Scammed when making deposit for a house

Slithery

sillyhilly wrote: »

Also, it is unlikely that the Solicitors emails have been hacked. It is most likely YOUR email

Nope, what's much more likely is that neither of them have been hacked. It's trivial to send an email appearing to be from someone else - no hacking required.

AnotherJoe

sillyhilly wrote: »

It is more concerning, to me, that your Solicitors are sending bank details over email which is an insecure method of commnunication. This should either be completed via an online portal which requires your access, or through the post in correspondence. No way should it be via email.

Also, it is unlikely that the Solicitors emails have been hacked. It is most likely YOUR email, so I would be changing details pronto.

You should received all of your funds back. Nationwide are a signatory to the Authorised Push Payment Contingent Reimbursement Model / Code. My advice would be to chase them rather than wait for them - ultimately you're an exceptional circumstance given that you're contractually bound to make this payment, so they may look on you favourably.

I very much doubt the solicitor was sending bank details via email.

That would be the scammer doing that masquerading as the solicitor.

Its also very likely it was the solicitors that was hacked, its a substantially higher value target than one person.

Hack one person, odds they are in the midst of a house purchase, effectively zero.
Hack one solicitor, odds they are in the midst of multiple house purchases with people who live under rocks and haven't seen the publicity on this and/or forget their solicitor warned them about it (if they did), effectively one hundred percent.

So, wheres the hacker going to try their their luck?

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

I think this is also called the Friday Morning scam, where lots of so called solicitors emails are sent in hope of catching a big fish. They are just the same as the ones from your bank, or tv licensing. never ever trust the email, and always ring to confirm, but not the number on the email, the number on your business card.

Sorry to OP, but I am afraid you did not make adequate precautions against losing your money.

Recently my accountant changed firms, and had updated his bank details sent out by email. Out of all his business customers, I was the only one who rang him to confirm the new details!

AnotherJoe

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth wrote: »

I think this is also called the Friday Morning scam, where lots of so called solicitors emails are sent in hope of catching a big fish. They are just the same as the ones from your bank, or tv licensing. never ever trust the email, and always ring to confirm, but not the number on the email, the number on your business card.

That might work with banks and tv licensing where numbers (or those institutions) are limited, and so the hit rate woudl be high, but sending out messages covering solicitors would surely need an unfeasible amount of such emails. I've received plenty of Lloyds, Barclays, RBS etc scam bank emails. Never one solicitors. If they were doing this with solicitors, we'd all have to be drowning in them.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth wrote: »

Recently my accountant changed firms, and had updated his bank details sent out by email. Out of all his business customers, I was the only one who rang him to confirm the new details!

That is very very scary. And again shows why a solicitor (or accountant) would be such a high value target.

letitbe90

Socajam wrote: »

One of the things I do before wiring the full amount of any money, is to wire a small amount say 10 pounds.
Once I have proof that the money was received, only then will I send the full amount.
The scammers are working overtime and we really need to try and outsmart them.

Quite simple really, I took bank details from my official paperwork received by solicitor, not from any e-mail or otherwise. Always easy to call solicitor too (if you can't meet them) to double check bank details just before payment if for whatever reason they may have changed. No excuse to get done by these silly scams, especially when they are so common knowledge.

buglawton

sillyhilly wrote: »

It is more concerning, to me, that your Solicitors are sending bank details over email which is an insecure method of commnunication. This should either be completed via an online portal which requires your access, or through the post in correspondence. No way should it be via email.

Also, it is unlikely that the Solicitors emails have been hacked. It is most likely YOUR email, so I would be changing details pronto.

You should received all of your funds back. Nationwide are a signatory to the Authorised Push Payment Contingent Reimbursement Model / Code. My advice would be to chase them rather than wait for them - ultimately you're an exceptional circumstance given that you're contractually bound to make this payment, so they may look on you favourably.

Solicitors email accounts are seen as a hacker 'honeypot'. Much more than random individuals. Solicitors email addresses are easy to collect so that their offices can be 'spear phished'.

The scam works by the scammer deleting the original email then sending a doctored copy to you that appears to come from the actual solicitors address. To do that convincingly needs control of a solicitors email account.

I'd say that most of these scams came from hacks on solicitors email accounts or office systems.

RealElement47

What's happened in the end, did they catch the scammers yet?

csgohan4

Always easy in hindsight isn't it, but I called solicitor before I transferred money for exchange after seeing threads on here about it