Email: Home buyer hoodwinked
A woman who allowed her bank account to be used in a conveyancing fraud has been given an 18-month suspended jail sentence.
Kimberley Abdul, 36, from Gravesend in Kent, was convicted of concealing, transferring or removing criminal property by means of transfers and purchases, but those behind the fraud have not been traced.
In April 2021, a woman who was buying a property in Hertfordshire received an email from somebody purporting to be from the office of her conveyancing solicitor.
The message required the transfer of funds to an account that differed from the details she had been given.
The victim queried the change but was advised the firm had two different accounts. As a result, she visited her bank and authorised the transfer of £70,500.
Kent Police said it later transpired that the email was part of “an elaborate fraud”, with the money moved into a business account Ms Abdul controlled.
Within a couple of days, the funds had been moved to another of her accounts, from which she made purchases totalling more than £900 using some of the cash.
The money was eventually lost but the victim was able to recover her loss in full from her bank.
Ms Abdul was sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court last week to 18 months’ imprisonment, suspended for 18 months. She is also required to complete 20 days of rehabilitation activity and 100 hours of unpaid work.
Detective Constable Lee Preston said: “We have seen this type of case in the past where criminal gangs gain knowledge of an impending house purchase and then email victims to persuade them to send the money directly into an account controlled by a third party.
“That account holder is aware it is a scam and is allowed to keep some of the funds before moving the rest of the money to those who organised the fraud…
“While Abdul played a relatively minor part, her role was crucial in ensuring the gang members could remain anonymous. She should be thoroughly ashamed of her actions.”
The officer urged people who found themselves in similar situations to telephone the organisation on a trusted phone number to check.
Kent Police confirmed to Legal Futures that the fraudsters themselves have not been identified.
Meanwhile, HM Treasury this week published the final draft of secondary legislation that will allow banks and other payment service providers to slow down the processing of outbound payments by up to four days when there are “reasonable grounds” to suspect fraud or dishonesty.
“This will support efforts to tackle authorised push payment fraud, where victims are unknowingly tricked into sending significant sums to fraudsters,” it said.
The bank will have to notify the customer and cover any charges or interest they become liable for, irrespective of whether the payment is ultimately made.
The statutory instrument will be laid before Parliament shortly after its return from conference recess.
Rob Hailstone, chief executive of conveyancing group Bold Legal Group, questioned whether this was “a sledgehammer to crack a nut”.
He explained: “The risk that some transactions – even if very few – could suddenly be delayed on the day of completion, with a possible four-day wait before release of funds, is bad news for home movers, conveyancers, removers and estate agents.
“More transactions than ever are already completed on the same day that exchange takes place, and that number could now increase.
“The challenges for conveyancers, removers and estate agents to assist home movers if that delay occurs will be great, but nothing compared to the challenges that home movers, ready and packed to go will face.”
In other conveyancing news, the Property Lawyers Action Group – which requisitioned the special general meeting in July at which a motion of no-confidence in the Law Society’s leadership was defeated – has been relaunched as the Property Lawyers Alliance.
Chairman Stephen Larcombe said: “The PLA is an evolution of PLAG to a wider, more inclusive group of property lawyers, that will support, inform, and protect the integrity of all property lawyers operating as part of the wider legal profession. PLA receives no commercial sponsorship.”
Its “fundamental aim” is to defend the role of independent property lawyers “at the heart of conveyancing, and the interpretation of land law principles underpinning it”.
Mr Larcombe said: “Radical changes to that position should not occur merely because powerful vested interests desire to dumb down conveyancing to fit the requirements of their products or services.”
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