House buyers are being warned to be on their guard when purchasing new properties.

Homebuyers Manipulated To Transfer Funds Into Altered Accounts

The covid restrictions made it easy for the fraudulent teams to offer to sell homes without a visit in person. Instead, they offered virtual viewing to the customers, who are usually reluctant to meet face to face. 

Furthermore, those who wanted to see the property were given many other reasons to say "you cannot view the property now" like they claim "they are out of the country," or "the tenant was preparing to move out" to evade any such situation. 

Some popular letting sites were copied by such teams, who created their site with a minor change in address and appearance. They accessed the listings from several such websites and tried to pass them off as their own. 

The government has urged home buyers and tenants to be cautious of the deals offered by fake agents who often post pictures of the house on social sites like Facebook, and they claim they are working on behalf of the landlord. 

They may even ask for the client's mail address or social messaging app number to contact and communicate with them directly. 

Some buyers wanted to get a deal in the last months when the no-stamp duty benefit was coming to an end. There were many seeking options to secure a home without paying the extra charges. 

In several such cases, people were targeted by groups who intercepted the customers' messages with the lettings, the authorities and banks and tricked them into transferring funds into the altered account. 

Conveyancing fraud is the one where the criminal tracks the email chains of the client and the authorised letting agents, solicitors and estate agents and the intercepted documents is used to dupe buyers. 

Then, they wait for the right time to contact the victim where they use spoofed addresses and inform the involved parties that the bank details have been modified and one has to send the money into another bank account.  In one such case, a charity worker lost  £67K that he transferred into a fraudulent account.

How To Protect Yourself?

• Get the bank details from the solicitor in person or on the phone. Ask them to ensure the details of the transaction. Do not conduct any monetary transaction under any pressure or in a hurry. Do not worry if you are threatened to transfer money instantly to avoid the loss of a deal. 

• Take your time to research all the aspects of the proceeding. Always investigate all the details related to the letting agency before handing over the money. 

• Check all the reviews on the property site and see if the firm offers client money protection membership depending on local rules. 

• Check if the reviews are up to date. Some sites post falsified reviews that can be hard to spot. Also, search specifically for the negative ratings. Its emails address and contact details should be authentic.

• Do not search for such options on social media and post about your deal on such platforms. Likewise, do not discuss the mortgage or the banks' transactions on social platforms.  

• The scammer uses identity theft to commit the crime where they gain access to all the addresses and messages posted by the user to manipulate the transaction.  Avoid using public  Wi-fi for sending emails related to such transactions.  

• Moving house is a stressful time, and people should take steps to keep safe. You should avoid emails that ask you to check the new payment details when you are already dealing with a legitimate firm. Suspend the transfer of funds if there is any form of duplicate invoice service or confusing messages. 

• Some criminals representing the letting or brokers offer a refund to the buyer and seek their bank account details. In such a case, the customers should check and communicate with the letting agents on the phone to confirm all the details.