Banking scam

stowupland4

I am after some advice. I have had my fencing replaced, I received the invoice by email, 30 mins later I received another email asking me to use a different bank account as the first was being audited. I transferred the money by online banking. I replied to the second email saying money has been sent. I got a reply saying money received.
I had a telephone call 5 days later from the fencer saying no money received. He didn't receive my email saying money sent, and he hadnt replied to me that it had been received. However,he did receive an email from me saying the money would arrive in his account in 4 days. This I didn't send. It is now obvious his email account has been hacked, emails have been intercepted and altered. My bank and police fraud have been notified.
My question is should I now pay the fencer again, or wait till till I hear from the bank. He runs a small business and is wanting my cash to do other work. I trust the fencer totally, we are both caught up in this scam. Thank you

Shakin_Steve

Although these 'man in the middle' scams are quite common, I'm not sure who the banks treat as being scammed. If it was his email that was compromised, then surely his bank should refund the money (if that is their policy). You could end up paying twice if you're too hasty.
I know that, in cases where a solicitor's email has been hacked, people have lost their deposits on houses, and I don't think they got their money back.

18cc

The problem maybe with the email of the fencer if he has not kept it secure or used a trivial password etc and the scammers can log on to his email and send out false invoices . if this is what happened I would suggest the fencer is at fault

jonesMUFCforever

In this instance the new rules being brought in (that you can confirm payee's name on a payment) would have stopped this fraud.

In this instance since the bank were not involved I can't see them refunding the OP.

AndyPK

I have read about this somewhere. maybe from banks
Or was it martin lewis on TV

What email accounts do you and the builder use ?

robatwork

What's to stop someone (or both parties) pretending to be victims of this kind of fraud?

I think the bank(s) need some time to ensure they aren't the victims.

18cc

no one that is why an invoice by letter, a phone call to check, and a cheque made payable etc is the safest - these new fangled ways of paying will only cause problems...

stowupland4

18cc. I agree, hindsight is a wonderful thing. I will never make that very expensive mistake again.
I am at fault for authorising the payment.
But, does the fencer carry any responsibility as it was his email account that was hacked?

Zanderman

Don't know who is responsible for what in these scenarios - but they do seem to be fairly common.

A few months ago when I was getting building quotes for a work-related project, I had an email, apparently from one of the builders who had quoted, asking whether I could 'send a deposit now' and giving some bank details.

They'd been hacked, and the hacker was hoping I'd appointed them and was gullible enough to send a deposit. I hadn't appointed them. And even if I had I wouldn't have sent a deposit without checking with them first.

Interestingly the solicitors dealing with a current house-sale I'm involved with have set up a secure password protected site for all financial communications, presumably to circumvent the risk of someone pretending to be them. I assume this arrangement is now becoming commonplace.

Shakin_Steve

When I received the email from my solicitor telling me it was time to transfer my deposit, I rang their office and checked with the clerk that the sort code and account number were genuine before doing anything. This was two years ago and my actions were not because I am super clever, they were because this scam has been in the news for a very long time now.

boliston

i'm wondering if looking at the email headers could give a clue as to whether the email came from the sender or if it came from a third party - i would imagine that if the senders email was hacked then the sender would be liable for any loss. I would always be wary of remitting to a sort code or account number different from that quoted on the invoice. I would probably also phone the contractor on a phone number listed on the contractors website as a double check (hopefully their site has not also been hacked), and would make sure it was the same phone number quoted on the invoice.