Safe Move Scheme captures first fraud prevention victim
Product sets benchmark for preventing phishing scams, says RG Solicitors' managing partner
The Safe Move Scheme, which helps conveyancers to prevent home buyers falling victim to phishing, has reported its first prevention.
RG Solicitors, a member of the scheme, and one of its clients had opted to use the product as 'best practice' in their property purchase.
After the client received 'genuine' email instructions to transfer their deposit to RG Solicitors, they submitted their banking details to the Safe Move Scheme prior to transferring any funds to verify their authenticity.
However, the prevention system advised to decline these instructions as the details did not match those of RG Solicitors.
Developed by BE Consultancy, the scheme provides a live alert system so that all the parties concerned, from the purchaser right through to the lender are aware that a fraudulent attempt to divert funds has been made.
Matt Gillies, the managing partner of RG Solicitors, commented: 'Whilst we provide every possible level of security, we know from the Safe Move Scheme that hackers actually attack our client's emails and devices rather than our systems.'
'We are extremely proud to be the first conveyancers to prevent one of these crimes occurring using the Safe Move Scheme and we will continue to recommend it to all of our clients as the proven benchmark for preventing this type of crime'.
The Safe Move Scheme has reported the attempted fraud to Action Fraud.