New Risk Management Framework For Law Firms
Specialist risk and compliance consultancy Legal Eye has brought together its 12 years of experience to create a comprehensive risk management framework designed specifically for law firms. This new product from Legal Eye helps firms to mitigate risk and to improve on working practices and efficiencies by providing high quality template documents for firms to […]
Fraudulant HMRC Payments Jail Man
A man who set up fraudulent payments worth £2.9m to HMRC instead and then transferred the money to himself has been jailed for more than 4 years. Simon Olver spent the stolen money on deposits for sports cars, watches, jewellery and flights as well as making an offer on a house for £2.6m. Following a […]
Five-Fold Increase In The Cost Of Cyber Incidents
The annual Hiscox Cyber Readiness Report has been released with an update on progress in the cyber security arena for UK businesses. The headlines from the report, now in its 4th year, include A near doubling of cyber preparedness across UK business A significant increase in spend on cyber security A drop in the number […]
Property Market is back, but so are the hurdles for Conveyancers
The announcement by Housing Minister Robert Jenrick that conveyancing transactions in England can resume from 13 May 2020 presents both opportunities and problems for property lawyers. With an estimated 373,000 transactions on hold, conveyancers may soon see renewed pressure to complete deals quickly. As always, Stewart Title remains ready to assist busy conveyancers with our […]
Celebrity Law Firm Hit By Ransomware Attack
A New York based law firm, Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks, who are predominantly used by the world’s rich and famous, have suffered a substantial cyber attack. The cyber criminals claim to have access to over 756 gigabytes of the law firm’s and its client’s personal data, including legal contracts, personal email accounts and email […]
NCA Will Appeal Discharged UWO
A High Court ruling has discharged three properties which were frozen by the National Crime Agency (NCA) in May last year using an Unexplained Wealth Order(UWO). Towards the end of May last year, three properties worth in excess of £80 million, were seized by the High Court as anti-corruption and Unexplained Wealth Orders (UWO) were […]
Be Aware Of Scammers Taking Advantage Of Covid-19 Crisis
It hasn’t taken cyber criminals long to turn the Coronavirus pandemic into a money making scheme. With more people working from home and face-to-face meetings cancelled, now is the time to remind clients that you are exchanging emails with to be more vigilant. Cyber criminal have used the current pandemic, and have begun to impersonate […]
Home Title And ID Fraud
Gaining a foothold on the property ladder has been no mean feat throughout the past decade. Eligibility regulations and lending criteria tightened considerably following the financial crisis in 2008, property prices increased by 40% whilst the average wage increases were modest at best. When homeowners sacrifice and fight to own a property to call their […]
10 Biggest Frauds Of The 2010s – Part 2
Now that we’re all embedded into a new decade, January has finally come to an end and spring is hopefully just around the corner. I thought it would be interesting to take a look back, and take stock if you like of the top 10 frauds that occurred between 2010-2019, to see if we’ve learnt […]
Successful Cyber Attack Almost Nets £1m
We’re only into the second month of 2020, and news continues to break of cyber criminals attacking organisations. The latest cyber crime that has hit the headlines has seen Red Kite Community Housing conned out of more than £932,000, after cyber criminals mimicked their domain and email details of known suppliers. This elaborate scam, saw […]
Protecting Yourself Against Probate Fraud
Did you know that probate fraud costs in the region of £150m a year? That’s the figure provided by the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP). It’s no surprise that this type of fraud can be committed both by members of the family, but also by organised criminals who use various methods to divert […]
10 Biggest Frauds Of The 2010s – Part 1
Now that we’re all embedded into a new decade, January has finally come to an end and spring is hopefully just around the corner. I thought it would be interesting to take a look back, and take stock if you like, of the top 10 frauds that occurred between 2010-2019, to see if we’ve learnt […]
Conveyancers Concerned By Cyber Crime And Compliance
Accuracy of search data, the threat of cyber crime and changes to money laundering compliance have been deemed as some of the most pressing concerns for conveyancers in the modern climate. According to OneSearch Direct’s ‘Conveyancing Industry 2020’ survey, 61% of all respondents were very concerned by the growth and power of cyber criminals and […]
Shortfall of £3bn In APP Fraud Compensation
Victims of bank transfer (authorised push payment (APP)) fraud are receiving less than 50% of their losses back in compensation according to secure payments provider Shieldpay. This shortfall seemingly coincides with the introduction of a new industry code which is designed to protect consumers. However, with only APP fraud victims getting on average of 48% […]
Employment Error Sees Solicitor Struck Off
Yesterday, Tuesday 13th January 2020, LegalFutures published an article regarding a solicitor who hired a fake solicitor, only then to be defrauded of £1.2m in a conveyancing scam, and subsequently being struck off. The story states that Johnbosco Eberechuckwu Onyeme, was approached by a female, who informed him she’d like to work for his firm, […]
Solicitor Struck Off After Committing Fraud
Mbolokele Nsimba has been struck off the solicitor’s roll and ordered to pay £33,200 in costs after “consciously closing his eyes” to the activities of people he knew were fraudsters aiding them in completing £5.74m in conveyancing fraud. Mr Nsimba agreed to buy a law firm which was “purchased from the outset as a vehicle for fraud” aiding criminals in their malicious acts. At the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT), it […]
Criminal Mastermind Sentenced To Over 7 Years
Chinese national Feng Xu has been sentenced to seven years and four months in prison after he pleaded guilty to 22 fraud, false identity and money laundering offences at Birmingham Crown Court. Feng rented hundreds of properties to criminal gangs, who subsequently ran brothels and cannabis farms. In his role as ‘mastermind’ of the operation, […]
Could You Spot A Fake Or Modified Email?
Register for our upcoming webinar: OnDMARC: The questions law firms want answering Email redirection fraud was a lucrative tool in the criminal underworld accruing £123.7 million from UK account holders in 2018 alone, according to a UK Finance report. Of the 7,544 malicious redirection scams completed, over 9,000 payments were made with an average individual loss of […]
2 Year Jail Sentence For Letting Agent
A letting agent who defrauded over £230,000 from landlords and tenants has received a two year custodial sentence by Southampton Crown Court. Andrew Whitehead pleaded guilty to three counts of fraudulently trading, one count of forging a bank statement and four counts of using forged bank statements. During an investigation undertaken by Southampton City Council’s […]
First Time Buyers Become Victims Of A Phishing Scam
First time buyers (FTBs) lost their money through what is known as an ‘phishing attack’ after fraudsters intercepted emails between them and their conveyancer. Two young FTBs have sadly lost £94,000 when funds were cruelly stolen from them by fraudsters which they thought had safely been transferred to their solicitors. Unfortunately, the whole chain collapsed as all […]
