How to avoid being scammed by fraudulent solicitors

mi5tery

Richard_Webster wrote: »

Yes, but it is CS's job to check things like this and if didn't then he is probably negligent and you could recover from his indemnity insurers if you suffer loss. They then try to pursue VS.

I absolutely agree with you about it being the job of the CS to verify the VS's legitimacy and also to check the VS's bank account. In my case I was not made aware that for the sum of a mere £12 the VS's bank account could have been checked - seriously which buyer in their right minds would say no to that charge? £12 would have potentially saved us having to go through the harrowing ordeal that we did.

Regardless of it being the CS's responsibility, the fact of the matter is nobody wants to go through the experience of trying to recover their funds. We all need to be aware of how we can minimise such a thing as happened to me (amongst others) happening again to others - which is the purpose of this thread. I can't even begin to explain the emotional strain and difficulty such an experience bears on the relationships and family of everybody involved. Prevention is definitely better than cure.

mi5tery

mi5tery

FYI: I updated 4.1 for clarity.

I updated a few others for the same reason earlier, but only just realised that the 'reason for editing gets replaced instead of being added to. I'll post if I make any updates beyond typo's.

mi5tery

rrtt

ValHaller wrote: »

Thanks for a very comprehensive post. I would only disagree with the following:



It is often helpful to be in direct contact with the vendor for all kinds of reasons which are not appropriate to run through solicitors or even through the agent. Would you really have solicitors pass essages about when bin day is for example?

I would say that direct contact is another opportunity to feel any vibe that something is not right. The appropriate caution for direct contact is to take everything with a pinch of salt and anything which is important should be confirmed via the agent or via the solicitors as appropriate.

Thought I'd just add for the sake of all possible awareness re scamming in conveyancing, that when I was looking on my council's website for details of Easter bin collections (!) I came across a feature by the (official) Land Registry on protecting your property, once bought, from fraud. Basically, some fraudsters sometimes use properties they don't own to raise mortgages on or even sell without the knowledge of the legitimate owner - particularly at risk are those which aren't registered, which are owned outright (no mortgage), or where the owner is absent (eg abroad, elderly person in long hospital stay). There are various ways of protecting yourself from this - making sure your property is registered with the LR is obvious; but for free you can also, eg, set up alerts by email from the LR if there's "activity" relating to your property, eg searches. That's the most basic and simple option, there are others including measures to protect you from anyone else forging your signature on deeds (costs £40).

http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/public/property-fraud

buglawton

Nice opening post.

stargirl04

Just bumping this back to the top.

mi5tery

Hi all,

I kind of dropped the ball on this so I apologise. The BBC fake Britain episode (Season 5, Episode 3), covered Nick Christophi's experience with fraudulent solicitors. Sadly it's no longer on BBC iPlayer. I only just watched it which is why I'm posting now - sincere apologies.

mi5tery

mi5tery

Hi all,

It seems The Law Society are hoping to launch a new service this spring called Veyo (http://www.veyo.co.uk).

According to the Veyo website:

The new online service, called Veyo, is a joint venture between The Law Society and Mastek UK, a global IT solutions specialist. It is designed to bring together all the processes, checks and documentation prepared and undertaken by solicitors and licensed conveyancers in the sale and purchase of residential properties.

How well this service will work remains to be seen. Whether checks are made on solicitor bank accounts or if simply this is meant as a single point of call for all conveyancing related documentation is unclear to me. I'm also not sure what is meant by "Verification of the other side".

mi5tery

davidmcn

mi5tery wrote: »

I'm also not sure what is meant by "Verification of the other side".

Presumably, confirmation that the entity you are dealing with is in fact another firm of solicitors, and not a scammer with a fake letterhead.

mi5tery

davidmcn wrote: »

Presumably, confirmation that the entity you are dealing with is in fact another firm of solicitors, and not a scammer with a fake letterhead.

In which case is there an assumption that the "other side" will also be using the same system? If not, will there still be any form of verification?

Just more questions I guess we won't necessarily know the answer to until the system is launched.