Warning: conveyancing scam could cost you £1,000s

Update: increasing sophistication in conveyancing scams related to email hacking, please view this actual conveyancing scam email (received 9 October 2018)

A woman lost almost £80,000 in a conveyancing scam when fraudsters diverted her completion monies to their own account.

Some weeks before, the Law Society of Northern Ireland warned conveyancing firms in the province that hackers were making attacks on their IT systems. It advised the firms to review their email and internet security software and procedures.

Amanda Jackson of County Down received an authentic email from her solicitors with the bank details for the transfer of £76,959 to complete her house purchase. She then received a subsequent email which appeared to be from the same solicitors, advising that the previous bank details were incorrect, and giving alternative account details.

Ms Jackson went to her bank personally to instruct the transfer of money, sensing that something was not right. Some days later she was contacted by her solicitors saying they had still not received the money, and she then realised that she had been duped by felons using a vicious conveyancing scam. The money has not yet been recovered and the Police Service of Northern Ireland are continuing to investigate the matter.

Cyber attacks are increasing in sophistication and the exact method used to carry out this crime is still a matter of debate. One expert in cyber attacks on business, speaking in press reports about the crime, said that it was likely that fraudsters had targeted the firm involved "for weeks" and had either full access to the firm's mail server or one of the computers in the their office via, for example, the opening of a fake attachment.

The potential for being hacked like this is high and it is now every solicitors' firms responsibility to make sure that they take every form of precautionary measure to protect themselves from 'online attack' to both protect themselves and their clients. The reality however is that because an online attack cannot be seen, the threat is felt to be less real. Ignoring the threat leaves the conveyancing practice exposed to claims. On online attack should be viewed as real an attack as someone breaking in the front door; you should not only check the front door is locked at night, but also ensure your online systems are equally protected and safe.

The conveyancing process is a prime target for this kind of conveyancing scam with such large sums of money being transferred from clients, mortgage lenders and solicitors. The greatest areas for risk will be when the client sends in their completion monies on a purchase (deposit and balance to complete) and the release of the sale proceeds.

We've received an actual email which resulted from a scammer hacking into the conveyancing firm's email systems. Printed below, what is particularly worrying is the growing level of sophistication in terms of the addresses and standard of English (although a trained eye might still have suspicions).

The message is clear: if you're not expecting an email from your solicitor you should always be suspicious and you should never follow a direction to pay over money to a different account or using a different method before you've actually spoken to your solicitor by telephone.

We've removed any identifying information from the following email; however please accept on trust that the 'from' address was the actual solicitor's email address and the 'reply-to' address was a close variant:

Andrew Boast, Co-founder of SAM Conveyancing, advised:

"You should never make a transfer of funds if you receive an unusual email or phone call informing you that your solicitor's banking details have changed. You should always double check directly with your solicitor by phone before making any money transfer to your solicitors. A verbal confirmation of the sort code and account number will rule out the chances of a 3rd party replacing the correct bank details with fraudulent details. This is something we tell all our clients.