The Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) has warned home-buyers to be ‘fraud-aware’, following new research into property crime.
It conducted a recent poll which revealed that 90 per cent of professional conveyancers put fraud awareness as the most important aspect of home-buying they wanted clients to be aware of.
The research follows a number of reports into ‘Friday afternoon fraud’ – a type of fraud that involves tricking a client, usually by email, into sending funds to a criminal’s bank account.
Although it can happen on any day of the week, Friday is the most common day to be tricked as this is the time most house purchase completions take place.
Property fraud is one of the most common and damaging types of fraud, as the money involved often runs into the tens of thousands of pounds.
The Solicitor’s Regulation Authority found last year that fraudulent conveyancing transactions cost consumers around £7 million.
Stephen Ward, Director of Strategy at the CLC, said: “We work closely with all of our regulated firms to ensure that their communication with clients is clear and that, particularly first-time buyers, are made aware of the various stages which the home-buying process entails.
“Increasingly sophisticated fraud schemes mean that clear, direct communication between client and consumer has never been more important and we aim to make consumers as aware as possible of the risks so that they are suitably protected.”
Nicola Tubbs, an Associate Executive with Palmers’ residential conveyancing team, said: “Sadly, it’s all too easy for an eager home-buyer, who is desperate to finally get their hands on the keys to their new property, to let their guard down and be duped in this way.
“At Palmers, we echo the sensible advice of the SRA, which recommends that people avoid sharing bank details by email, or transferring money before carefully checking and confirming the source of any request.”
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