Solicitor sending their bank details as e-mail attachment

[Ophelia2]

Hi everyone

I'm very perplexed and confused and am hoping someone can help!

We are very close to exchanging contracts on the house we are buying and will shortly be paying our deposit.

Despite the fact that our solicitors state in their disclaimer that they will neither send nor accept bank details by e-mail, the solicitor dealing with our purchase has done just that. He has sent us their bank details in a pdf attachment to an e-mail!!!

So my questions are as follows.

1) How do we safeguard ourselves when paying our deposit?

2) How do we know that our vendor's solicitors have not done the same? If they have done and the payment is subject to fraud, who is responsible - us, our solicitors, or our vendor's solicitors?

Any advice very gratefully received, many thanks in advance.

Ophelia2

[R0b]

Hello

First of all, be very very cautious of someone sending you bank details for a deposit until you are confident you know who you are dealing with. A lot of solicitors do have that disclaimer in their email for the very reason some have been caught out and sued as a result.

You should double check the sender of the email as that always catches people out. Some of these fraudsters can be smart enough to make the email address look like the solicitor's email address. For example, your solicitor might be Michael Jones who works at Shoosmiths solicitors whose email is michael.jones@shoosmiths.co.uk, but on closer inspection, the email was sent from Michael.Jones@sh00smiths.co.uk. You'll see that the 'o' has been switched out for the number 0.

Even if you think that you are confident the email has come from the right address, I would not take the risk. Go on to the solicitors website get their contact number and give them a call. Ask to speak to your solicitor to confirm the bank details over the phone.

I have used Shoosmiths as an example because I have dealt with them before and if I recall they have sent me their bank details by email in a PDF attachment but they then also called me to confirm their account number and sort code over the phone. I think you would be wise to do that also.

You could ask if your solicitor accepts cheques and send them a cheque so they can cash themselves and then deposit that way.

Always remember, email is not secure and can be intercepted and fraudsters are targeting people purchasing property which is now on the rise.

[Ophelia2]

Hi Rob and many thanks for your reply.

The email address format for the solicitor we are dealing with (who we've also spoken to on the phone) does match the only e-mail address I can find on their website, which is that of the Managing Director.

We're going to e-mail the solicitor we are dealing with and asked him to contact us by letter to confirm the bank details. We'll also cc that e-mail to the Managing Director, though I suspect he is as culpable as the others!

We've also asked him to confirm in the requested letter that we will not be liable for any of our funds being misappropriated, given that they will be sent to their bank details as confirmed in that letter.

I'm also considering adding an extra request that they indemnify us against our funds being misappropriated on their way from their bank account to our vendor's solicitors' bank account. (Given that since our solicitors sent us their bank details by e-mail, we cannot trust that they will not accept our vendor's solicitors' details by e-mail!)

Does that last paragraph sound like a good idea, do you or anyone else think?

Thanks in advance everyone

Ophelia2

[ohitsonlyme]

simply send them £1.36 before the major transaction and ring them to ask them to confirm the receipt and value.

[paulajayne]

^^^^^^^^

This

[R0b]

Hi Rob and many thanks for your reply.

We've also asked him to confirm in the requested letter that we will not be liable for any of our funds being misappropriated, given that they will be sent to their bank details as confirmed in that letter.

I'm also considering adding an extra request that they indemnify us against our funds being misappropriated on their way from their bank account to our vendor's solicitors' bank account. (Given that since our solicitors sent us their bank details by e-mail, we cannot trust that they will not accept our vendor's solicitors' details by e-mail!)

Does that last paragraph sound like a good idea, do you or anyone else think?

Thanks in advance everyone

Ophelia2

Good luck with that, you are never going to get the firm to agree to that, as I know I certainly wouldn't.

Doesn't emailing the solicitor back defeat asking them to send a letter confirming the bank details defeat the whole object of you verifying what they sent is correct? As I said in my last post, email is generally not a secure method of corresponding and if it turns out whether your email or theirs has been intercepted in some way, that might not stop a fraudster attempting to send a letter to you (if they had your information) with different bank details.

Simply calling the law firm on their telephone number will be the easiest way to verify. Of course it's your transaction so you are free to deal with it as you wish. Alternatively, you can do as suggested by ohitsonlyme and send a fraction of the deposit, such as £10 along with the reference and get the solicitor to confirm. Once satisfied you can send the remaining balance.

[Ophelia2]

Hi both above me and many thanks, that sounds like a really good idea!

I'm still wondering about the indemnity regarding our solicitors' transfer to our vendor's solicitors - would our solicitors be liable if there was any missapropriation of our funds en route between them and our vendor's solicitors?

Plus I'm thinking we should insist that both transfers - exchange and completion - do not happen on a Friday since that is aparently a major day for cyber crime.

What do you all think?

Ophelia2

[Ophelia2]

Hi Rob and thanks!

Good points; we are planning to have a face to face with them next week so can ask them to pass over their bank details at that meeting.

What do you think we should do regarding the possible insecurity of the transfer of our funds from their account to our vendor's solicitors' account?

Also, who would be liable in such an event?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Ophelia2

[R0b]

Once the money is in your solicitors accounts, it is then their responsibility. If they become a victim of fraud for one reason or another, that does not and should not affect you. They would still be liable to make the transfer of your deposit amount

[Ophelia2]

Hi Rob and many thanks!

That's really helpful to know, because we were so worried about what may happen despite us having done everything in our power to keep things secure from our end.

Ophelia2