Buyers then send their deposit directly to the fraudster, rather than to their conveyancer.
The fraudsters often replace figures in email addresses with near-identical ones, for example replacing a lowercase “l” with an uppercase “I”. They also use the same fonts as solicitors, in order to replicate emails more accurately.
One first-time buyer, who did not want to be named, lost £5,000 of her deposit on a two-bedroom flat in Birmingham after she fell victim to the fraud. It instructed her to send a £10 “test payment”, which she did, and she was sent another email confirming that the funds had been received.
She sent £5,000 to the scammers through her mobile banking app, believing that she was sending the money to her solicitor. It wasn’t until a second payment for the same amount was blocked by her bank and she contacted her lawyers that she realised that the money was gone.
Most forms of conveyancer fraud are “Authorised Push Payment” (APP) frauds. New rules due to come in from October will force payment providers to provide reimbursements of up to £415,000 in cases of APP fraud.
Liz Ziegler, fraud prevention director at Lloyds Bank, said: “While the financial consequences of these scams are severe, the emotional toll can be even greater. The fraud often leads to the collapse of a property transaction, with a devastating long-term impact on those involved.”
More than £50m a year is lost to invoice and mandate scams, such as conveyancing fraud, according to industry body UK Finance. Four in five of these scams originated from an email.
Ms Ziegler added: “It’s vital that solicitors also grasp the importance of educating their clients on the risk of this type of scam and make a point of sharing payment details in person at the start of the homebuying process.”
A UK Finance spokesman said: “This type of fraud often involves intercepted or compromised emails, and you should always be suspicious of requests to send money to a new bank account.
The spokesman continued: “Only criminals will try and rush you, so stop and and challenge requests before parting with your money or personal information.”
A spokesman from the Conveyancing Association said that the “sheer volume of attempts is incredible”.
The spokesman warned buyers not to post about buying their home online, as fraudsters could target them.
They said: “The fraudsters look out for anything to identify that there will be a transfer of funds, so social media posts about your progress in buying a property will trigger the interest of the fraudsters.”
