Property transactions concentrate an enormous sum into a single transfer on a known date, between parties communicating largely by email. That combination is why conveyancing fraud is targeted so heavily, and why losses are catastrophic when it succeeds.
How it unfolds
An attacker gains access to a mailbox — yours, the estate agent's, or the law firm's — and reads the correspondence until completion approaches. Shortly before the transfer, an email arrives from the expected address with updated account details, often explaining that the firm has changed banks or the original account is under audit.
The rule that prevents it
Confirm the account details by voice, with your lawyer, on a number you obtained independently and held before the transaction started — ideally in person at an earlier meeting. Ask them to read the account number back to you. Never use a number in an email, however genuine the email appears.
Additional protections
- Agree at the outset, in writing, that account details will never change and that any request to change them is fraudulent.
- Send a small test transfer first and confirm receipt by phone before sending the balance.
- Be most suspicious on completion day, when time pressure is highest and checks feel unaffordable.
- Use multi-factor authentication on your own email — your mailbox is part of the transaction's attack surface.
If it has happened
Call your bank immediately and use the words "authorised push payment fraud, please attempt an urgent recall". Call your lawyer on a known number. Report to police and the national fraud reporting body the same day. Where a reimbursement scheme operates in your jurisdiction, ask your bank explicitly whether the payment falls within it. Speed is the only variable you control.