CONVEYANCING SCAM!!!!!! BEWARE!!!!!!

Homebuyer1973

So today I telephoned my conveyancer in order to get their banking account details. We are do to complete on our house on Friday so I wanted to get our deposit money across in good time in order to avoid a delay. Normally my conveyancer shares documents and communicates with me via a portal but for some reason it is not working properly at the moment. My conveyancer told me the sort code over the phone and said for security reasons, she would send the account number via email. Within the hour I had an email from my conveyancer with an attached letter containing what I believed to be the law firms account details.  Here’s where it gets scary. I took the letter with me to my bank who looked at the letter and asked me to ring my conveyancer to verify the details. Upon ringing my conveyancer, I read out the sort code and account number to them and they immediately told me to hold the transaction. I was told by my conveyancer that my email had been intercepted by scammers and the bank account details changed. The staff at the bank told me that they had seen this before and had stopped a similar transaction the week before last. I honestly cannot thank them enough for their vigilance. The whole thing the email and the attached letter looked very, very convincing!!! If you are about to complete and are transferring funds, please check and check again!!!!! I could have lost a six figure sum today. The consequences of this too scary to contemplate.

hazyjo

Thanks for sharing. It's a very well known scam. You should always ring, never used emailed details, and, even better, send a small sum first then check they've received it - by phone.

Never use the number from an email either. Always make sure it's the usual number you use, or find a way of verifying it.

bazzyb

Is this Premier Property Lawyers? (Or one of the other Simplify brands?)

Homebuyer1973

bazzyb said:

Is this Premier Property Lawyers? (Or one of the other Simplify brands?)

It’s not Premier Property Lawyers but will look to see if our conveyancers are part of Simplify.

Homebuyer1973

hazyjo said:

Thanks for sharing. It's a very well known scam. You should always ring, never used emailed details, and, even better, send a small sum first then check they've received it - by phone.

Never use the number from an email either. Always make sure it's the usual number you use, or find a way of verifying it.

This is the first house purchase I’ve been involved in where I’m using money which hasn’t come from a related sale. New territory and a steep learning curve it would seem.

Owleyes00

There was a warning at the bottom of all my solicitors emails about this. I walked down to the office and asked the lady on reception to write down the account details for me. She produced a printed sheet from a great big pile of them - was reassuring to know I wasn’t the only worried in town

Homebuyer1973

Owleyes00 said:

There was a warning at the bottom of all my solicitors emails about this. I walked down to the office and asked the lady on reception to write down the account details for me. She produced a printed sheet from a great big pile of them - was reassuring to know I wasn’t the only worried in town

I’m a good 40 miles away from my conveyancer as I had to go with one from our lenders panel. Bank have sent a £1 transaction to verify details given over the phone. Will ring the accounts department at the conveyancers tomorrow in order to verify the £1 transaction made today.

canaldumidi

This scam has been around for a number of years, and has been reported widely.

The Law Society has issued guidance to solicitors on the subject, so I'm surprised your solicitor insisted on using email to send the account number 'for security reasons', when the security is so much higher if given over the phone where both parties can verify the other.

But good to hear you did not fall victim!

https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/public/for-public-visitors/common-legal-issues/payment-diversion-fraud

NameUnavailable

It is always wise to double and triple check account details. Apart from internet scammers it's not been unknown for dishonest employees to provide bank account details to siphon off funds for themselves.

Somehow, handing over a bankers draft seems a more secure way of doing business, albeit longer winded.

OliviaWw

Thanks for sharing! Glad it turned out to be good. Is the recipient also the name of the law firm? 

aoleks

By the time I sent the deposit, their account was already verified as I had transferred money for searches.