Buying or selling a property is likely to be one of the biggest financial transactions that you are involved in. The process can often be stressful and drawn out therefore when it comes to the final stage of transferring your house deposit or payment balance to your solicitor, most people are keen to do so immediately.
But as with any other transaction, it is important that you remain vigilant when transferring money and do not fall victim to Payment Diversion Fraud (PDF), also known as Business Email Compromise (BEC) or Mandate Fraud, which involves criminals impersonating others, creating or amending invoices and diverting payments to bank accounts under their own control.
Criminals are experts at impersonating people, organisations and the police. They spend hours researching you for their scams, hoping you’ll let your guard down for just a moment. And it does not only happen when purchasing products online, it can also happen in property transactions, when the stakes involved are obviously very high. In the case of a property purchase, Conveyancing Fraud usually involves the criminal diversion of the deposit payment or the balance of the purchase price of the property.
Criminals use sophisticated techniques to intercept online correspondence between the buyer and their legal representatives and then, by setting up spoof emails accounts and letterheads, trick property buyers into believing they are dealing directly with their solicitor. Information about the property purchase, its price and who is involved in the transaction is easily gained and used by the criminals to deceive buyers into making payments to them.
Always stop and think when making any financial transaction and take the following advice to protect you and your money:
- CHECK: If you have not received your solicitor’s bank details in the post, you should phone to check the bank details with your conveyancer.
- STOP: Taking a moment to stop and think before parting with your money or information could keep you safe.
- CHALLENGE: Could it be fake? It’s ok to reject, refuse or ignore any requests for your financial or personal details. Only criminals will try to rush or panic you.
- PROTECT: Contact your bank immediately if you think you’ve fallen for a scam, don’t feel ashamed or embarrassed – you are not alone.
Some scams can be very convincing. So if you are wary about an email regarding your property sale or purchase, call your solicitor and check before transferring any payment to ensure that they have requested it and to double check the payment details. Any change of payment details or instruction, particularly at the last minute, should be questioned via a phone call to your solicitor.
McDougall McQueen take matters of security extremely seriously. Dealing with high value property transactions we have to. Our IT and email systems are as secure as they can be and like all small businesses, we work closely with the banks to ensure any fraudulent activity is detected at the earliest possibility. McDougall McQueen has used the same bank for a long time now and we would never change our bank details without informing you personally or ask for transfer of payments to a different bank account via email.