Buying a home: protect your deposit from payment diversion fraud
The biggest payment most people ever make is their house deposit or completion money, and criminals know exactly when it's due. Solicitors call it "Friday afternoon fraud" because that's when exchange and completion happen, when everyone is rushed, and when a fake "our bank details have changed" email does the most damage.
How it works
Criminals watch the conversation
They hack into the email of a conveyancing firm, an estate agent, or the buyer, often weeks before. They read everything and learn the names, the property, the dates and the amounts.
The timing is chosen carefully
Just before exchange or completion, usually late on a Friday or the day before a bank holiday, you get an email that looks exactly like the firm's. It gives "updated" or "new" client account details, or says the firm's usual account is being audited.
You send the deposit
Because everything else is correct, people pay. The money goes to a criminal account and is moved on fast. In some versions, someone phones you pretending to be the firm's accounts department to "confirm" the new details.
The sale is at risk
The real solicitor hasn't received anything. Buyers have lost their entire deposit this way, sometimes hundreds of thousands of pounds.
What to do from day one
- Get your solicitor's bank details early and in person or by phone. Ask them to read the sort code and account number out, and write them down. Many firms also print them in their welcome letter.
- Ask the firm whether its bank details ever change. Almost every conveyancer will tell you they never change them by email. Take that at face value: any email saying otherwise is a scam.
- Before sending a large sum, phone the firm on the number from its website or your original letters, not from the email in front of you, and confirm the details with the person handling your case.
- Send a small test payment first, such as £1, and confirm by phone it arrived before sending the rest.
- Check the Confirmation of Payee result. The name should match the law firm's client account, not a person. A "no match" means stop. See what the name check means.
- Look at the sender's address letter by letter and compare it with earlier emails. A swapped letter or an extra hyphen is enough for a criminal.
- Don't be rushed. A genuine firm would far rather you phone and delay by an hour than lose your money.
- Protect your own email account with a strong password and two-step verification during the purchase. If criminals read your inbox, they know when to strike.
If you're selling
The same trick is used the other way round: criminals email your solicitor pretending to be you, giving new bank details for the sale proceeds. Agree with your solicitor at the start how they will confirm your details, for example by phone with a question only you can answer.
Also watch out for
- Fake landlords and rental deposits. Property that's listed below the market rent, a landlord who's "abroad" and can't show you round, and a demand for a deposit by bank transfer before you've seen the property or signed anything. Never pay to hold a property you haven't viewed.
- Deposit "protection" emails. Your tenancy deposit must be protected in a government-approved scheme in England and Wales, and the schemes won't ask you to pay them directly.
- Mortgage and surveyor fees to unexpected accounts. Apply the same rule: phone and check.
If it's happened to you
Call your bank immediately on 159 and ask them to try to recall the payment. Then phone your solicitor so they can alert their bank and secure their email, and report it to Report Fraud on 0300 123 2040, or Police Scotland on 101. Bank transfers to UK accounts are normally covered by the reimbursement rules on our scam help page, up to £85,000, but very large losses may exceed the cap, which is why prevention matters so much.
Bank Safe Online can't investigate or recover money. Please contact your bank, your solicitor and the police directly.
Last reviewed: October 2026