We have just joined the Safe Buyer Scheme

Conveyancing fraud is on the rise and one particular type of fraud is Buyer Deposit Redirection Fraud. In 2015 86 buyers lost their deposit to fraudsters and, in 2016, that number increased to 159 and is currently costing buyers £45,000 a day.

This form of fraud targets email communications between a conveyancer and client after the client’s computer has been hacked. When a computer has been hacked malware is left behind which is triggered by specific words. These words would be linked to buying a house or transferring a deposit for a property. Once these key words have been identified, the fraudsters know that they have a target.

The buyer will receive an email that claims to be from their conveyancer and in the email, are bank details which belong to a fraudster. The buyer transfers their deposit to this fraudulent account, thinking that they have been liaising with their conveyancer. Often the email will follow a genuine email from a conveyancer requesting deposit funds, stating that the bank details have had to be changed. By the time anyone has detected any suspicious activity, the money has been withdrawn or transferred abroad, leaving the buyer out of pocket and often without a home.

To help reduce this risk Vanessa Newman Property Lawyers has joined the Safe Buyer Scheme. When it's the appropriate time you will receive a text message inviting you to the Safe Buyer Scheme. From this you can browse the website and search for Vanessa Newman Property Lawyers Ltd. You can then decide whether to purchase Safe Buyer at £10 + VAT to protect yourself from fraud by checking our bank account details, just prior to sending deposit funds.

Whether you decide to purchase Safe Buyer or not, I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that we have no intention to change our bank account details, however if that becomes necessary, we will not notify you of this by email.