House sale scam - solicitor's lack of vigilance

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Our solicitor was meticulous and would not accept any financial details via e-mail. We kept in touch via e-mail but all transactions had to be done via bank or post....and in our case as we were near enough we preferred to get in car and deliver by hand.

I forgot to say that they needed to see the original letter from solicitor with the printed bank details. Solicitor had already said that the details would never be e mailed

I went into the halifax bank and they did the electronic cash transfer for me. They were very professional and a senior person did the transfet in a small office, then someone else came in and checked it, both signing documentation. It was worth the £25 for the instant transfer and peace of mind

My conveyancing Solicitor asked for deposit monies to be paid either by cash or cheque. Was annoyed at first at the inconvenience, but then realised that this is to avoid scamming by electronic transfers.

This seems to be a very easy way to send money to the wrong person. The scammers appear to be emailing you from the correct email address and so you accept that the information given is correct. I think the only way to get it right is to phone the recipient and get them to give you the details over the phone. Responding to the email will only get you back to the scammers.

I paid our solicitor by cheque in advance for some of the money and the rest by bank transfer over 4 consecutive days. Each day I got a message to say they had received it so felt secure.