers for your lender, your agent and your escrow officer when escrow opens. If an email ever changes where your money is supposed to go, assume it is fraud until you have confirmed it by calling a number you saved yourself."
Buyers preparing for a fall closing can contact the Taylor Weiner Team with questions about the steps between approval and closing.
Supporting evidence
All figures come from the FBI's 2025 IC3 Annual Report (PDF published at ic3.gov, April 2026), specifically the tables for crime types, the three-year comparison, complaints by state and age groups, and the Recovery Asset Team case examples. Year-over-year percentages are Locafy's calculations from the report's published figures. IC3 data are self-reported complaints, and not every victim files one. The protective steps are taken from the CFPB publication "Buying a home? Beware of mortgage closing scams." The Cybersecurity Awareness Month dates and CISA's 2026 theme, "Securing the Next 250", are from CISA's Cybersecurity Awareness Month page.
Key Features and Facts
- Location: 1650 Pacific Coast Highway Unit C, Seal Beach, CA 90740, serving Orange County, Los Angeles and borrowers throughout California.
- Core services: Purchase and refinance lending across fixed-rate, adjustable-rate, FHA, VA, USDA, jumbo and interest-only loans, reverse mortgages, down payment assistance programs and non-QM programs, plus HELOC and home equity loans.
- Licensing: Taylor Weiner, Senior Mortgage Advisor, NMLS 263090, California. The team originates as part of Lower, LLC, NMLS ID# 1124061.
- FBI IC3, 2025 real estate fraud: 12,368 complaints and $275.1 million in reported losses, up from $173.6 million in 2024.
- CFPB closing-scam guidance: five steps, starting with identifying two trusted contacts and confirming any payment change only through phone numbers the buyer saved in advance.
About the Taylor Weiner Team
The Taylor Weiner Team is a mortgage team based in Seal Beach, California, that helps buyers and homeowners in Orange County, Los Angeles and throughout California purchase, refinance and access home equity. The team originates residential mortgage loans as part of Lower, LLC (NMLS ID# 1124061), 5950 Symphony Woods Road, Suite 312, Columbia, MD 21044. Taylor Weiner NMLS 263090. Equal Housing Opportunity. Licensing can be verified at nmlsconsumeraccess.org. Not an offer of credit or commitment to make a loan. All approvals are subject to underwriting guidelines. The Taylor Weiner Team is not affiliated with or endorsed by the FBI, the CFPB, CISA or any government agency. Visit twteam.com for more information.
Media contact
Taylor Weiner
Senior Mortgage Advisor, NMLS 263090
The Taylor Weiner Team
Phone: (714) 658-4912
Email: tweiner@twteam.com
1650 Pacific Coast Highway Unit C
Seal Beach, CA 90740
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newsroom: news.38digitalmarket.com
Source: 38 Digital Market News
Release ID: 2659858
