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UK homebuyers warned about bank scams tied to conveyancing emails
Report Fraud logged 3,657 wrong-bank-account scams in 2025-26 totaling £101m, and it recorded 140 property cases from April 2024 to March 2025 with an average loss of £78,393.
The Guardian Business reports that UK conveyancing fraud often strikes at the end of a home sale, when buyers are ready to hand over their deposit or purchase funds based on instructions delivered by email. According to the outlet, scammers gain access to email chains between homebuyers and their solicitors or estate agents and ask for payment to a bank account they control, sometimes after hacking the solicitor’s account but often through phishing aimed at the buyer. The scam is often dubbed “Friday afternoon fraud” because it tends to be timed before a weekend. Report Fraud, formerly Action Fraud, said there were 3,657 scams involving persuading people to pay into the wrong bank account in the 2025-26 financial year, costing victims a total of £101m. In a property-focused measure, Report Fraud recorded 140 property cases between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025, with an average loss of £78,393. City of London police also warned that the fraud pattern is not limited to purchases, with incidents reported by renters who lost money they believed they had paid to letting agents, as well as cases involving probate transactions. The Guardian Business described a worst-case example where a buyer transferred the full £300,000 purchase price to the wrong account.