‘Friday afternoon fraud’: warning for UK homebuyers on bank scams
Conveyancing fraud involves criminals getting access to an email chain between homebuyers and their solicitors or estate agents and requesting payment to a bank account they control. The scam is sometimes known as “Friday afternoon fraud” as it tends to take place at the …
Intelligence analysis by Llama
Conveyancing fraud is a type of scam where criminals get access to an email chain between homebuyers and their solicitors or estate agents and request payment to a bank account they control. The scam is often timed before a weekend and can result in significant financial losses for victims.
Conveyancing fraud is a type of scam where bad people try to trick homebuyers into giving them money by sending fake emails that look like they are from the homebuyer’s solicitor or estate agent. The scammer asks for money to be paid into a bank account they control, and the homebuyer thinks they are paying the solicitor or estate agent. But really, the money is going to the scammer. To avoid this, homebuyers should be careful when receiving emails from their solicitor or estate agent and make sure they are not using public wifi to check their emails.
Analysis
Conveyancing fraud is a type of scam that involves criminals getting access to an email chain between homebuyers and their solicitors or estate agents. The scam is often timed before a weekend, which is why it is sometimes referred to as “Friday afternoon fraud.” The sums of money involved in a property sale mean that the fraudster only needs to land a few victims to make a lot of cash. Report Fraud, formerly known as Action Fraud, says there were 3,657 scams involving persuading people to pay into the wrong bank account in the 2025-26 financial year, and these cost victims a total of £101m. Conveyancing fraud is a subset of this, with 140 property cases recorded between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025, with an average loss of £78,393. In the worst case, a homebuyer transferred the entire £300,000 purchase price to the wrong account. City of London police has warned that this type of fraud isn’t limited to purchases – it’s also been reported by renters who have lost money they thought they’d paid to their letting agent, and in probate transactions. The message looks just like an email from your solicitor or estate agent, asking for you to make a payment you are expecting to make but may come earlier than you were expecting. It may say that the solicitors’ firm has new bank details and the payment needs to be made quickly. If your solicitor’s email has been hacked, the message could come from its genuine address, but usually, the fraudsters will be using a spoofed email address so if you look carefully, you may spot something slightly different from the genuine company’s one. There may be a missing letter or extra punctuation mark, for example. To avoid falling victim to this scam, it is essential to be cautious when receiving emails from your solicitor or estate agent. Don’t post about your impending move on social media as fraudsters could spot this and realise that you are a good person to target. Make sure your side of the email chain is secure by setting a strong password for your account and using any extra protection that’s offered, such as two-factor authentication. Avoid logging into public wifi and using it to check your emails as this gives fraudsters a potential access point. If you are expecting to exchange on a property soon, make sure you have asked for the solicitor’s bank details either in person or over the phone in a call that you have made to it. Any message suggesting your solicitor has changed its bank details should be checked out – again ask them in person or by phone. Take heed of any warnings from your bank as you try to transfer the money. It should tell you if the name of the account does not match what you expect, and when this happens, you should stop and check everything is as it should be. Contact your bank straight away if you have made a transfer that was not legitimate.
Key points
- Conveyancing fraud involves criminals getting access to an email chain between homebuyers and their solicitors or estate agents and requesting payment to a bank account they control.
- The scam is often timed before a weekend, which makes it difficult for homebuyers to verify the authenticity of the email.
- Homebuyers should be cautious when receiving emails from their solicitor or estate agent and make sure their side of the email chain is secure.
- Avoid logging into public wifi and using it to check your emails as this gives fraudsters a potential access point.
- Take heed of any warnings from your bank as you try to transfer the money.
If homebuyers are aware of this scam and take necessary precautions, they can protect themselves from falling victim to it. Additionally, if banks and solicitors work together to prevent this type of fraud, it can be reduced significantly.
The scam is often timed before a weekend, which makes it difficult for homebuyers to verify the authenticity of the email. Furthermore, the sums of money involved in a property sale mean that the fraudster only needs to land a few victims to make a lot of cash.
