Four in ten reports of mortgage fraud not investigated by Police
Police are investigating just 60% of mortgage fraud cases despite the average victim losing over £100,000. According to an investigation by Telegraph Money, 40% of cases reported to Action Fraud aren’t investigated by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, part of the City of London Police. If there are “insufficient lines of enquiry” and Police aren’t […]
Scam Alert Round up 4th July
Here are the latest scam alerts as issued by the Solicitors Regulation Authority Emails from “David Lee” of “Mark & Co.” The SRA say they have seen emails claiming to be written by a “David Lee” who states he is a “Senior Partner” at “Mark & Co” The emails come from smzafar.59@gmail.com and claims to […]
Cyber is the largest uninsured risk
The World of crime has been transformed by technology over the last 30 years and cyber is now one of the largest uninsured risks in the UK. Graeme Newman, Chief Innovation Officer at CFC Underwriting, explains cyber insurance – what is it and why do you need it. Full version available to watch at http://www.howdengroup.co.uk/en/prepare-protect-prevent-cyber-liabilities […]
Fraudsters intercepting mail with fake letter boxes
Criminals are intercepting mail by gluing extra letter boxes to the outside of houses. According to concerned members of the public in Greater Manchester, criminals are harvesting bank details and other material whilst people are out. One such resident Linda Dunn issued a warning on Facebook after she was targeted. Linda says she opened up […]
Scam Alert Round up 27th June
Here are the latest scam alerts as issued by the Solicitors Regulation Authority Emails from “Overholt Sales Limited” claiming SRA regulation and authorisation Emails have been sent claiming to be from a firm named “Overholt Sales Limited” which claim they are regulated and authorised by the SRA. The emails carry an attachment containing details of […]
Suspended sentence for attempted right-to-buy fraud
A man has received a suspended sentence for failing to tell his local council he had vacated the council property he had submitted an application for a right-to-buy purchase. Mr Osmin Aygin, 36, was sentenced to 6 months in prison, suspended for 12 months for his failure to notify Greenwich Borough that he had vacated […]
Scam Alert Round up 20th June
Here are the latest scam alerts as issued by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Emails claiming to be a solicitor at “Mattew Asghar & Co” The SRA say emails have been sent from an address “2110083@googlemail.com” claiming to be from a solicitor “Mattew Asghar & Co”, although appearing to come from a “Roberts Solicitors & Co”. […]
Law Firms Beware: The Hacker Hunt Has Begun
Firms are still failing to take basic precautions against cyber-attacks. Lack of employee training around the dangers of cyber security and failure to deliver a consistent message to protect critical client data, may result in your firm being the easiest target. By implementing a routine check, firms undertaking conveyancing could potentially avoid increased insurance premiums, […]
Safemove Scheme announce Conveyancing Fraud Prevention Summit
BE Consultancy, owners of the Safemove Scheme have announced two conveyancing fraud prevention summits to take place on 28th and 30th of June in London and Nottingham respectively. Both events are free of charge. Speakers include Director of Global Security & Investigations at MoneyGram Keith Sharp, Andy Macdonald (Head of Specialist Investigations at New Scotland […]
Know Your Fraud
Trust is given readily when you are dealing with a regular contact day in day out, however when it comes to online activities should this still be handed out so willingly? Sophisticated, and indeed not so sophisticated fraudsters, have no qualms about targeting the multitude of law firms within England & Wales and with higher […]
Scam Alert Round up 13th June
Here are the latest scam alerts issued by the Solicitors Regulation Authority Documents marked using stamp claiming to be from SJ Solicitors LLP ID in support of the purchase of gold coins has been endorsed with a stamp of “SJ Solicitors” listing an address of 604 Green Lane, Ilford and telephone number 020 6548 3700. […]
InfoTrack & Legal Eye announce latest series of joint webinars: Managing Risk & Protecting your firm from Cyber Crime
InfoTrack and Legal Eye have announced a new series of free CPD webinars in June and July, designed to educate conveyancers with practical tips around managing risk and protection from cybercrime. This free CPD series will run two webinar topics on the following dates, are available to all legal professionals and are claimable for 1 […]
“Fraudsters hacked emails to my solicitor and stole £340,000 from my property sale”
“Fraudsters hacked emails to my solicitor and stole £340,000 from my property sale” What Happened: Paul and Ann Lupton sold the flat they had bought for their daughter for £340,000. Two days before the set completion date, Mr Lupton’s solicitor emailed requesting his bank account details for the sale proceeds to be paid into. Mr […]
Scam Alert Round up 6th June
Here are the latest scam alerts issued by the Solicitors Regulation Authority Emails claiming to be from Mullis & Peake Emails concerning an unclaimed inheritance have been sent, claiming to come from “Elaine Wood Esq” or “Elaine Clara Wood” at Mullis & Peake. The emails come from addresses “mrs.elaineclarawood@gmail.com” and “mullisandpeake@dr.com”. While Mullis & Peake […]
Woman loses £129,000 after receiving bogus email claiming to be from conveyancers
A woman who bought a house before auction and transferred the majority of the £148,000 price to a fraudster says by the time she realised what had happened, her bank’s fraud team had gone home. Dr Ellen Wright bought a flat in south east London at auction in January 2015, agreeing a price of £148,000. […]
Scam Alert Round up 31st May
Here are the latest scam alerts as issued by the Solicitors regulation Authority Emails from “Hamil Butt” Members of the public have received emails from a “Hamil Butt” claiming to be from various firms. The emails come from esmim@gmail.com (claiming to be from “Elizabeth Hardy & Co”), im12an@gmail.com (claiming to be from “Klopp Solicitors LLP”) […]
Scam Alert Round up 23rd May
Here are the latest scam alerts issued by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Fraudulent documents using the name “Williams Morgan” The SRA have been shown a copy of a document received by a memeber of the public which claim to have been witnessed by “Williams Morgan” concerning a transfer of money. The documents, a Will and […]
A quarter of law firms are targeted by scammers…don’t let your firm be one of them – Searches UK can help!
Last month The Law Society revealed that nearly a quarter of law firms have been targeted by scammers looking to steel client funds. The research comes from The Law Society’s PII survey, which also disclosed that fewer than 10% of the attempts resulted in fraudsters successfully obtaining the client’s money. Whilst the majority of law […]
Law Society’s Graham Murphy warns and advises on CEO fraud
The Law Society’s Graham Murphy says law firms are as vulnerable as every other to CEO fraud if they aren’t vigilant. Graham, who has been Product Manager at the Law Society for a little over two years and previously held senior roles at recruiters Manpower as well as SPG Media, believes firms can fall victim […]
Fraud and more fraud
Once again conveyancers are being assailed by a whirlwind of reports (scare stories if you wish) about fraud. Most recently, on April 29th we were warned: ‘PII costs fall – but attempted fraud is rampant, Law Society reveals’. Apparently “Almost a quarter of firms reported being targeted by scammers in the last year”. You have […]
