Buyer guide
Bank details conveyancing scam: how it works and how to stop it
The most expensive scam in the homebuying process does not target your survey or your mortgage. It targets the moment you transfer money to your solicitor. Criminals intercept the emails between you and your conveyancer and swap in their own bank details, so your deposit or completion money lands in a fraudster's account instead. It is known as Friday afternoon fraud, because it often strikes late in the week when completions happen and there is no time to check. The average victim loses £78,393. Almost every case is preventable.
What Friday afternoon fraud is
Conveyancing fraud, sometimes called Friday afternoon fraud or payment diversion fraud, is a form of authorised push payment scam aimed at property transactions. Because a house purchase involves one of the largest transfers most people ever make, and because the money moves between a buyer and a solicitor who rarely speak by phone, it is a rich target. The criminal does not need to hack a bank. They only need to persuade you to send your own money to the wrong account, which is far easier and just as final.
How the scam works
Fraudsters gain access to an email account, often the buyer's or the conveyancer's, and watch the conversation quietly for weeks. When the time comes to transfer funds, they send an email that looks exactly as though it came from your solicitor, telling you the firm's bank details have changed or supplying account details for the first time. The address may be spoofed or a near-identical lookalike. You transfer the money in good faith, and by the time anyone notices it has been moved on through several accounts and is gone. Once you have authorised the payment yourself, your bank is not automatically obliged to refund it.
How much is lost
In the year to March 2025, Action Fraud recorded 140 residential conveyancing-fraud cases with £10.97m of losses, an average of £78,393 per victim, according to figures published by City of London Police in October 2025. For most people that is the entire deposit, or the whole purchase. The timing makes it worse, because the loss usually lands on the day you expected to collect the keys. Reported cases are only part of the picture, since many victims never come forward, so the true scale is likely higher.
Step one: verify the bank details by phone
At the very start of your conveyancing, call your solicitor on a number taken from their official letterhead or their firm's website, never a number from an email, and ask them to confirm their bank account details. Write the details down and keep them. This single call establishes the correct account before any fraudster has a chance to insert a fake one, and it gives you a trusted reference to check every later instruction against.
Step two: send a £1 test payment first
Before you transfer the full amount, send £1 to the account and phone your solicitor to confirm they have received it into the right client account. Only once they confirm should you send the balance. A test payment costs you nothing and defeats the scam outright, because a fraudster's account will not be confirmed by your genuine solicitor. It adds a few minutes to completion day and can save your entire deposit.
Step three: treat any change of bank details as fraud
Assume that any email telling you a solicitor's bank details have changed is fraudulent until you have proven otherwise. Legitimate firms almost never change their client account details mid-transaction. If you receive such a message, do not reply to it and do not call any number it contains. Call your solicitor on the number you already verified and ask directly. This one habit stops the most common version of the scam.
What protection you actually have
The rules improved in October 2024. Victims of authorised push payment fraud, including payments made by CHAPS and Faster Payments, can now claim reimbursement from their bank up to £85,000 per claim. Reimbursement is not guaranteed, and a bank can reduce or refuse it if it judges the customer ignored clear warnings, so it is a safety net rather than a certainty. Because the average conveyancing-fraud loss sits just below the £85,000 cap, prevention and prompt reporting still matter more than anything. If you are hit, contact your bank immediately and report it to Action Fraud.
Common questions
What is Friday afternoon fraud?
It is a conveyancing scam where criminals intercept emails between a buyer and their solicitor and substitute fraudulent bank details, so the buyer transfers their deposit or completion money to the fraudster. It is called Friday afternoon fraud because completions and large transfers often happen late in the week.
Will my bank refund conveyancing fraud?
Since October 2024, banks must reimburse victims of authorised push payment fraud, including CHAPS and Faster Payments, up to £85,000 per claim. Reimbursement is not guaranteed and can be reduced if you ignored clear warnings, so report it immediately and do not rely on a refund.
How can I avoid conveyancing fraud?
Verify your solicitor's bank details by phone at the start using a trusted number, send a £1 test payment and confirm it arrived before transferring the balance, and treat any email claiming the bank details have changed as fraud until you have checked by phone.
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