The role advisers play in preventing conveyancing fraud
Given the potential sums of money involved, I can think of few crimes which would have such material impact on a client than conveyancing fraud.

If you want an idea of the devastating impact a ‘successful’ perpetration of fraud can have then you need go no further than to read about a recent case involving Woodfords Solicitors whereby over £600k was sent to an account which was not that of their client.
We hear a lot about ‘sophisticated’ fraud but this particular case was founded upon a badly-worded email being sent to the firm asking them to send the money to a bank account which had one letter different to the client’s actual name.
In fairness, Woodfords did contact the client concerned to check that these new bank account details were hers, but she was in the process of packing up her belongings, was aware that she had a Metro Bank account – as outlined in the fraudulent email – but wasn’t sure what her actual sort code and bank account number were.
At this point, perhaps more bells should have been ringing and the actual transfer of money should have been stopped until everyone was 100% certain the details were correct. But unfortunately this didn’t happen. Instead the money was transferred, the perpetrator of the fraud disseminated the funds out to different accounts and, by the time the police caught up with them, they were only able to recover £150k of the £600k.
Devastating doesn’t even cover it and, from the outside looking in, this could have been so easily prevented if a few, very simple, checks and balances had been put in place. After all, we’re not talking about peanuts here but instead a vast, life-changing sum of money that the client appears to have lost forever.
Just recently the Conveyancing Association issued an amended version of its Cyberfraud and Fraud Protocol which provides plenty of information, advice and support to conveyancing firms to help them distinguish fraudulent activity and to prevent it actually happening. Let’s be honest here, fraudsters are not going to stop targeting conveyancers and their clients because the sums of money involved can be so vast, so it’s important that firms have all manner of protection in place to stop this.
The CA points out that much of the attempted fraud is ‘unsophisticated’ but, as the case above outlines, that doesn’t mean that it can’t work, especially if you have a number of parties who are perhaps not at the top of their game, and a client who is in a rush to get moved.
Advisers can clearly play a major role with regard to helping clients ensure they are not the victims of such fraud. The choice of the conveyancing firm is crucial but there is also some basic advice that can be offered to clients – for instance, don’t talk about any purchase/move on social media because fraudsters are looking online to target those who are going through the process. Much of this type of fraud is via e-mail – the criminals find a way into the client’s email accounts or set up ones that they can use to communicate with the conveyancer. Advisers can stress the importance of their clients having the strictest protection when it comes to their e-mail.
The other piece of advice is to double-check and question all communications which purport to be from the conveyancer (or anyone else) talking about bank account changes and moving money. Firms are highly unlikely to change their bank account details, especially close to a completion, and clients should only send a very small amount of money to an account first up (rather than the full amount) if they are suspicious and/or if they want to check that the firm has actually got the money.
It all seems like common-sense stuff but in the excitement of a purchase or sale, clients can do things that they would never do otherwise. Having their adviser involved providing good advice could be the extra plank of protection they need to ensure they never end up regretting a very costly mistake.
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