News

Crimestoppers Working With Property Professionals to Tackle Growing Conveyancing Fraud Problem

Published on 06/03/2018

Property Professionals have been boosted by the support of the charity Crimestoppers who are working with estate agents and financial advisers, as well as conveyancers, in a cross-industry initiative to prevent buyer’s deposits being stolen through their Safe Buyer Scheme partnership.

Estate agents and financial advisers are joining the Safe Buyer Scheme, as associate members, to help keep their clients safe from fraud.

Becky Howes, Business Development Manager for Lovelle Estate Agents explained “I have seen coverage on the TV and read articles in the press about home buyers who have lost thousands of pounds to fraudsters whilst buying property. I am responsible for our customer experience, sales management, marketing and compliance for a 19 branch estate agency in Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire so I wanted to see how Lovelle Estate Agents could help protect our buyers from these horrific situations.

“I think the Safe Buyer solution is simple to use and I want all our buyers to be aware of the risk of fraud and to have the option to use Safe Buyer to protect themselves. The conveyancers we work with are members of the Safe Buyer Scheme which is important to us as it helps keep them safe.

“I want to help raise awareness of fraud and to be seen to be actively helping make buying a home a safer experience for our customers. I really like the fact that, through our membership of the Safe Buyer Scheme, we are working with Crimestoppers, as they are a household name that my customers trust. We are promoting our work with the Safe Buyer Scheme on our website so our visitors can learn about this fraud and how to prevent it happening to them.”

Rodger Holden, Director of Business Development at Crimestoppers, said: “We are delighted to be working with the property market to prevent deposit redirection fraud, which has such a devastating impact on property buyers.

“Proactive fraud prevention through industry engagement is one of our key strategic objectives and we are encouraging conveyancers, estate agents and financial advisers to make use of our partnership with the Safe Buyer Scheme as it provides effective tools that are proven to protect conveyancers and their clients from fraud.

“The Crimestoppers name is very well regarded and is synonymous with crime safety so we hope home buyers will see our logo and think about checking their conveyancer’s bank account details through the Safe Buyer Scheme.”

John Ahmed, Director at the Safe Buyer Scheme said “We have received a very positive response from property professionals and have extended the Safe Buyer Scheme scope to include financial advisers and estate agents to join this initiative, as they want to help keep their clients safe.”

Personalised Bank Details Certificates bearing the Crimestoppers’ logo are available for every conveyancer registered on the Safe Buyer Scheme to send to their clients during the conveyancing process. The Bank Details Certificate template can be downloaded by logging in to the Safe Buyer Scheme website https://www.safebuyerscheme.co.uk/

Conveyancers, estate agents and financial advisers wishing to use the Crimestoppers’ Safe Buyer Scheme logo are asked to contact enquiries@safebuyerscheme.co.uk for details.