Need advice on finding a conveyancer

robertsmith2819

A friend of mine was a victim of fraud when buying a property.

The conveyancer's bank account details (sent on an email) were intercepted by a hacker, who modified the bank account number and sort-code. My friend then received the email and thus transferred the deposit to the account detailed within the email. In the end they lost thousands and only with the help of the bank recovered some of the money. The conveyancer didnt help at all.

Because of this I am very cautious about choosing a conveyancer and have no idea how to make sure the conveyancer will protect me during the transaction, especially when transferring / storing data.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated?

Regards,

Robert

pixiepeep

I've dealt with 2 conveyancers over the last year. Each has reiterated that cases like this have happened in the past and if we received any email providing a change of bank details then phone them directly to confirm.

It's a matter of protecting yourself.

If you're concerned about email hacking then get a local conveyancer and do everything in person?

SuzieSue

It is not the conveyancer's fault if fraudsters intercept his emails.

All you need to do is make sure you either do a small test payment to the bank account given to you or you ring up the conveyancer's accounts department using the phone number on their website (not on the email) and confirm the bank details over the phone.

No-one should rely on bank details which are emailed to them. Conveyancers are being targeted at the moment because they deal with high value transactions, but is is becoming more and more common in other industries too.

davidmcn

SuzieSue wrote: »

It is not the conveyancer's fault if fraudsters intercept his emails.

Well, it might be depending on how the interception was done. But in any event it's easy enough to avoid such a fraud once you're alert to the methods. I can't see that it's a criterion for deciding which conveyancer to use.

sallyconstable

If time and convenience plays an important factor in your life e.g. not having to meet face to face. Then there are things you can look out for regarding conveyancer's and online security.

I used a conveyancer in April that was a member of the SafeMoveScheme website that allowed me to confirm their bank account details online, verified by a 3rd party. I thought this was very convenience to use just before sending the deposit. Piece of mind.

Elfbert

I just rang my conveyancer to check the details before I did anything like electronic transfer of funds. Otherwise handed over a cheque in person.

I think there are easy ways around your worries, OP.

bobobski

We property lawyers are being told never to send back details in "readable" format (e.g. unreadable pdf is ok) and to call your counterpart before sending money to run through the bank details because of fraud like this. You could do the latter - it takes one minute.

Did your friend get his money back? I have no idea if the firm's PI cover would cover this but another solicitor told me recently of a firm that went under exactly because of a scam like this because their PI insurance wouldn't cover it. Bloody scammers putting people out of work and possibly bankrupt too