Solicitors warned to be on look out for ‘Friday afternoon fraud’

Russian gangs are carrying out elaborate fraud operations targeting solicitors handling property purchases that allow them to steal money on the day of completion.

So-called “Friday afternoon fraud” has risen in the past six weeks to an estimated cost of £50 million.

Solicitors are being conned into depositing money into a different account in house purchase transactions.

The gangsters use a combination of cyber techniques and identity fraud.

In particular they make use of “spear phishing” – sending an email ostensibly from a bank or other organisation known to the target.

A fake fraud protection team usually then phones up from the “bank”.

Grant Clemence, from QBE business insurance, speaking to The Times, said the tactics were “sophisticated, organised and often indicate a degree of insider knowledge”.

He added:“They call on a Friday afternoon because they know that that’s when the solicitor is at their busiest.

“They pose as the bank and tell them there has been fraud on the account.

“The solicitor then gives away enough detail for the fraudsters to empty the account. One firm alone was hit for £1.9 million.”

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) warned in March that it was dealing with four reports a month of lawyers being tricked into handing money to gangsters.

Mr Clemence said at the current rate insurers may not be able to cover losses and buyers may be left in limbo without a way to get their money back.

One seller, Gillian Bridge, 64, was scammed out of £400,000 after fraudsters hacked into her email account, stolen from Attwells Solicitors in Surrey, and contacted the lawyers, pretending to be her.

Attwells said: “Our client had her identity stolen by someone who set up a bank account in her name. That person fraudulently directed us to send funds to that account.”

As the SRA imposes an obligation on the solicitors’ firm to replace the funds stolen from the client, small firms could be destroyed by the practice.