Case Studies

The following are real examples of how cybercrime has devastated people’s lives through buying property:

• Buyers left exposed to fraud losses after landmark Court ruling - Deputy High Court Judge Dicker found that solicitors’ checks are there to reduce the risk of fraud and that it was not reasonable to expect a solicitor to entirely eliminate the possible risk (Today’s Conveyancer)

• Newlyweds saved £45,000 deposit towards their dream first home - then lost everything in a cruel new online scam (This Is Money)

• Conveyancers on both sides of a transaction are liable for the actions of a rogue seller who committed a £470,000 property fraud, the High Court has ruled (Law Gazette)

• The Safe Buyer Scheme Reports Sharp Increase In Buyer Deposit Redirection Fraud Crime Figures (Safe Buyer Scheme)

• Ann, Paul and Tracey Lupton are left asking Why won't regulators act on my £48,500 property fraud loss? (The Telegraph)

• Single Mother Amanda Jackson loses £77k to fraudsters posing as solicitors (BBC News)

• Crime rate in England and Wales soars as cybercrime is included for first time (The Guardian)

• Buyer Nick Christofi and family lost their £735,000 purchase money to a bogus solicitor scam (Daily Mail)

• Kate Blakeley and her partner Marco Faes lost their £300,000 purchase money to another bogus solicitor scam (The Telegraph)

• Another buyer lost their £200,000 mortgage to a bogus law firm (Mirror)

• Single mother Vivian Gabb faces financial ruin after losing life savings of £50,000 (Daily Mail)

• Huge jump in reports of fraudsters posing as solicitors (LoveMoney.com)

• Solicitors Regulation Authority warns of increasing cases of buyers being scammed by bogus law firms claiming to be the genuine firm the buyer instructed (Solicitors Regulation Authority)

• Solicitors Regulation Authority Scam Alerts – up to date reports of latest frauds (Solicitors Regulation Authority)

Click here to hear Mrs Gabb explain how she lost £50,000 from cybercrime