Published on 16/02/2016
Mr Richard Tough, the victim of a £45,000 buyer deposit redirection fraud in January 2016, as featured in The Daily Mail, said of The Safe Buyer Scheme’s first prevented fraud, “I am really pleased that The Safe Buyer Scheme has pro-actively prevented another property buyer suffering what happened to myself and my wife. This is clearly a growing problem for property buyers, conveyancing firms and the police, however nobody told me of the threat to my deposit being stolen. I am now aware that criminals use various methods of communication to impersonate conveyancers to steal deposits. Modern technology means it’s very easy for fraudsters to intercept email communications, and a better, more secure system such as The Safe Buyer Scheme with its secure message portal is the way forward. I certainly would have signed up and used the scheme which only costs £12 had it been offered by my conveyancing solicitors. I firmly believe that every buyer must be told of the risks when transferring their deposit”
