Conveyancing fraud represents a significant risk for property buyers in the UK, with criminals intercepting email communications between homebuyers and their legal representatives or real estate agents to redirect deposit payments to accounts they control. The scam typically occurs near the conclusion of property transactions, earning it the colloquial term “Friday afternoon fraud” due to its tendency to happen before weekends when verification is difficult.
According to Report Fraud, which tracks such incidents, there were 3,657 cases involving misdirected bank account payments during the 2025-26 financial year, resulting in combined losses of £101 million. Property-specific conveyancing fraud cases represented a subset of these incidents, with 140 cases recorded between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025, averaging losses of £78,393 per incident. Documented cases have involved losses as high as £300,000 when homebuyers transferred entire purchase prices to fraudulent accounts. City of London police have noted that this fraud type extends beyond property purchases to rental agreements and probate transactions.
The fraudulent messages typically appear to originate from legitimate solicitors or estate agents, requesting expected payments that may be presented as urgent due to alleged changes in banking details. While some attacks involve compromised email accounts belonging to legal firms, most use spoofed email addresses with subtle alterations such as missing letters or extra punctuation that can escape casual notice.
To protect against such schemes, homebuyers are advised to avoid publicizing property transactions on social media, secure email accounts with strong passwords and two-factor authentication, and refrain from accessing email via public wifi networks. When expecting payment instructions, individuals should verify bank details directly with their solicitor through phone calls or in-person conversations rather than relying on email. Banks typically alert customers when account names do not match transfer details, and recipients are encouraged to halt transactions if discrepancies arise and contact their financial institution immediately if fraudulent transfers have occurred.
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